Kitchen Updates
Featured: Apartment Therapy
That’s right. Apartment Therapy. As in, we get a million hits a day Apartment Therapy.
We love to check out AT for unique home inspiration, products and even kitchen and baby products. Yes baby products - we have friends with bambinos.
Just for fun we shot them a link to our blog over the weekend and, (cue that Carlton dance) they featured our kitchen on their website Monday morning! Check it out:
They mention Chad’s name three times in the post and only call him “Brad” one of those times – so we’ll take it!
We’re not the only Durham-ites featured on the site. Check out Liz’s beautiful casa here, and this awesome Tobacco Warehouse turned condo here. There is even a pink and purple Durham house featured here.
Got a great room, home or project to share with us? Brad and I are all ears.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
It’s no secret that we totally fell in love with everything about our new home as soon as we walked in – which for me was a bit later since Chad bought the casa before I ever saw it in person, but that’s another post.
We’re not too demanding, but as cute as our little kitchen was, it didn’t take long for the white laminate counters to really annoy us. Metal cans left sitting for too long would create grey rings on the surface, anything red that hit the laminate left permanent pink marks. It was frustrating and a little unnecessary.
So once we decided to take the countertop plunge, we did a lot of research on all of our surface options. Here’s a little run down of our thought process.
Of course our first idea was granite. Light colored, beautiful, expensive granite. The downside? The price tag. More importantly though, we knew we wouldn’t have the resources or even the desire to gut our cabinets completely. So we worried that brand new shiny granite countertops would look too nice.
It sounds funny to say that, but what we really mean is that we didn’t want our kitchen to look like we were willing to splurge on really nice counters and were too cheap to replace the cabinets – which would have been true. Plus we were looking to get outside of the box a bit, 1950’s kitchens didn’t have granite.
Photo: Decor Pad
Moving on, we thought about soapstone or even honed granite. We found some DIY articles on This Old House that led us to believe that with the right tools we could actually order our own soapstone slabs online and cut and install them ourselves. Check out where to order your soapstone here.
We probably could have managed, even though our last TOH experience didn’t go quite as planned. In the end we decided that soapstone was a little too dark for the look we were trying to achieve (think chem. lab table) and it turned out to be equal to or more expensive than granite in our area.
Photo: This Old House
So then we started getting creative. What about concrete? Too heavy for our cabinets, we’d likely have to have a pro come in and do some reinforcement work – meaning dollars, meaning not much different that our previously ruled out options. Too messy and risky to DIY – for now.
Photo: True Form Concrete
What about stainless steel? This could be super cool right? True, in a modern kitchen. We don’t think our little charmer could handle that much steel as is. We needed something warmer.
Photo: Boston Design
Our last search led us to butcher block. We had seen it in lots of different places – HGTV, IKEA, Country Living, even in Chad’s grandmother’s house. Some friends recommended them, others warned against it. As you all know, in the end we decided to just go for it. Our thought? If all else fails and it doesn’t work, we’re out $300 and can go with another option. Just get the laminate out.
There are some downsides in that the look is not expected and could be a hit or miss with potential buyers in the event we sell our home. The wood is also a soft and porous material. We took care of this concern by adding about four coats of Waterlox to ours. Now they are slick and shiny. Water beads up on the surface and wipes off super-easy.
We picked up two 8 foot slabs from IKEA, the style is NUMERAR and the counters are 1.5” thick – an inch thicker than our cheapo laminate. They are super heavy (but not as heavy as granite or concrete) and we’ve been really happy with the quality. Pricier options are available from Boos and less expensive versions can be found at IKEA and also at Lumber Liquidators, which we’ve heard good things about.
Our only advice? If you’re in the market for new countertops and only new countertops take the time to look at your kitchen. Take note of its age, structural capabilities, color scheme, etc. Look for counters that will compliment what you’ve already got and don’t be afraid to try something new. We’re sure glad we did.
We Got 99 Problems…
but a kitchen ain’t one – uh, yea.
That’s right. You’re not imagining things. We’re finally posting pictures of our kitchen facelift – and doing so with the help of Jay-Z circa 2003. Now how many times do you read that?
