As I've mentioned, the kitchen is still a work in progress, but here is the first little peak at what Nick and I have been up to. We got new, white counter tops along with a new stainless steel sink and faucet. I love it! Since the counter tops are solid surface, they can support an under mount sink, which I think looks clean and streamlined while allowing me to wipe off counter crumbs directly into the sink, rather than working around that raised edge that always looked grimy.
Speaking of grimy, eek! This is the reason we decided on a stainless steel sink. I know they come with their own set of cleaning issues, but nothing can be as bad as the stains in the enamel sink. A good scrub with baking soda or Bon Ami would take care of some of the issues, but in the end, that grime was pretty much permanent, especially that nasty, peeling drain spout for the food disposal. Oh, and we got a brand new food disposal, too. A "Badger" no less. How could we not love that?
Here's a before and after of our faucet. Notice the chipping and permanent black ooze around the seams. As soon as I scrubbed that clean (with toothpicks to get into the cracks) it would just show up again. The new faucet makes a world of difference, with it's smooth, shiny angles and curves. It also looks more streamlined due to the under mounting, which allows the faucet to connect directly into the counter without the cover plate.
And, last for today, here's a look at the seam where the counter meets up with the wall. Isn't that first picture charming? Frankly, that seam frightened me. It was cracked and black, with old paint remnants clearly visible. It would expand and contract with extreme temperature changes, meaning that sometimes it was even more huge and gaping than usual. For our new counters, we chose to eliminate the little three inch backboard and instead tile the back splash right down to the counter top. It is so bright and clean now, with that smooth bead of caulk sealing everything up nice and tightly. This might be my favorite improvement of the whole kitchen.
2 comments:
Looks great! Want to do ours next?
Thanks Jaime! We really like it. This weekend we tackle tiling the last little wall, and then we will be finished with this phase of the project. Still on the list: a new floor, and new light fixtures, to be completed at some undetermined point in the future.
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