Remember how I tested the waters of a possible kitchen renovation? Guess what– we’re going for it. Resale value wise, it’s not super intelligent to put any more money into our home. Yet we plan to be here for a few more years so it’s hard to resist the siren song of a freshening up of the space we use most often. Our living room renovation was such a game-changer; we use that room all the time and it’s such a comfortable and safe space for our family. I can’t even imagine living with it the way it was, now that we’ve seen what life is like with a wall-mounted t.v., gas fireplace, and built-in bookcases. With a few tweaks here and there, we hope our kitchen will be the same.
Ahhhh… an inspiration photo to set the mood:
Here are the things we are definitely going to do:
- paint the cabinets
- install hardwood floors
- install new sink and faucet
- add granite countertops
In fact, I think I’ve found our floors. It’s the sample on the right of this photo, a chocolate brown:
I love the small sample in the middle but it might be too sleek and perfect– it almost looks like laminate because it’s super smooth with no grain showing through. My husband is compromising with me on the dark floors so I don’t want to push him to much on this one!
And our “maybes”:
- new light fixture to replace the ceiling fan
- new stainless steel fridge and washing machine to match our new oven (we have a Sears Outlet in town that I plan to stalk to see if I can find something with a great price due to a small ding in the back somewhere)
- backsplash. I might be crazy enough to attempt to tile it myself.
Plus the “no” list, things most kitchen renovations would address but we’re ignoring:
- kitchen island
- new cabinets and/or built ins
- replace sliding glass doors with a nicer version
- a nice shiny hood over the stove– we don’t have room for one with our mounted microwave
With that said, I’m a complete newbie at this. My questions are endless, but here’s a few that I’m hoping you kitchen pros can help me with!
- Double or single sink? My mom swears by her double, I’m wondering what the benefits are?
- Granite. Love it or hate it? What kind did you get? Does it hold up well? Is light granite a nightmare to keep clean?
- If you’ve painted your cabinets, do you have the perfect white to recommend for them?
- How the heck did you maintain life as normal during the process? I’m worried about washing sippy cups and things… any advice?
- What’s your must-have thing that you are SO glad you did in your kitchen? Open shelves? Glass doors? Some cool new thing I don’t even know about yet?
Tomorrow I’m off to check out granite. Which means I need to decide between this look:
and this one:
Thanks for your advice, ideas, and encouragement. Except my mom is probably screaming “nooooooo” in her head about the possibility of white granite countertops, haha! And now, LET’S GET READY TO RENOVATE (after you so kindly answer all my questions above). Who’s with me?! {hold my hand, please, friends!}
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Good luck! You really should enjoy the space you live in now and not always think about how it will affect the resale value. With how much time everybody spends in the kitchen, I’m sure you will LOVE making it your own. You will probably look back and be glad that you took the plunge.
My husband and I replaced our double sink with a single tub one. We don’t put our pots and pans in the dishwasher so its nice to have the single tub so that they can sit flat when we are washing them. I’m dreaming of getting granite one day; but with a $5k price tag they will have to wait for a bit.
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Those kitchen pictures are BEAUTIFUL!! Man, I’d love some granite countertops!! We have a double-sink and it drives me crazy…I’d rather have a big, deep sink. Can’t wait to see the pictures in action and the final product! Have fun!!
PS – “a few more years” – NOOOOO!!!! Get back down to NC!!! 🙂
Agree with Kendra & NN. GIANT single sink is the way to go. Everyone is always quite jealous of ours. You can hide all sorts of dishes in it to make a dirty kitchen look presentable in a pinch, plus kids can bathe in it & eat dinner at the same time. (Yes, this is how I live.)
I like our dark granite (Uba Tuba is the ACTUAL name)–I think it contrasts nicely with light cabinets, thus making both pop. Also, if you are concerned at all about radon emissions from granite, I have heard that the red/purple/pink varieties (i.e. newer and more exotic) have higher levels of it. Although we have a traditional color, I’m still convinced we’re all gonna die from the radiation in our not well ventilated basement kitchen, OF COURSE.
Oh I love all those pictures! Were also slowly renovating our kitchen. We replaced the faucet with a beautiful goose neck shaped one. I also want to move to a big single sink. I love the white granite look. Loverly! I can’t wait to see what you pick 😀
good for you! i can’t wait to see it!!!
I agree with Olivemom, the dark granite will contrast nicely.
We painted our cabinets last year. One advice is to make sure you prime them with a good primer, oil base is the best. It stinks but it is the best prime. Also make sure you buy good paint, nothing cheap or it will chip. We used paint made for wood cabinets.
I can not wait to see your outcome!!
We’ve only had dark granite. I’ve read and heard that lighter granite can stain. I second (or third) getting one large sink. We LOVED the farmhouse sink we had in Ambler! It was great for soaking pots and pans and clearing counters. I had a double sink in IL and hated it.
I also wanted to mention that we were at an ice cream shop that had stainless steel fans. The place looked like the inside of an antique store with modern fans and lighting. It was very cool and could look need with a stainless steel farmhouse sink. Just a thought….
Ummm..that should be “could look neat.” Yeah. It’s been that kind of month.
Love the title! I just heard the “It’s on like Donkey Kong” while my kids were watching Alvin and the Chipmunks last night in the car! Your kitchen is gonna rock!
Just found your blog and am loving going through the posts! I have to agree with the others on the sink. My last two have been divided and they drive me crazy! It’s so hard to wash cookie sheets and large pots/pans. Also, I know not everyone likes the look but I prefer stainless sinks. I had the other type and while not awful, I would get chips from time to time from having big pots clunk around. Good luck!
I have a hard time with my non-stainless steel sink, too! The surface is so hard that I have to put a plastic sink thing on the bottom to prevent chipping my dishes and breaking glasses. Thanks for the input, and also for taking time to browse around the blog!
My parents just renovated their kitchen and bought the most amazing sink… it’s a granite composite (so it won’t chip) and it won’t mark up either. It’s also is a “hybrid”… it’s basically a single tub starting at about half-way up. This way, everything doesn’t get piled on top of your garbage disposal because there is still the separation, but if you need to lay something big across the sink, you can do that too.
http://www.swanstoneproducts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SP&Product_Code=QZLS-3322-Granite-Large-Small-Bowl&Category_Code=KSQ5