Granite in the Kitchen

At last, the granite is in and the kitchen is complete! And I am still doing the happy dance. I am so excited to get this done and I know I’m going to really enjoy having this wonderful surface in my kitchen. So much better than tile on the countertops, along with a white sink and faucet, not practical. Are you ready for the tour? Here’s a reminder of what it looked like BEFORE granite:

And AFTER, below:

Other side, BEFORE:

And AFTER:

As you can imagine, I’m just thrilled with the outcome. It took them 4 hours to get the granite installed and several things had to be done to get it in just right, but those guys did an outstanding job and I’d highly recommend the company I used.

Our old white toaster had seen better days, so I got a new stainless steel one from Target to match the other appliances in our kitchen. I also added the pulls on the drawers for a little update and I love them. I ended up replacing all the knobs since 2 years ago I ordered some matte black knobs and they all started chipping off with an ugly gray metal showing through. I had bought them on Ebay. I also bought all of these on Ebay from another seller. He assured me that these oil rubbed bronze knobs and pulls should not turn. Let’s hope that is the case! At least they were a good deal. The standard edge I chose is called Demi-bullnose, which is just rounded with a slight bevel from the top edge.

Close up of Napoli granite. I’m really, really happy with this color. Love all the black flecks in it too.

One corner with my tole tray.

The new black Blanco silgranite sink, which I’m also thrilled with. It’s nice and deep and I can place my 9x13 pans flat in the bottom, unlike my old sink. Undermount rocks! The faucet is Moen Annabelle and I really love it too, with the pulldown sprayer.

I’m SO going to enjoy the undermount feature and the fact that all crumbs can be pushed right into the sink.

I’ve heard great things from friends about these Blanco granite sinks and I’m looking forward to putting mine to the test. I love the way it looks too.

With all the black in the granite and in my kitchen appliances of stainless and black, the black sink looks right at home.

Coffee station

Got this cute little iron stand at a yardsale years ago for a couple bucks. I love the little birdie on it.

The whole kitchen looking towards diningroom.

Looking towards breakfast nook with the new corner cabinet. I'm always asked about the paint color in here: it's Laura Ashley Olive 4, from Lowes.

And the French cupboard that you've seen before.

Rearranged this piece a little during the process.

So, there’s the kitchen! Hope you enjoyed the complete tour and the new granite. I know granite is a splurge and we don’t often splurge on a lot of big things, so to me it was well worth it to get such a great update in the kitchen. Not to mention, I’ll enjoy it every single day!

It’s G Day at my House

Do you know what that means?

Yippee and woo-hoooo, it’s time for granite! I’m beside myself with excitement. Monday is the BIG day for tear-out and the beginning of the installation. I’ve picked my slabs and the granite should be ready for install next Thursday, so it’s gonna be an exciting week at my house.

This is the Napoli granite I’m getting and I hope and pray I’ve made some good choices. I think I have. Here’s the faucet I decided on, the Moen Annabelle.

I liked the ease and simpleness of a 2-hole faucet installation and I like the looks of this one in brushed stainless steel. And this is the pulldown sprayer version. Anyone have a pulldown and do you love it? One of my friends has one and she raved about hers.

So, there you have it! Be thinking about me next week as we rough it for a few days. My hubby is not excited about the disruption to his daily life, so I’ll have to pamper him a little. ;) Say a prayer for me if you think about it, that everything goes smoothly.

I visited the Birmingham Decorators Showhouse on Friday and it was very fun to see. It's going on for another week in case any of you B'ham girls want to check it out. I'd recommend it for an inspiring afternoon. And no, they didn't allow pics, darn it, but I took one of the outside of this mansion in Mountain Brook. !

Me and Sandi from Whistlestop Cafe Cooking and a couple of my readers, Kathi and Virginia, met up at the Birmingham Flea Market this a.m., so I'll let you all know how that went later in the week. I have a few pics to share of that. Let's just say I won't be going back to this one, although we all came away with a little something. Sandi and I found a jewelry guy who had some really neat stones that were strung up ready for necklaces, so she and I bought some of that. I'll show you when they are ready. Glad we checked it out, but it's not a great flea market. I did get up early and hit a big neighborhood sale at Brook Highlands before we even met at the flea market and I scored some good things there, so it was a very fun day.

I’ll be blogging as usual next week. Thrifty party on Monday, so be here with me as I welcome a very special friend of mine to share her thrifting goodies.

If you'd like some more inspiration from around blogland, check out my Tumblr page, lots of great projects going on out there that just might get you fired up for a new one.

And there’s still time to sign up for the Dayspring giveaway below. Don’t miss out, it closes out Sunday evening!

Granite Choices

I can't stop taking pics! Hubby still likes Napoli (middle) the best and his opinion is a big one....but keep reading!

