Kitchen Remodel- The Beginning

It's time for a kitchen remodel. We finally picked out granite and had it installed last weekend. We decided to start there and work the rest of the decor around the granite. Here is kitchen before.

 

And kitchen after new granite install. We originally were debating about painting or staining the cupboards, or a mixture of both, but I think we will leave them. They ended up matching the counter tops. That is something we can do later as easily as we could now.  We are going to sell our old appliances and get black ones, add hardware to the cupboards and drawers, and add a tile back splash that is yet to be decided.

Sink and bar before

Sink and counter after

We had some issues with this side of the kitchen. The granite was cut 3/4 inch too shallow so we will have to built up under the bar before adding a backsplash. The sink is much bigger than the old one and, as you can see, the hole for the faucet was cut under the bar. We are replacing old bar with a custom wood one. We will install it farther back, but still need to find a faucet that will fit this tight space. The one we purchased didn't work, even with Rick cutting some space in the old bar. We will be without running water in the kitchen for most of the week until we find time to shop for the right one. Lots of eating out.

 We thought it was funny that one of the little scrap wood pieces from Rick cutting up the bar ended up looking like Texas.(This is the only pic that wouldn't flip right side up. Tilt your head to the left and you'll get the Texas thing.)

Originally, we were going to replace the tile. We do not like wood for a kitchen floor so we were going to pick new tile. The kind we liked ended up not matching the granite. We think we'll just keep what we have because it turned out to be the right colors to go with the granite. I spent HOURS on Saturday cleaning the grout, which made a big difference. Some of the stains did not come out though. Any ideas? I saw they had a product that stains and seals grout. We have the same tile in the laundry room, so maybe I'll try it there before the kitchen. The big bummer will be if I do all this work and then we decide to tear it out anyway.

I'm excited about our home projects. In a month or so, our house should be much more what we have wanted since we moved in 3.5 years ago.