Before we explore the after shots. Let’s rewind to where our cocina started from. Clean and easy but not cozy and not very Chad and Amy.
We didn’t have the budget to gut the cabinets or knock out walls, but we do feel like the changes we were able to make have really warmed things up and made our kitchen feel more like a room in our home and not just the room with the food in it.
Lucy seems to approve. What do you guys think? Here’s a quick run down of all the projects we tackled – all of them DIY. If you’re interested in doing any of these things in your own home check out our How-To page for details on each project.
Project 1: Butcher Block Countertops and Subway Tile Backsplash. We carefully ripped out the old laminate countertops, which were really 1″ x 6″ boards with laminate glued on. A contractor’s quote just for removing the old countertops was $250. A little time and elbow grease took care of this for free – and Chad only bled a little. No stitches were necessary. Plus we didn’t have to pay for hauling services, the City of Durham picked them up on heavy trash day.
Our new butcher block beauties came from IKEA and we paid less than $350 for two 8 foot pieces. Four coats of Waterlox sealer keep them shiny and wipe-able.
We also added new drawer pulls to our lower cabinets for a little extra vintage flair.
Project 2: New Faucet and Under Mount Sink. Our new faucet came from Lowes and our sink from Overstock. The sink is by far Amy’s favorite part of the kitchen because of its low center divide. Well, maybe the sink is tied with the new stove. We were lucky to be able to hold on to our old disposal, but did have to replace all of the piping underneath.
Project 3: Stainless Steel Appliances (that’s right we’re fancy). These were by far our greatest expense in the whole upgrade. We were able to stick to a budget for everything which included a new refrigerator, range, microwave and dishwasher all from the Frigidaire Professional line. We also had to fork out some extra beans for the gas company to come run the line to our new range. Gas ranges seem to be rare in Durham homes, but we are really happy we made the switch.
Project 4: Lighting. One of the first projects we completed was hanging two new pendant lights over our sink area in place of the horrid fluorescent light that was there. I felt like I was in a hospital every time I washed the dishes – no bueno. That was so early in our plans that you can already see them in the before shots. We later switched out our dorm room like track lighting for more modern track lights with halogen bulbs that give the space a little bit of a gallery feel. We’ve focused the six lights on our workspaces, shiny new appliances and open shelving. Our cabinets also have new LED lights underneath them, read more about that here.
Project 5: Bamboo Window Coverings. You guys voted and helped us out and boy were you right. We love the warmth that our four new bamboo roman shades add. Plus we can close them in the evening for added privacy when hitting up the midnight snacks.
Project 6: Open Shelving – as a result of our refrigerator mishap. For a couple of months our plan was to create a custom wine rack in the space above the refrigerator. But after staring at the hole for a few weeks we decided a. above the fridge is probably not the best place to store wine and b. that could be pretty tricky to do right and well, let’s be honest we are amateurs. So for about $6 we just recreated the shelf and filled it with brightly colored serving dishes and other items that we don’t use on a daily basis.
Project 7: Create an Entry. Our old dish cabinet was great. We love its new home in our living room. But it just wasn’t doing it for us in the kitchen anymore. So we pulled a switcheroo with an IKEA desk, lamp from Carolina Pottery and garage sale mirror. We already had the chair and decorative items on hand, including the blue rimmed glass we’re using as a candle holder. It was used during communion at our wedding.
Project 8: Storage. We scored some new canisters with Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards and coupons that were just lying around and filled them with our go-to snacks. We also got creative with a little wooden box we’ve had on hand for years to make a little nook for holding oils and measuring spoons near the stove. A handy lower shelf became the perfect place to store my mixer, since it was now too tall for our countertops.
Project 9: Add some color. We did this with dishes and accessories we already had, like these measuring spoons from Anthropologie. The only new items brought in was the desk lamp and these plants picked up at Lowes a couple of days ago.
Project 10: Add some artwork. We used cheapo frames from IKEA and Michaels to frame everyday items that were all free like our restaurant post cards, printed family recipes and tear sheets from magazines. If you look closely on our new shelf above the refrigerator you’ll also see a framed photo booth strip of Amy’s sweet grandma – taken at our wedding. She keeps an eye on the cooking.