(New Venetian Gold)

This is a lot harder than I thought!

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions and opinions of granite, what you like and what you don’t. There sure are a LOT of opinions out there, that’s for sure. With that in mind, I’ve already changed my mind about the oil-rubbed bronze faucet. We do have hard water here and I do not want my faucet looking bad in 5 years. My hubby would be really aggravated if I got a faucet and then it was a mess in a few years, so I really need to get something that will stand the test of time and use. And after seeing a picture from Chris at Just Beachy, who has that exact faucet I was looking at…well, I’ve changed my plans now. I’m going to look for a brushed nickel and I think I’ll really enjoy that too. These first 3 pics are the actual slabs that I took a pic of today in the sunlight. They are all beautiful, so I know I’ll be happy with whatever I get, but I’m only doing this once and want to make the best choice for us.

(Autumn Harmony) This is much more black/gold than it looks here.

So, after thinking I had it all figured out, after reading each and every comment from YOU, I went back to the granite place and brought home a few more samples, most of what I’d already looked at. I think now it’s between New Venetian Gold (which someone showed me a pic of their kitchen with this in place and her kitchen looks SO much like mine with the same colored backsplash and everything, that I have to consider it too.

(Napoli)

I still love the Napoli too and am going to stare at all of these all weekend until we can make a decision. I think any of them will work and look good. It’s hard to get a good pic of the backsplash. It does NOT in person look pink at all, but it’s a very strong golden tone, but I can’t seem to capture it well with the camera.

When I brought the New Venetian Gold home the first time, we thought it might be too gold, but I’m not sure now. The backsplash really looks pink here, but it’s not. It’s frustrating to try to get this on camera. I think it does have a red undertone, but it’s not pink.

Here’s the backsplash above the sink with the light shining on it…see how gold it looks here. I know…lighting is different all around, so some pics are deceiving with color.

Autumn Harmony (black & gold), Napoli, and New Venetian Gold.

Napoli and New Venetian Gold

Autumn Harmony & Napoli

I’m sure I’ll have a lot of differing opinions on this, but I thought I’d throw it out there anyway. I know I’ll never have a consensus from all of you, but feel free to give me your opinion. Me and my hubby will have to agree in the end, so I’ll let you know the final choice. I may very well keep the Napoli choice! I’ll be spending some time over at GardenWeb this weekend and looking through some kitchen posts. I know that site well and it’s a great source of information.

Kitchen Inspiration & Updates

Before we dive into today's post about kitchens, let me just tell you about a fun giveaway coming on Monday. I'm partnering with an exciting online decor company that you'll be reading about then AND they want to give a little something to my readers! So, don't forget to stop back by on Monday to sign up for the giveaway. You're gonna love it!

Kitchens are such an important part of a home, the center of living, where all the food preparation and lots of hanging out is done, so isn’t it nice to have a pretty and functional kitchen? While I would be very happy to have any of the kitchens below, mine does not resemble any of them, however, I’ll be happy to do a little facelift in there and have it a bit more functional.

(Southern Accents)

I think this one above is my favorite. So classic and traditional.

(Southern Accents)

And of course, I just love all the open shelving on this one, even though it’s probably not all that practical. Anyone have open shelving and do you like it?

(Coastal Living)

This one is so pretty and inviting too, with the warm walls and the large island. Dreamy!

(South Africa Black) Not sure where this came from

I adore the above black kitchen, take a look at how much light comes in and how open it feels. Ahhh, that is so pretty! And so we come to my kitchen. The one getting a little bit of a makeover that I’m jumping up and down about.

Our kitchen is not all that big. It’s a galley style with cabinets on both sides.

This side has an L shape with a curved corner. We’re getting ready to do a little facelift in here and looks like I’ll finally be able to get granite countertops. The previous owner put down tumbled marble tile over the old laminate and after 3 years, the grout is looking pretty dirty. Tumbled marble is also not a great idea for a countertop, as it has so many pits in it. I never feel like it’s clean. It looks pretty, just impractical to live with. So, hubby says we can do this and I’m so excited to get a little update.

It’s a functional kitchen and it gets lots of use, since I'm in here cooking every single day. I’m really loving the new tracklight in here too. The bright white light is great shining on the counters.

The eat-in breakfast area. Not one of those large and spacious kitchens, but it works for us and I’m grateful for it. Someone will ask, so I'll tell you the paint color in here is Laura Ashley Olive 4 (from Lowes).

Do your counters look this cluttered? Real life here!

See my little shelf area? I've got a little something planned for that too, so can't wait to share that with you.

