Weekend Update – in which the Kitchen Countertops and Floor Arrive!
June 25th, 2007 by ariana
Saturday was one of those days when after weeks of preparation and/or waiting, things finally came together in the kitchen.
Wait a minute, I’m getting ahead of myself because Friday night is when Jeff actually laid the floor. Yep, it only took him one evening…the first time anyway.
I say the “first time” because at midnight Friday when he was “finished,” he realized there was one piece near the entrance to the basement that he had forgotten. And because the way that the interlocking tongue-and groove laminate works, that meant he had to pull up half the floor to get back to that one forgotten piece.
I tell you this dear reader, not to embarrass my husband, but as a cautionary tale in case you are planning on installing these types of floors in your own house.
So, come Saturday morning, the first order of business was to put the floor back in place before the granite arrived. Thankfully, because all the cuts were already it proved to be much quicker than the first time around.
One of the best parts of the kitchen floor down is that we could finally move the fridge and stove out of the living room and into the kitchen. The effect was sort of “Hello Kitchen, nice to meet you!”
Without further ado, the new kitchen floor – with appliances (though I wish I had taken the plastic off of them for their beauty shots.)
New kitchen floor – view from left of stove.
New floor – view from living room.
Exciting thing #2 that happened on Saturday was the arrival of the granite countertops!!!!!
The installation process was a little bit difficult because there are no straight walls or 45 degree angles to be found in our house. So even having used our previous formica countertops as a template, there were still some on-site cuts and trims to be made to get everything flush with the uneven walls.
Luckily the granite guy and his helper really took the time to get it right:
View from dining room.
View from left of stove (nice garbage bag on the door to the deck. I really need to learn to stage my pictures better!)
Close up of corner. (Don’t worry, those moldings are not attached yet to the top of the cabinets. )
Now, might be an appropriate time to post a before picture for frame of reference:
Before, (same corner as above).
So all in all, despite my flip-flopping on the countertop material, paint colors etc., in the end I’m very happy with the way the look is coming together. Of course the full effect will only be realized once I finish painting the cabinets.. it always comes back to those damn cabinets!
Moving on…
Exciting thing #3 is that Sunday we put crown moldings up in the living room! It took forever, all day in fact so I was too tired by the end of the night to take a picture. So that will be a post for tomorrow.
Hope you had a great weekend too!
It looks FANTASTIC! I’m so jealous. The floor really works so well with the stainless appliances and white cabinets. Yay!
Thanks!
That was one of the best surprises – how well the stainless works with the floor. It wasn’t something I thought about before hand so it was a happy discovery :)
It looks really really good.
You must be thrilled because it looks great! Love the before pic thrown in there for comparison — but there is NO comparison!
Thanks Julie!
Ari,
It looks fantastic! Well done. The whole look is great.
Shiny, clean and modern. It looks more spacious than the before pic too. Gorgeous and I’m really jealous.
Rock on! It looks really beautiful! I hope you had a ceremonial burning of that balloon curtain from the “before” picture. ::::shudder::::
:)
Hey, I just found your blog and I like it. I’m currently deciding on kitchen counter materials. Which granite did you chose? Did you consider soapstone and/or do you know anything about it?
adrienne (fixerupper.typepad.com)
Aw, I’m so glad you guys like it! I’m doing some photoshopping now to figure out what to do for the backsplash..it never ends does it?
Hi Adrienne,
Thanks, glad you found us! The granite is Absolute Black. I didn’t want to do soapstone because A) its more expensive and granite was already at the upper end of what we could afford and B) its softer and chips more easily. I do love the look of it though, that softer honed look is gorgeous and what I originally wanted. But I know us and needed a low maintenance, durable material.. otherwise I would have gone with Marble which is by far my favorite aesthetically.
Have you been to the garden web kitchen forum? There is tons of good info there on countertop material and lots of people who chose soapstone and lots of threads debating the merits of every material you can think of!
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/
It’s so funny – we’re progressing at about the same rate on our (somewhat similar, yet independently created) kitchens. My counters came in too (mine are dark brown, but still pretty close to your black).
Your kitchen’s looking good!
I stumbled upon your website, and Im so happy! I have been pounding my head trying to figure out a color to paint my kitchen.. and yours is beautiful. I hope you dont mind, but I think Im paying a visit to the paint store this weekend. Your taste is wonderful, thanks for the inspiration!
Hi Liz, thanks for the kind words!
Of course, I don’t mind, can’t wait to see your your kitchen turns out, I LOVE your cabinets!
:) Ariana
just stumbled across your beautiful blog. i am in love w/ your redone kitchen. what type of flooring is that? can u give some details – brand, etc. it looks soooo good in nyour kitchen!
Hi Lucky, thanks!
The floor is by Shaw, its a laminate floating floor. The pattern is called “Cottage Maple.” We love it too!