New Counter Tops Today Yippee!!!

So we moved here 8+ yrs. ago. It was NOT the house I wanted to buy but like The Rolling Stones sang, "You can't always get what you want". I have spent the last 7 yrs. slowing fixing the kitchen up. Here's a photo of the kitchen before we cleaned it out last night.

I wish I had a photo of what it looked like when we moved in, in 2000. There was a layer of gunk & dirt on the cabinets such that you couldn't really see the grain of the oak & cheap aluminum door handles with 'patina' which turned out to be oily dirt from too much frying and not enough cleaning. The table area had a dusty BLUE ceiling fan, which matched the dusty blue duck wallborder that ran from there into the attached family room. This wallborder/fan coordinated with the dusty blue colonial dot wallpaper w/an ivory background that covered the kitchen walls. Add in ugly tan vinyl flooring and 15 yr. old white/half broken appliances and you have my kitchen in 2000.

Here's a photo of the kitchen floor AFTER hubby tried to melt a saute pan on the stove and then carry it from the stovetop to the sink. Nice molten globs of metal pattern burned into the flooring, huh?

Actually, that floor wasn't the original kitchen floor. When we took it up, we found 2 more layers of vinyl flooring under it. The original was gold & brown and SCREAMED UGLY rather than 'whispered bland'.

I have slowly been changing out everything in the kitchen except the tile backsplash.

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Kitchen TimeLine

2001

We cleaned the cabinets and oiled up the wood until it shone. Then we invested in quality cabinet handles and face plates. Changed out the ceiling fan and light fixture.

2002

The wallpaper came down and paint went up. We added crown molding after the painting.

2004

Ripped up the flooring and had Ceramic Tile put down in the kitchen and front hallway. Changed out the window coverings to valances and a rolled bamboo shade.

2004-2007

Replaced the stove, refridgerator & dishwasher as they broke with stainless &/or black. Also replaced the non-working stove vent hood with stainless steel one.

2008

Which brings us to today, the day I get new countertops, a sink & a new faucet.

Finally!

I hated the old countertops. You can kind of see in the AFTER CLEANING photo the color. They are not as 'tan' as they look but rather a pale washed out yellow. NOT attractive. And the SEAM running diagonally across the corner of the long 'l shaped' counter is hideous. It looks like the 2 sides of the seam never matched thicknesses, so it was always noticeable that there was a seam there. Plus at some point before we moved here, someone let the area get saturated with water for an extended period of time, and the pressboard under the formica coating swelled where the water seeped into the seam and made the seam area raise up all down the seam. Then they never cleaned the countertops and it turned black. So I had a nice pale yellow counter with a big black diagonal LINE.

Attractive?

Not on your life!

But before the day is out, that will all be in the past. and my modest costing kitchen redo will be complete. Well, except for the tile backsplash, which has baby blue accent tiles. I plan on painting or reglazing or whatever you call it on those light blue tiles, as they don't go with my vision.

I think I did a pretty frugal job of it, not going with stone/granite counters and floors and top of the line appliances when less expensive would serve just as well. Plus I never replaced anything until it either broke, wore out or I could find someone who wanted it. I couldn't justify just sending perfectly good working appliances or materials into a landfill.

Check back later tonight for photos of the new Counters!

Sluggy