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sir_roy

Kitchen renovation (Possibly a remodel?) journey - Advice appreciated!

2 months ago
last modified: 2 months ago

Hi All,

We have bought a home less than a year ago, and we have been slowly working on it. We have quickly filled out schedule for the upcoming year. A bit of information about me: I am NOT great at interior design. That's why I came running here for your help!

For the kitchen, we are starting with replacing the countertop because I CANNOT stand tiled countertops…

here's what our current kitchen looks like (3D model I've mocked up to the best of my ability.)



(Forgot the microwave above the stovetop in the model..)

We have chosen Allure Quartzite for our countertop material. Mostly because it's what we can afford, and it's a crystalline quartzite. Here she is:



It is mostly white, with a hint of taupe (hard to see in the picture, obvious in person), and dark gray/blue streaks as you can see in the picture. We will be receiving an undamaged slab, very similar in appearance to the picture above.



It has some hint of green in some areas, although not a lot. I fell in love with this slab because I loved the crackled look. We'd love to go with Taj Mahal or Perla Venata, but it's out of our budget that I have set (and keen on sticking to..)

Here's the kitchen that we are slowly renovating..



My cat greets you.



(Sorry about the mess in advance..!)











As you can see, we have a TILE countertop with some very obvious grout. And, as you can imagine, it gets GROSS. Here's a picture before it was cleaned (sometimes, even cleaning it doesn’t help much.. it STILL looks dirty)



(And the dishwasher has a broken plastic part up top.. I guess the previous owner pressed too hard? dunno.)

The current state of the kitchen is.. Yucky! And I would love to get some advice on what we can do to make it less yucky.

Here are a few facts about the house:

  • we have painted our interiors in Alabaster White (Sherwin Williams)
  • it is roughly 28 years old. The flooring, countertop, and base cabinets remained the same.
  • The kitchen has solid oak flooring.
  • Ceiling height is 92 inches (7'8")

So, here's our plan so far..

Backsplash



We have Mutina Tex in OLIVE + CREAM & WHITE. Should we just take OLIVE out of the equation here?



we were thinking about doing something like so:



Sink

"Kohler Pro-Function Kitchen Sink Kit" UNDERMOUNT installation.



Base Cabinets



We are keeping the base cabinets because it looks like it's decent and not in need of replacement, but we are switching out the doors. The current ones arent looking so great.

  • It will be soft-close hinges.
  • Full overlay.
  • Oak (to match base cabinets..)
  • Flat slab, or maybe slim shaker.



We have not decided on the color. Advise on this? We were thinking of going with dark-stained wood.

Should we change the color of upper cabinets to match the tile color (Either cream or White?)

Hardware

We have not picked out hardware color yet.

Over Sink Pot Rack

Our current one is too small (got it off marketplace for very cheap..). Should we even bother grabbing a bigger one? Get rid of it? keep it open?

Vent/Microwave situation

We are thinking of installing a hood that vents externally (We have Recirculating Venting), although we have not chosen one. We might pick something up for sale. We would like to keep it under $500, but don’t mind looking outside this price and possibly buying something that's a bit pricier.

We are thinking an under the cabinet vent of some sort.

If we get rid of our microwave/vent combo, then it means more countertop space taken up by an appliance.

Lighting

We may add lighting underneath the upper cabinets.

Flooring

It's solid wood, so we are keeping it.. But it is in need of refinishing.

That's all I've got to share for now. We are in the beginning stages of renovating (possibly remodeling… we may move the pantry more to the right) and we are trying to get ideas. We will be renovating in increments because we are also doing other projects around the house.. So, nothing is finalized! Here's the general idea of what we are trying to work towards to:

  • Neutral colors, possibly leaning towards warm (Our chosen countertop material is leaning towards neutral + cool.)
  • Simple and casual.
  • Homey and cozy.
  • warm white lighting in the kitchen.

Thank you for reading, and please do leave your thoughts/comments!

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