I also hate my white sink and faucet. Would never pick that for a kitchen, so I can’t wait to replace these too. I’m looking at the granite composite sinks (black undermount) and it will be so nice to have everything seamless and get away from a dirty white sinkbowl. This one shows every pot mark and is impossible to keep clean. Now, should I get an oil-rubbed bronze faucet or a brushed nickel one? I’m debating that one. I’m leaning towards oil-rubbed bronze, cause I like that look so much. Any of you with the ORB, have you had any problems with it turning colors on you? I want something that will stand up to years of use. I had brushed stainless in my last house and it was easy maintenance. This will never be a true dream kitchen, but it’s just fine with me and I will be tickled pink to get a new countertop. I don’t sit around dreaming of new houses or dream kitchens anymore. I’m just thankful to have the one I’ve got.

This is the granite we are looking at. It’s called Napoli and I like the colors in it. We are keeping the backsplash we have, so I need something that will work with it. I was thinking about going dark with my white cabinets, but from what I’ve heard, dark granite shows every fingerprint and spot and it’s a nightmare to keep it looking good. Anyone have experience with that? I’d love to hear it all. I even got feedback from the granite people that they had so many complaints about the shiny dark granite and he told me that honed was just about as bad. Honed is pretty too, but more expensive and my hubby really didn’t like the looks of honed, so this is what we settled on.

Close up of the granite. This was very similar to the granite tiles I had in my old kitchen and it never looked dirty, so I don’t think I can go wrong with this. It has enough black and white mixed that it brings out the white in the cabinets, yet the black and gold gives it interest and ties it into the backsplash. So, I think this is the one!

Here’s the granite sink I’m looking at, Blanco Silgranite undermount. Home Depot also has a version by Pegasus that is less expensive, so that might be an option too. Anyone have that one?

And this faucet was a favorite of mine from my old kitchen and I had it in brushed stainless. This time I think I’m going for the oil-rubbed bronze. This is the Marielle by Price Pfister.

Also, have any of you bought kitchen knobs on Ebay? I bought some matte black ones 2 years ago that are already changing colors. The black has worn off especially on the knobs we use a lot. So, I’m going to get oil-rubbed bronze ones to replace. Do any of you have any favorite sellers or sources for knobs that won’t turn for a good price?

Can’t wait to do it in the next few weeks! I’d love to hear from all of you who have granite countertops. What color do you have and do you love it?? Do tell, let me hear all about your kitchens, what you have now that you like and what you’d love to change if you could!

Edited to ADD: In case you're new to my blog, I posted last year about the kitchen renovation we did in my OLD kitchen in Georgia, so this little kitchen update is small compared to that one. You can see the pics here. I was really proud of how that one came out.

Birmingham Girls! I have just found out that the flea market is NOT opening this month, so we will have to reschedule that for another month. Apparently, they are doing construction at the fair grounds, so I'm hoping May will work out if they have it open again by then.

Do You Spin??

Oh, I'm for sure a spinner! In more ways than one. I spin at the gym and I spin at home! I will admit it...I'm a lettuce snob. If I find out that restaurant salads only have iceberg lettuce in them, that's all I need to hear to pass on the salad. I love me some good lettuce! And this little contraption is my best friend at home. The Copco lettuce spinner. I've been using this nifty little gadget for many years and even pick them up a yardsales, so I'll always have one.
See, the bagged lettuces just leave me cold. I like my lettuce freshly chopped, not dried out and brown. Oh, I've used the bagged lettuces many times, but I always go back to fresh heads. That's the only way for me. Freshly rinsed and chopped, with a few spins around and you have some great looking, nearly dry lettuce all read for a pretty salad bowl.
My usual choice is to mix romaine with red leaf, although there are many great lettuces out there. I love the spring mix too, as well as arugula. So, how about you? Do you used bagged lettuce or do you spin your own? You know the bagged lettuce is much more expensive, don't you? And heads of lettuce will last SO much longer in the vegetable bin. That's a known fact. I know that one for sure.
Green, leafy lettuce is good for you.
So, go and eat some salad! And get yourself a spinner if you don't have one. I promise, you'll love it! Oh, favorite store salad dressings for me are Ken's. I love their Lite versions and the Balsamic Vinaigrette is probably my favorite, along with the Olive Oil Lite. The Creamy Parmesan is great too for a creamy dressing.

This week I'll be a busy girl, as I'm working on a job with my new designer friend for 3 days, so I'm very excited about that. I think it's going to be a fun project. And I have a light blue guestbath that I'm going to repaint this week with a color called Wedgewood Gray. It's been 2 shades of blue already and I'm still not happy with it, so I'm going for #3. Wish me luck! I like to do these things while my hubby is out of town so I won't have to hear the question "Why are you painting that for the 3rd time?" Understand??

I'm planning to head back to Florida next week too, so hopefully Kim and I will have more adventures to share.

Don't miss the post below on Changing your Blog Background. I had a lot of people ask about it, so I decided to do a post just on that!