Kitchen: COUNTERTOPS!!!

The counters were a lovely beige laminate with sharp corners and stained with years of use. We figured it we wanted to redo cabinets we may as well go for counters. This was about the only thing we could not diy. Well technically...we played with the idea of butcher block but once again there was no time to have David make those, you know in his spare time. They were also too expensive to buy, so that was out. We went to our trusty Lowes home improvement store where a man named Gill gave us the lowe-down (haha so puny). We picked out a quartz, put a down payment on them and set up a potential date for the company to come and do the template. But before we could even think about counters there were a number of dominoes that needed placing. 

Counter Tops Before 

First we needed to paint existing cabinets, remove the backsplash and put the wall back in (see post on backsplash), remove peninsula cabinet, replace peninsula cabinet (see pic above), schedule a template, remove old counter top (layer by layer), remove sink, leveled the old cabinets, raised the level to make cabinets tops higher, then leveled again, have appliances arrive before and...thats it. NBD

Removing old counters, laminate first 

our friend Sergey came to help

2 hours later they are all gone

here is a view of the innerds

sink

section between fridge and dishwasher

more to add to our trash pile 

then David added 1/4 inch plywood (i think) to make counters a little taller . Then he made sure everything was level.  The peninsula plywood had to be lowered because it was too tall. 

Then the counter guys came Friday afternoon at 5. We left and watched "Suits" our fav show at the Sheldon house while we waited....

They even installed the sink which came included! 

They made sure there were no flaws 

2 hours later it was done. A Hard nights work for us :) 

They are a quartz called Grey Expo (what else)

We love them, the pictures do not do them justice. We had them do a rounded edge and a 10 inch overhang so we now have a bar hangout! 

It has a slight beveled edge so no sharp edges for me to run into  anymore 

The sink is a brushed stainless double bowl and we got four holes for our faucet pieces

This is why we made sure the counters were level 

Then David signed for it and we jumped up and down so excited to have beautiful new counters!

*Some prep work you didn't see was the appliance delivery. Each kitchen appliance needed some retrofitting. The fridge was too wide, so we had to shave off 1/16th of an inch from a upper cabinet. The range didnt go flush onto the wall so holes were cut in the drywall to submerge outlets. The original counters were too low for the  new dishwasher, which is why David raised the whole thing.