Kitchen remodel products help/advice

[valb]

I'm with Liesje on the sink aspect... get an under mount!!
You'll never regret it. The others (for me) are just too dang
hard to keep that ridge around them clean.

(Gets itchy remodeling fingers looking at kitchen pics!)

[jetscarbie]

I want the quartz countertops when I redo our kitchen. If you're on a tight budget....they sell countertop paint that make laminate look like granite. My hubby and I read all the reviews on the product and they were pretty good. Maybe? I don't know. It's still an option we are considering. (we have a lot of countertops)

I would love one of those faucets that you just touch and it comes on.

[Cassidy's Mom]

My husband is a high-end residential remodeler and put granite countertops in when he did our kitchen remodel. He used to do quite a few Corian ones too. Granite comes in a huge variety of colors and patterns, from light to dark, and from neutral to pretty darned wild! I don't know how the prices compare to Quartz, though.

Here's just a small sampling of granite:



Here's an example with a lot of pattern:



A bunch more here: Granite color selection for countertops

Personally, I love the look of stone, and it's easy to care for too. This is our kitchen, Tom designed the cabinets and he also laid the marble and granite backsplash and the travertine tile floor:

[notthereyet0]

Those are beautiful kitchens. We are struggling to remodel a rather run of the mill split level with natural oak kitchen. We decided on the Mannington Adura flooring that looks like hardwood because of the waterproof quality. My question is...do you go with a contrasting wood color than the cabinets or something that matches? In most of the pictures you see online, they seem to fairly match. Thanks!

[Liesje]

Debbie from what I've looked at Quartz is more expensive unless it's really high end granite. Of course what I want is always the most expensive!

This is the Quartz I want, Amarillo


I like Quartz b/c you don't have to seal it like some granites, don't have to treat or clean it specially like granite (can be cleaned with bleach), it won't stain, you can put hot pots directly on it, and it's uniform (I love the natural look of some granite and stone, but again with our tiny tiny hallway of a kitchen it would look silly).

My aunt did some remodeling in her kitchen (she designed the home about 25 years ago) and remodeled her cabin and has totally sold me on Quartz. She is amazing with design and any kind of project and does a TON of research so I trust her judgement. It will be more expensive than granite but when I ever get around to it, I think it will be worth it.

[Cassidy's Mom]

That's pretty, Lies! I don't know if our granite was sealed before it was installed, but I've never done anything special to it since we've had it. That's been 4 or 5 years now, I think. I love that you can set hot pots on it, (I think you have to be careful about that with Corian, but you can sand it out if you get a burn mark) and I usually just wipe it down with a soapy sponge. If there's some dried food, or liquids on the counter I use the back side of a scrubber sponge.

[Gretchen]

Thank you all for posting your pictures and comments on this subject unrelated to GSD's. We've never done a major remodel, so this is a big deal to us. Any ideas are helpful.

[Liesje]

Your kitchen is beautiful Debbie! That color counter would not work for me b/c of the small space and lack of sunlight but it looks great in your space. I love the floor and the backsplash!

I dream of a white kitchen but with dogs and kids in the future....yeah. I love these kinds of looks but so not happening









I also think I'm in love with farm sinks....

[Jambaa]

Hi Gretchen. We're remodeling our kitchen as well and have found gardenweb to be an excellent source of info and inspiration. The kitchen and appliance forums are very active and there are many helpful members. To search, use the search box at the bottom of the specific forum threads. Good luck and enjoy! Kitchen Forum - GardenWeb

[kiya]

Here's how my kitchen turned out, we have a small house and we experimented with color for the first time faux painting. Undermount sink is great, the cabinets are the origninal ones we installed when we first moved in.
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