Today I am sharing the next installment in my series about my kitchen remodel. As a reminder, this is for the awesome Calling It Home One Room Challenge, and I am am so excited to share the whole process with you!

One of the biggest and most important parts of a kitchen are the counter tops. You can’t really be too careful when it comes to choosing them. The type of counter tops you have create a huge impact not just in how your kitchen appears visually, but also how functional it is.

Like me, you’ve probably heard a lot about marble counter tops recently. They seem to be all the rage, and while they are beautiful, I was surprised to learn that they aren’t really the most practical choice when it comes to kitchen counters.

After some research (always do your research!) I found that while marble especially the Carrara marble may look beautiful, it takes a lot of maintenance to stay that way. If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it’s not always perfect and clean! The biggest issue for me is that it scratches pretty easily, and that anything acidic or highly pigmented – like fruits or juice – can leave a permanent stain on the marble even if it’s only left on for a short period of time because it’s a soft and porous material . The pros of marble countertops are they’re beautiful, classic and more affordable compared to granite and quartz. I have a girlfriend that has the Carrara Marble in her kitchen she regrets the choice. It stains too easily. They might be perfect for you, but I decided that they just weren’t going to work with the functionality of my kitchen lifestyle.

Aside from marble, there are a couple other popular options for kitchen countertops. In the end, I decided to go with quartz countertops. Even though quartz is slightly more expensive than marble or some of the other options, the payoff is completely worth. These are the best countertops I have ever had! I love working and cooking in my kitchen because they are so durable and beautiful at the same time!

The exact type of counters I went with are from Home Depot and it’s called Viatera Quartz.

Viatera is Italian for “By Way of the Earth”. Viatera is LG Hausys’ brand of Quartz surface. Composed of 93% natural crushed Quartz combined with resin binders, Viatera is non-porous and stain resistant and does not require sealing. It is also extremely durable being resistant to heat and scratches and easy to care for using common household cleansers.

Home Depot was so easy to work with and made the whole experience very smooth and enjoyable. I also got my sink from there!

One of the great things about quartz is its durability. You can set hot things on it without ruining it, and it’s very hard to stain.

An important thing to remember about installing counters is that your bottom cabinets have to be completely installed before they can even come and measure for the countertops. As you saw last week, we installed our cabinets first in order to avoid any problems.

As you can see, the cabinets were getting a coat of primer. I’ll be sharing more next week about all my storage in my kitchen. You will love some of my ideas.

The sink also already needs to be ordered and installed by this point (I went with farmhouse sink – I can’t go back to a normal one ever again!) You should also know how many holes you want cut for the sink and faucet area when they come to measure. If you don’t know or give the wrong number, you’ll most likely have to pay for them to come back out to cut the holes, which is inconvenient and avoidable. I needed four holes all together. I chose to have an extra one for the garbage disposal button that we got instead of having to flip a switch. It’s a simple change that has made a big difference!

I would suggest asking where the seams are going to be as well. Obviously, the quartz doesn’t all come in one perfect piece – I wish! – and if you’re like me, you probably want to make sure that you’ll be happy with where they decide to join the pieces together. The kitchen island should always be one piece, but it doesn’t hurt to confirm!

As for the corners of the counters, I didn’t want them to be perfectly square, but I don’t love totally round ones, either. We decided to go with a happy medium of the two. That way, there won’t be any super sharp edges that little kids might run into, and it still has a beautiful custom look.

I’ve had a lot of different types of countertops in my life, and I have to say, this quartz is by far my favorite! I am so happy with the decision we made and wouldn’t change a thing!

Wood floors were installed shortly after the counters. I had everything lined up with all my contractors and there wasn’t much room for changing schedules on me.

After the counters were installed, it was time for the back-splash. I knew that I wanted a clean and classic look that was pretty subtle but still looked beautiful. In the end I decided on a white subway tile. The counters had to be completely done before the tile could be installed, and I couldn’t be happier with the way everything came together!

