A Kitchen Renovation: The Cabinet Saga Continues.

For my second installment of the great kitchen remodel, we had awesome, big, exciting news today! After almost 3 weeks, Hussy finally got a hold of the company holding our cabinet doors hostage! And found they were in stock! In fact, he ordered them! But this was before he called me, and I was still questioning the decision to buy them. See, I’m a very indecisive person, as I mentioned in that last installment. I thought more about how the cabinets don’t match the bathroom sink style or color, nor anything else in our house, so it just didn’t feel cohesive at all. My biggest hang up is the fact this isn’t a long term home, so I don’t want to go taste specific in a house we’re not staying in very long. However, when the house will go to show, I feel like having modern fixtures and furniture all over the house and then beige shaker style cabinets in the kitchen will look more unfinished than show all the work we put into the house. Therefore, I did a very scientific experiment at work so Hussy could decide to cancel the order.

I printed two pictures and asked all of my coworkers I came in contact with in a 5 minute period which cabinet/countertop combination they would pick if they were house hunting, and the kitchen was the last deal breaker:

Can you guess which combination every single person picked? I couldn’t believe my ears, when a handful of people ranging from age 30 to age 70 picked the second! So I called Hussy back up, explained my experiment and it’s non-biased results based on what they, as a buyer, would prefer to have as their kitchen. He canceled the order, and it sounds like we’re going to Ikea and buying the new set soon!

I also put together a mock-up of what it would look like with a sink, faucet, microwave, our hanging wine glasses, and even a glass tile backsplash that tickled my fancy:

In my mind, it was perfect. But this meant it was very taste-specific, which is a huge no-no. But after so many rave reviews on my extremely taste-specific modern vessel bathroom sink, and now people actually going for the modern style (that are normally into traditional styles) I’m beginning to think my taste may not be that bad after all ;) Since we live in a starter neighborhood, I’ve been gauging who the new buyers and even renters are, and it’s generally in our same age bracket. I’m sure they’ll appreciate a more modern design, and a turn key home at that. I know I love living in a home that’s put together, even if it’s never really finished. I showed the finished mockup to the co-workers as well, and that got many more excellent comments. I’m still shocked, but I feel like my gut has been pulling me in this direction for a reason.

We might not end up with a backsplash, or at least not for a while, but the basics are enough to thrive on their own. The cabinets are IKEA Akurum Nexus Black Brown, the wall color is Ralph Lauren’s Urban Loft line in “Stone” (same color that’s in our living room) and that’s just a different Formica 180FX countertop in Antique Mascarello. A little tidbit on those counters: I was originally going to go with Wilsonart HD counters, which are a repeated pattern of granite with a raised layer that reflects light to make it shiny. It wasn’t super convincing, but I was willing to settle on it until I heard Formica came out with these counters that are one big picture of a granite slab, so there are no repeated patterns within an 8 foot slab, and the pictures I’ve seen are more convincing that it’s not just one huge fake.

It’s gotten pretty good reviews so far. I mean, as good as laminate can get (and that’s hard to come by, since everyone’s all “go granite!”). It’s also pretty decently priced, so to look like granite, and not price myself out of my neighborhood, I say score. Stay tuned as our progress evolves!