WOW! Thank you all for your kind comments about our kitchen renovation! Also, WELCOME to all of my new followers. It's been a busy week around here and I'm so excited to see so many new faces joining in on the toddler loving, house primping fun!
I'm here today to answer lots of questions about our kitchen make-over. If I don't answer your question or if you have one you want to ask, just leave a comment at the end of this post. I'll do my best to answer all of your sweet questions. Today's post will be the first of two posts addressing out Kitchen renovation. There are too many details to share in one single post, so check in Monday for more fun details.
Before I get into answering the questions, I want to point out that we didn't change anything structurally in our kitchen. Painting the cabinets and installing the new flooring were the two game changers in this space. So, if you don't have the cash flow to purchase new appliances and countertops...you can still make a BIG change by painting over your current cabinets and installing affordable flooring like the wood laminate we choose ($1.99 a sq ft!).
Now, onto your questions. Lets begin with the bigger items:
1. Our
countertops are granite (you can read more about our reasons for choosing granite
here). The black granite is called Black Pearl, which is a really common granite color. The lighter granite on our kitchen island is called Bianco Fantastico, which is a more "exotic" (that's granite lingo, not mine) granite, which is why it is only on my island ($$$). The granite company we used is called Factory Direct Granite in Wichita, Kansas. They were wonderful to work with!
2. THE
FAUCET. I heard through the grapevine that my faucet was making the rounds on Pinterest. It
is quite the attention hog! :) I had a hard time finding an industrial size faucet that didn't look really modern, but the curvy handle and brushed nickle finish on this one makes is just right for my semi-traditional taste. I found this one on ebay for $120!
4.
PAINT: Our walls are Navajo Sand by Glidden and our Cabinets and trim is Alabaster by Sherwin Williams. I am 100% convinced that Alabaster is the best white out there if you want something more warm and creamy vs. something more cool and crisp. We are using Alabaster on all of the trim in our house. Our island color is Forest Khaki. I'm not
in love with the island color (sometimes it looks a little more minty that I wanted), but it's a nice change from all of the white cabinets and trim. You can see the before and after photos
here.
 |
| Our newly painted cabinets! |
5.
Flooring. We went with wood laminate (you can read more about our decision to go with laminate over real hardwood
here). We bought our flooring from Lumber Liquidators, they SMASHED the other store's prices. The brand is St. James and the color is Burnet Road.
6.
Appliances. We SCORED with out new (to us) stainless steel appliances. After selling the white ones that were furnished in our house on Craigslist and bargain hunting in the Sears scratch and dent area...we only had to pay around $900 to outfit our entire kitchen with beautiful Kenmore Stainless Steel appliances. (more on that
here).
WHEW! Are you still with me? GRACIAS.
I had several of you ask about our "new" kitchen island. I know that it looks completely different than the original, two tiered island....
But, I promise you, it is the same island. All we did was cut the second tier off, paint it, and talk sweet to the granite installers in hopes that they could install the new countertops perfectly enough to make it look like it had always looked this way....
We were delightfully surprised to find out that the island wasn't bolted down to the floor (which would have been a big pain when we installed the new flooring). This allowed us to move the island a bit and get rid of the awkward angle that it was sitting at. This may be one of my favorite changes that we made. It made our kitchen feel SO MUCH bigger!
Okidoki, I think that will be all for today. I'll be back tomorrow to answer more of your questions.
Peace!
