Thank you for the kind comments about the
kitchen. I honestly do really find myself cooking more often and
wanting to cook more often since I actually enjoy the space I am cooking in! The new kitchen is also 10x cleaner on any given day because the finished product of my cleaning makes me happy. The old kitchen, not so much. I would clean and clean it and still feel like I was surrounded by grime. Awesome picture right? ;)
Here is a list of the materials/products we used in this renovation, and a little review of them when applicable. It's been a great learning experience to design for myself after years of designing and specifying for other people. I found it wasn't as hard as I thought and, thankfully, discovered the materials I have been recommending for clients truly were worth the switch/change/risk!
Paint:
walls - BM White Dove, eggshell
trim - BM White Dove, satin
ceiling - BM ice cap at 25%, flat {or so…we mixed this around at the house until it looked right. The house has eight foot ceilings and I did not realize just how much even the slightest tint would visually impact the already low height of it. I am used to tinting ceilings but they are always 9-10 feet ++!}
island - Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze, satin
window wall cabinets and range wall base cabinets - Valspar Vail, satin
range wall upper cabinets - BM White Dove, satin
back entry and den/dining room - BM Vapor Trails at 50%, eggshell
Materials:
countertops - Alabama White Marble honed and sealed - PEOPLE …. marble is the BEST! I could and maybe should write an entire blog post on simply this topic. But for now, let me "concisely" say this: we have yet to find something that stains it…coffee, spaghetti sauce, milk, unidentified kid grime, wine, cooking splatter, etc….left over night even.
Found this under some old mail by our coffee maker yesterday and who knows how long it had been there. Came up by me wetting my finger and rubbing it. Don't believe what you hear about this stuff staining!
It DOES etch…and this is what that means: Lemon/lime juice and sorta-kinda strong tomato acids cause the finish of the island to change in surface reflection. You can feel the change in finish when you wipe the counter with a rag, or see it when you lean down and look at the counter at an angle…like this:
OK I had to really try hard to even capture this on a camera. If you look right underneath the window reflection there are two white-ish smudges. I went to take the picture because I knew they were there but couldn't find them for the longest time! Haha…it takes the right light at the right angle at the //all this equals I don't even care that it's there!//
And if you are super messy with washing dishes and pile soaking wet dishes on the bare counter and let it sit for awhile, with nothing to absorb all that extra water, or place a wet glass with water trapped under it, the marble will eventually soak the water up itself. Some of these are removable by pressing with a dishrag, but honestly I don't even pay attention to it and I thought we had a water spot at one time but it has since dried up and disappeared.
Jacob bangs his spoon on the counter sometimes:
If you look SUPER closely you can see some bright white specs. That is where his spoon hit the counter. Again, doesn't bother me in the least but I'm covering everything I can think of here! :)
All that being said, my super normally-cares-about-that-kind-of-stuff husband said he would do marble again in a second. It's just such a beautiful, living, authentic, REAL material. I feel like I have a living sculpture in my kitchen. It's awesome and, if I ever have the chance, I would put it everywhere! DO IT!
backsplash - American O'lean 3x6 glossy white subway tile
grout - oyster gray
shelves - unstained oak with simple sealant {I don't know any more information that that. A good friend built these for me at Seven Eleven Fabrication here in Mobile - contact me for information}
shelf brackets - Signature Hardware
sink - Whitehaus 30" fireclay single bowl sink - I went from double bowl to single bowl and again, I will never go back. As I see it the only reason you would need a double bowl sink would be if you run a sink full of water and wash all your dirty dishes in that water and rinse in the other bowl of the sink. That just ain't my thang :)
faucet - Kingston Brass 8" widespread bridge faucet
range - Smeg 36" dual fuel range from plessersappliance.com. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this range. At the time we purchased it I was considering the GE 30" cafe range. It was the best looking, best priced range offered that I could find. However, I came across the Smeg and, while it was a risk ordering a manufacturer not offered in my area and that I had never heard of…I was able to get a larger range with a more commercial "look" to it, and it was shipped fast and free. I would do this range again in a second, and will if I am ever in the situation to do so. I don't know if I will ever be able to shell out super dough for a Wolf or a Viking or similar. I love my Smeg!!
dishwasher - Whirlpool Gold W10431035A - I actually spent more time than necessary researching dishwashers. Our old one was Terrible with a capitol T. With price being a huge factor, we went with a plastic tub, heated dry and it is amazing! Rinse Aid is a necessity but I do not feel like I needed to have a stainless interior for hundreds more dollars. Unlike a Bosch I never have to clean old food out of a filter. The racks are all completely adjustable which is great because Stephen's and my favorite dishes are our
huge bowl/plates from Denby. So many of the dishwashers we looked at couldn't even fit those dishes due to height restrictions!
microwave - Frigidare from Lowes - again, didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars so ours is pretty much worth what we spent. As is not much. All we use it for is quick reheats and such so it gets the job done. We don't nuke potatoes or bacon or anything and the only time we randomly tried to it overheated and turned itself off.
range hood - Broan PM390 - does the job
pendant lights - Wisteria
refrigerator - our old one. Thought about a new one but had our cabinet maker make that cabinet deep enough for a standard sized refrigerator since the cabinet was up against a wall and had no reason to be "counter depth." With our large family we are glad we made this decision.
counterstools - ok this is a tough one. I have had the most requests for the source of these stools. I spent a lot of time on this too and, for our budget, found that there was hardly anything we liked out there, especially since we needed at least FOUR stools. We knew we needed a back of some sort so we could attach a booster seat {or two :)}. These are from a trade only wholesaler and we are in the process of having them replaced. They are falling apart before our eyes…the woven reeds are breaking and leaving large holes in the chairs, just from normal use. We still love the look of them and if the second batch has the same problems I guess we will be forced to find something different. So I cannot in good conscience recommend them at this point!
cabinets - local custom shop I have worked with before on past clients' jobs. Not a wonderful experience and I knew this going into it but again, sometimes the budget is the driving force and it definitely was in this case! They are full overlay and self closing. I love love love self closing hardware.
floors - white oak to match rest of house, stained custom mix of Minwax dark walnut and ebony. If you are local and need a great floor guy, email me and I will get you in touch with Mike. He and his wife Pam are the best of the best!
Mr. Everything aka our demo/framer/sheetrocker/electrician/plumber/painter/millwork-er/tile-layer/insulation-er/appliance-installer extraordinaire - Robert Shotlander. He is now pretty much part of the family and I would be MORE than happy to share his name with anyone local who needs a good, honest, hardworking guy for any type of work around your house.
roman shade fabric - GP&J Baker available through Lee Jofa
curtain fabric - Kravet Pennock in Lizard
curtain rod - Natalie Roe Interior Design - contact me
