A Kitchen Update

Demolition is still a few weeks out, so I'm not going to show any photos yet.

To date, we have made our selection for and purchase of the appliances: refrigerator, range, range hood, and dishwasher. My original plan was to go with white, but ended up going with slate, since all the cabinetry in the kitchen proper will be white ['sea salt' precisely] as well as the sink. Every appliance needed to be replaced, so this is not just an "I want new." issue. Our refrigerator is probably the youngest and it's somewhere around 17 years old, and leaks when it auto-defrosts.

We've made a decision on the counter-top. It's a quartz product by Cambria, New Quay. It's a white-toned counter-top with gray to taupe pigment to look like a real stone product. Some online images make it look tan, but it really isn't though it may pick up a slight tan hue on the oak cabinetry we'll be putting in on the dining room wall. 

On Friday, Nick and I went to make the purchase for the sink and the faucet. The sink will be Koehler Riverby top-mount double bowl. The faucet is Moen Brantford. The MSRPs are considerably higher than what was actually paid! It was a real struggle deciding on a sink; specifically whether to go with a top-mount or an under-mount. I even created a poll on Facebook which ended up equally split between the 20 respondents - big help they were! Too many pros and cons with each. I finally decided on the top-mount because well, mostly, I like the look, but also from one respondent who has a son who is a plumber, he says the top-mounts have less leakage issues, also I realized that the 9/16" that it sits above the counter-top is no different than the current range-top and I have no issues with that though I know a sink is different. We will not be able to swish anything straight into the sink from the counter-top...I say to my guys, "Deal with it!" and infer to them to stop being such lazy slobs in the kitchen. It may also be easier to replace should that need ever arise, but at my age, I'm not expecting to have to do any more changes prior to death!

Still to decide on are the wall and floor tiles, purchase a new garbage disposal, hardware, paint color for walls. At present we have one potential 'unknown' that could add more to this already pricey, but much-needed update/upgrade, and that's with the electrical wiring. The current tiny kitchen, a small "circle" of a floor plan, about the size of a very large walk-in closet, has a soffit around it which we fear may hold the wiring for much of the upstairs. If so, it will have to be re-run somewhere, somehow, and that could add more cost. Our design is to make the kitchen an open galley kitchen to the dining room. It currently has a peninsula with counter-top burners and corresponding upper cabinets which separate the rooms, and with a breakfast bar that we've never used as such.

The next few weeks will hold making those final decisions and purchases along with packing up the kitchen and rearranging living room areas to accommodate a minimal 'kitchen' area, with only a bathroom sink for clean-up. I see a lot of take out and microwave meals in our future. Some furniture needs to be shuffled upstairs to the bedrooms for now...who knows, maybe some of it will stay up there.