I’m so excited to check in again with next weeks post! Here are the blog posts about this kitchen remodel

Kitchen Remodel – Before

Kitchen Remodel – During

OCTOBER 13, 2016 (EDIT)

KITCHEN REMODEL: DURING

Today I’m sharing some photos taken during my kitchen remodel from the One Room Challenge from Calling It Home! To get an idea of how it originally looked, check out the before images and information here.

Edited to add: Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see all the blog posts related to this kitchen. There are a lot!!

One of the major changes we made was to add a custom hood over the cooktop. Even though the home was originally custom-built, the previous owners had the microwave installed over the stove, which is one of the biggest things that can make a house look a little more generic and like a tract home. In a previous home, I had a custom hood that we just absolutely loved, so I had a replica built by our cabinet maker.

All the custom pieces were made by the cabinet maker, and then he brought them over when it was time to install.

In order to get the custom piece to fit, the wall had to be cut into the interior soffit (top left photo), and we had to work with reinstalling the insulation – but it was, without a doubt, 100% worth it. Here’s a look at some of the work that went into getting the hood in place and on its way to being done:

We put in a brand-new farmhouse sink and this faucet. I love how the faucet looks, but have to say I should’ve listened to the reviews. They weren’t the best reviews, but I thought I might get lucky with the faucet. It is beautiful – but the sprayer leaks! edited to add: The faucet was wonderful with no problems for the 6 years we lived here. The sprayer just needed a new little piece to make it all work fine.

Another upgrade we made was to install a white subway tile backsplash. This was actually one of the last things that went in since it couldn’t be installed until all the countertops were done. I’ll make sure to include more details about the process of choosing and installing the countertops in the next post of this series!

Besides the hood, the other major change we made to the kitchen is the island! I can’t wait to share all the little details and surprises it has later on! The big changes here came from changing the layout, removing the step, and removing the hanging chairs. We used the existing island but just rearranged the cabinets for the best use.

We were able to use almost all of the original cabinetry in the new island layout. We had our cabinet maker rearrange some of it and build some new sections and doors to get it just right.

I’m not a fan of using the built-in cutting board that a lot of islands come with, so I wanted that removed. In order to get rid of the gap it left, the cabinet make just had to make a new drawer front. Super easy, but it made all the difference!

I also decided that I didn’t want the bookshelf part of the island to be close to the stove, so I just had it moved to the other side, and it looks great! I’ve added some platters and a couple of faux plants and books. I really like how it turned out facing the other direction so I could decorate the shelves.

The final island is amazing, but here are some pictures of the process it took to get there:

TIP: There were a lot of parts of the cabinets that we didn’t need anymore, and I decided to put everything I didn’t want up on some online classifieds. Everything was gone super quickly, and that way I didn’t have to worry about having all these extra pieces hanging around. This way, everything is reused and doesn’t have to be taken to the dump!

Here are a few other shots of the kitchen as a whole during the remodeling process:

One of the biggest transformations to any room are the colors, and I love the way that choosing to lighten the cabinets changed the whole room. The paint I chose for the walls is  Edgecomb Gray from Benjamin Moore.  For the cabinets and crown molding, I went with White Dove, also from Benjamin Moore.

For all the cabinet doors, we set up a “spray room” in the basement where the painters could take everything and spray them in there. It reduced the mess and made clean up really easy!

I’m having so much fun sharing this process with you! Be sure to stick around for the finished kitchen reveal and all the details!

Post 1: Dream Kitchen Remodel – Before

Post 2: Dream Kitchen Remodel – During

Post 3: Dream Kitchen Remodel – Countertops/Tile

Post 4: Dream Kitchen Remodel – Reveal

Post 5: Dream Kitchen – Finishing Touches

Post 6: Dream Kitchen – Hidden Kitchen Storage Solutions

Post 7: Dream Kitchen Farmhouse Sink

Post 8: Kitchen Storage Ideas for Baking Zone

Post 9: Hidden Kitchen TV

Post 10: Kitchen Knife Drawer Solution

Post 11: Easy To Install Pre-Made Kitchen Slide-Outs

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