Projects 11-13: Paint and Crown Molding. A lot of time, a little frustration, but a beautiful finished product. We didn’t agree on hanging the molding in the beginning but are now both really happy it’s up. We also painted the walls with Gentle Tide by Glidden and added a chalk board to our built-in spice rack. Barton approves.
Whew, that was a fun mini-makeover. We’ve got lots of other spaces to tackle in our home so stay tuned for adventures in bedroom painting, new toilets, pedestal sinks and light fixtures.
Anyone else kitchen-proud? Got a great home project to share? We’d love to hear about it, see pics and even share it with our other readers right here on the bloggity blog. Got a late 90′s early 2000′s rap reference to go with it? Even better.
P.S. We also just posted our new addition on HGTV Rate My Space just for fun. You know to see what total strangers thing. Check it out!
Light The Way
Another minor kitchen improvement for you this Wednesday afternoon. This week we’ve added some cheapo LED spot lights for big impact in our kitchen.
Certain spots under our cabinets have long been dark and dreary. Now that we’ve added some fun art work to jazz up our counters we thought it fitting to highlight those items with their own little lights.
Enter four LED spot lights from Home Depot. The cost? $14.99 for a pack of two, and they come with the batteries. We were not about to hassle with under cabinet wiring and plugs, especially since we’re working with 60-year-old cabinets.
The lights attach to the base of the cabinet with small round Velcro patches which we’ve used, but I’m thinking we’re going to switch to the small screw mounting also included for added strength. We havent’ had one fall yet but that would be no bueno should it happen.
We only really needed two for our counters, one on each side. But instead of taking the second pack back we’re trying them out under our open shelves on the other side of the cocina.
The only downside? We have to hop up on a stool to click these off and on, but they are mostly for effect when we entertain, so that shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.
One of us is off work for the next two days, so look for all the deets on our new kitchen sometime this weekend. Plus don’t forget to comment here, to get your name in the kitty for our dsolv yard bagging system giveaway - who doesn’t want a clean lawn for the new year?
Keeping It Interesting
A few months ago we added a little honeymoon art to our home office by framing a photo of the Puerto Escondido beach to hang on the wall. Don’t remember that post? Check it out here.
Well, after walking by the frame every morning – it hangs right outside our bedroom door – we’ve decided to jazz it up a bit. Using an IKEA RIBBA frame, gave us the option of using a shadowbox style insert which will push the photo back into the frame about an inch.
Looked good. To make it a bit more eye-catching though we also added a couple of coats of Glidden’s Gentle Tide paint – the same color used in our newly painted kitchen.
Speaking of that newly-painted kitchen, you’ll notice a little teaser in the background. More pics to come soon. We promise.
A New Place for Pints
Don’t worry Shawn – we’re not dreaming of ending our weekly ritual of pint night at Tyler’s. We’re only referring to the new home for our pint glass collection – for which you are partly responsible.
You guys might remember from checking out this post, that we relocated our once dish-cabinet from the kitchen to the living room in order to make room for our new desk and chair. But we haven’t shown you any pics of where the cabinet ended up until now.
We love our rustic little cabinet, which is really an old pie safe that Amy’s mom gave her to help stock one of her first apartments. It used to be unfinished pine and have little wooden hearts attached to the wire windows. Amy’s mom ripped the hearts off (sounds harsh we know…) and gave it a nice coat of stain so that we can enjoy the awesome cabinet that we have today.
The items we’ve placed on top are basically just things that we love. The framings are: a Big Bend, Texas poster, a Ray Lamontagne concert poster, the photo strip from our wedding photo booth – that you also see every time you check out the bloggity blog, and a picture of all the guys holding their letters on med school match day.
We just balanced the white frames on each side and also added touches of green with a candle and some tree trimmings. The shell was picked up on a recent trip to Virginia Beach. We had everything on hand meaning zero dollars were spent which always looks good to us.
Psst! Our Durham Magazine weekly blog feature is up today, they’re chatting up our White-d Elephant Christmas Party. Enjoy reliving the experience here.
