What was it I said about the kitchen being done in a week? Jeez! Little did I know the pendant lights would take almost three months to come in! So, my new kitchen is old news (to me) except the pendants, which were hung on Monday. They really do complete the room. I am so thrilled with how the room turned out. Thank you David Lowenadler! If you need fabulous work done in Fairfield County, call Dave!
I didn’t need a kitchen design firm. I knew what I wanted. I can design a kitchen. We were working with the same footprint and appliances except my dream induction cooktop, which I will gush over later. We refaced and painted cabinets, which helped tremendously with the cost. The boxes of the cabinets were in perfect condition, we just wanted to change the color. Dave recommended new door fronts on the existing cabinets. This was a wise decision. The boxes were sanded and painted by Michael O’Brian Painting. He was fantastic too. If you need quality painting at a reasonable price, call Mike! Dave and Mike both agreed painted doors would not hold up to a high traffic kitchen. Most of the exposed wood was resurfaced with thin wood covers (like veneers on your teeth). New doors and crown moulding was added, and new hardware.
Two of the doors have seeded glass. They look like windows on a rainy day.
The sinks were dated with above counter mounting so we decided to replace the countertops. I wanted white. Every marble dealer from Milford to Rye tried to talk me out of white marble. I looked into synthetic but the ones that weren’t priced to high heaven lacked the depth and beauty of natural stone. I decided on White Danby. It is slightly more durable than Carrera. I could write a whole post about white countertops and just might. They are high maintenance. The price of beauty, I say. The backsplash got bedazzled as well with more white marble.
I love a good apron front sink. I thought it would not be an option for our remodel, working with existing cabinetry. God love Kohler. They recently debuted a retrofit option for a stainless steel apron front sink. http://www.us.kohler.com/us/Vault™-Kitchen-Sinks/content/vault_productstory.htm It is gorgeous and exactly what I wanted and fit exactly with our existing cabinetry. Note to those that want this sink, it took five weeks to come in. It is special order. Plan ahead! Waiting for it delayed our kitchen work a week.
On to the one new appliance in our new kitchen: The GE Monogram 36″ stainless steel induction cooktop. This baby has enough horsepower to take me to the moon and back. Okay, that might not be true but it boils water in four minutes. I have read all the literature about how induction works and all I can say is I am now cooking with magic. That is the only way I can explain the water boiling but the cooktop staying cool. No worry of burn for my little guy.
That artiste Mike O’Brien said leave the wall color to him, so I did. Gray is in right now so I have the kitchen de’ jour with the walls bathed in Benjamin Moore Gray Huskie. It looks great with my China White cabinets. I am sure I am leaving something out. If you have a question, ask me. This was a great experience, Dave made it painless. Grilling on the deck also helped when I had no stove or much counter to work on. Summer remodels are so much easier than winter ones. For all of you, who are headed into a kitchen remodel, may the force be with you…you are going to need it.
