Quartz Countertops: Kitchen Makeover

It has been a while since my last kitchen makeover update, but I am back today with our latest project checked off the kitchen list. Quartz Countertops!

Let me remind you where our kitchen started.

To be totally honest, I don’t even recognize this orange kitchen. It looks so different already and we aren’t finished. I really wanted to brighten our kitchen because we don’t get a lot of natural light in it and all the orange oak wood made it look drab and dark.

We started with painting the cabinets “Agreeable Gray” from Sherwin Williams.

That alone made the kitchen brighter.

Then, we added some bling to the cabinets with new cupboard hardware from Hickory Hardware.

Once we had the cabinets put back together, we really saw how beige our laminate countertops were.

Back before we started this makeover, I was pinning a lot of beautiful kitchens to my Pinterest boards. All of the kitchens I pinned were bright and airy which I wanted to try to accomplish in our kitchen. A lot of kitchens that are really bright and airy are all white, but I knew I didn’t want an all-white kitchen. I thought it was not practical for us and I didn’t want to put my “cleaning OCD” in over-drive. 😉

I wanted the cabinet color bright, but not white. I wanted a neutral color that would blend with all kinds of colors because I change my mind so often. 😉 The “Agreeable Gray” works well with the wood tones in the new laminate floor and the wood beam we added in the ceiling. It is both a warm and cool color. It is perfect.

When we were thinking about new countertops, I really loved the look of concrete countertops. When I heard that they weren’t easy to do and it was hard to find people to do them, (where are the Chip Gaines’ around here?) I had to think of a different option.

Our laminate countertops have been great for us. They have held up well over the years and I never had to worry about them. With new countertops, I wanted everything I had in the laminate countertops, but in a new color. Matt was really pushing for stone countertops.

Natural stone countertops are a whole new ball game for us.

We have only had laminate and that is what we knew.

Matt’s wants were throwing me a curve ball.

I didn’t know where to start, but I did know a few things for sure:

• I really liked the color of concrete.
• The countertops had to be maintenance-free.
• I wanted them to be user-friendly – I didn’t want to worry about them.

With all that in mind and after much back and forth, we landed on Quartz countertops. I really enjoyed learning about all the different options out there and weighing the pros and cons of each one.

We chose Wilsonart Quartz in the color “Arlington Q1005″ with an Eased edge and no back splash. 

To save money on labor, we removed the old countertops ourselves. It took a little tugging and pulling, but it really wasn’t that hard to get them off.

I was really excited to get rid of the back splash part of our old countertops. We are going to add a back splash so it will be nice to have the tile come right down to the counters.

Hello, beautiful Quartz countertops!

What a difference they make.

We still have many projects to finish in the kitchen, but I wanted to bring you this makeover as we did each project. That is why the wall doesn’t look right, you may see some painter’s tape around and the wall is two different colors where we need to add the back splash. 😉

Right now, I really like the mis-matched bar stools at the bar.

The bar is getting a new paint job in a very similar color to what it is.

You can’t see it in the pictures, but the countertops have little bits of sparkle in them. They are such a pretty gray color. I got the concrete color and love how they look with the cabinet colors!

The spot where we tore down the wall has been my favorite part of the makeover so far. This little bit of added countertop not only opened up the kitchen, but it gave me a lot more space to spread out on when I cook.

I have to be honest and tell you that I was really nervous about the Quartz countertops. I didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t sure how it was all going to work in our home and kitchen. After we get the kitchen completely done and I am able to clean and work with the counters more, I will post my full review of Quartz countertops.

So far, so good.

We still have to do the tile back splash and a few other odds and ends to finish it. Then, I get to buy some fun things for the new kitchen (towels, paper towel holder, etc.). It looks so much better already and I can’t wait to be posting the final reveal.

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