Kitchen Remodel - Parts 2 & 3
It is a rainy Thursday morning, I am patiently waiting for the iCoffee to finish brewing a piping hot, cup of coffee. I can't wait to wrap my fingers around my favorite mug and feel the hot steam rise from the cup and warm up the chilled tip of my nose. As I sit here today in our almost complete kitchen I am reminded of how far we've come. It makes me feel a variety of emotions, tired, anxious, excited.. but most of all, grateful.
We started this process a little over 3 weeks ago. The first phase included adding a new set of cabinets along with preparing our existing sink cabinet for the farmhouse sink. The following week, April 3, we hired A Royal Paint of Yorkville, to come and paint our cabinets. The colors we chose were "Industrialized" (grey) for the lower and "Crisped White 022W" for the upper cabinets. Matt and his team did an amazing job, they removed the doors and drawer fronts so they can spray them in their shop and allow them to dry for two whole weeks. The cabinets themselves were sanded, primed and painted. It is hard to picture the finished product while being able to see the contents of each cabinet so bear with me.
We are so fortunate to have such talented friends! One of my husband's very good friend David installed beautiful, under cabinet lighting throughout the entire kitchen. He used LED ribbon lighting and installed a dimmer on both switches to create the perfect ambiance. I think the lighting will really highlight the backsplash and countertops as well. If you are looking for an extremely talented electrician, contact me and I will pass on his information.
Before paint, post cabinet installation:
After, pre countertop and backsplash:
The next phase of the remodel was to replace our hideous countertops, add backsplash and get our new sink and dishwasher up and running. We hired an amazing company out of Aurora to help us with the countertops and backsplash, Best Buy Carpet, Flooring and Granite. Their prices are very reasonable and I love that they are a small company. Our project manager Lydia has been so helpful the entire process, I love working with small companies because we felt they were so accommodating throughout this stressful process. We chose a beautiful, white granite with some organic, grey lines throughout. We had a waterfall placed on the end of our island for a dramatic effect. The backsplash is a simple, white subway tile in a brick pattern. We chose a dark, charcoal grey grout, titled "Dove Grey," which goes in today.
After the countertops went in we wanted to get our gorgeous farm house sink working and new dishwasher installed. We hired another awesome friend, TJ, for the job. He came over immediately after the countertops were installed and had both up and running in a matter of hours, I was ecstatic! Not having plumbing for three weeks has been really difficult to say the least, not to mention the amount of mopping and cleaning I have had to do almost every day. Once these last steps were completed, the finish line is in plain site. Now, we wait for the doors and drawers to be returned (April 20th) so we can install the hardware. Try and picture it.. :)
The two signs over the cabinets were made by a local Mom, Pozniak Designs. I told her what I was looking for and she executed my vision perfectly! I am hoping to place a planter box or some clay pots under the two windows, and fill them with herbs. I was looking for some fun pieces from Magnolia Market the other night to place on the countertops. I was tempted to buy EVERYTHING, but stopped myself.
Post countertop, pre backsplash: (don't mind the Weiner dog)
One of the last steps of the kitchen remodel was to replace our pantry doors with custom made barn doors, created by Nick Webb of Blue Oak Construction. The doors are made of pine so they have beautiful knots throughout. Nick created an "X" pattern and recommended a "bipass hardware track" to accommodate the space. One of the doors will need to slide behind the other. My sweet Dad stained them a light grey over the weekend in exchange for some fun with his Grandson and a home cooked meal, as my mom was out of town on vacation all week ;-). Now, we wait for Amazon to deliver the track so they can be hung!
Take at a look at these beauties:
We are so close the finish line! I am hoping by next weekend I can get back to baking delicious treats and cooking meals for my family. If I didn't ever have to see another greasy, bag of a take out it would be too soon. Ugh. Take a look at the gallery below to see some of the process and furniture detail. I cannot wait to share the final reveal to you guys very soon!
