Thursday, October 27, 2011

the kitchen

Possibly the ugliest room in our home: the kitchen.  Builder's 1987 oak cabinets, ivory Formica counters, original vinyl floor - complete with rips and burns.  Classy.  Since kitchens help sell houses, we needed a re-do (10 years ago we needed a redo!), and we had a budget.

These are the counter tops.  Bought them from Home Depot, who is having a 10% off sale right now on Wilsonart Laminate counters... so with the extra money we got a fancier edge.  (Full Wrap Ogee, if that means anything to you... to me it just "looked nicer")



This is the tile for the floor and the back splash.  It's actually a lighter, sandy color porcelain tile (not  "pink" like the picture), but has slate profile. My contractor and I both walked right to it - and he said, "It's is never this easy."  Basic 16x16 tiles on the floor, 8x12 staggered tiles as a back splash  (NOTE: THIS IS NO LONGER THE TILE. BECAUSE IT IS PINK AND UGLY.)

 
I know I was going to paint the cabinets... but with our not changing the appliances (which are white) I actually wanted to go darker.  I'm going to try gel staining over the oak to get a darker, richer color.  Not as dark as below, but this is an example of gel stain over oak. 

Moen Faucet in stainless steel, spot free. 
No decision on the hardware yet, except that it will be in the same metal as the faucet.  I've picked a white, cast iron Kohler sink - very similar to what we have right now.... but new and pretty.

Wish us luck!  The kitchen should be done before Thanksgiving... nothing like pushing a date like that!

4 comments:

OHN said...

Terrific! We had to redo our kitchen last year. After 20 years I didn't even want to walk in there any more. I walk in there now and actually smile.

I have used the gel stain over oak on furniture and it looks really nice. Just make sure you get the old wax off the wood before you try to stain or it is really blotchy. (don't ask how I know that)

tz said...

ooooh, can't wait to see it finished! You picked out some nice colors, it'll show great!
maybe so great you won't want to move.

Dodi said...

TZ - I'm picking out stuff that we like just in case it doesn't sell. Possibly a little more neutral than I'd normally go... but I still like everything we're doing.

Jen said...

I hope you like it because I haven't given you permission to move! :(

It all looks great... I'm especially interested in how the cabinets turn out since I have the same ones and would love to have an inexpensive temporary fix until we win the lottery and can afford to remodel the whole kitchen! (Wait, we don't play the lottery. dang.) Can't wait to see the finished product! I'll be coming over to check on the progress! :)