Emily’s Kitchen Reveal!

I am very, very excited to be posting pictures of my kitchen this morning! I am absolutely thrilled with the end product… I think you’ll see why!

To refresh your memory, here’s what they were working with:
Granite Transformations worked their magic!

Take a look…

Isn’t it lovely?? In addition to making the cabinets and counter tops look so much more appealing, the people at Granite Transformations made some other functional changes that will really make a difference.

First of all, the sink.

I love this sink and faucet from Blanco – the sink is so deep that it can hold a lot more dirty dishes there’s a lot less mess when I rinse the dishes, and I really like the 80/20 split of the basins. I also love the faucet. It turns on so easily, and I love how it turns from a steady stream to a sprayer with a touch of a button.

They also helped make my fabulous Frigidaire microwave and range fit better into my kitchen.

The way the cabinets were before, the microwave practically sat on top of the stove. They built new, shorter cabinets above the microwave for me so that the microwave is up where it should be.

The pantry:

We had two doors on the pantry that opened up from the middle, like shutters (know what I mean?), and they replaced those with a more modern-looking style that only has one door.

They shortened our island:

Before, the island part of the counter jutted out in sort of a weird shape. While it added a bit more counter space, it made it impossible to walk between the counter and the kitchen table if someone was sitting there. I often walked out the other side of the kitchen, through the living room and dining room back into the kitchen just to get to Sam’s seat. The way they reconfigured the island adds a lot more space to our eating area, and I love how the clean, straight lines make it look.

Finally, they added hardware.

Our old cabinets didn’t have any hardware at all, which gave them a really dated look. I think the brushed silver hardware adds a lot to the cabinets and drawers!

So whaddya think??

I love it, as do Andy and the kids. The white cabinets brighten up the kitchen so much – it looks like a completely different place. I also love how the white is balanced by the dark brown counter tops. After we picked out our colors and everything, I got nervous that we hadn’t made good decisions. I don’t know why I was nervous, but I just was! Once they got started, though, I knew we had made the right decision, and once I saw it complete… I was in love.

The entire procedure took exactly five days. In five days, we had new cabinets, counter tops and a new sink. The GT process of overlaying existing structures made a huge difference in the time it took to complete the project, which was great because even though I do not love to cook, having a non-functioning kitchen makes life difficult. Five days was very doable – five months would have been tough!

I really cannot stress enough what a great experience this was. During the process, we had at least six different GT people from the Dayton branch in our house doing one thing or another, and each and every one of them was incredibly nice, friendly, and knowledgeable. We absolutely felt like we were in great hands throughout the process.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Granite Transformations for inviting Jenny and me to be “Trendsetter Bloggers.” You absolutely transformed our houses.

Post to Twitter

Jenny’s Kitchen Transformation – BIG REVEAL!

So back in late July, Emily and I revealed to you that we were getting new kitchen counter tops and cabinets from Granite Transformations (and we asked for your help in choosing what colors we should get!)  Then, in August, we revealed to you what colors we had chosen.  And now, after mercilessly teasing you for days on Facebook and Twitter, it’s time for ME to reveal my finished kitchen to you!!  Next week it will be Emily’s turn – hers is still in progress.  Let’s first take a walk down memory lane so I can show you what my horrifically ugly kitchen looked like (it was also really messy in these pictures!)

And here, my friends, is my new, beautiful, gorgeous, DREAMY, transformed kitchen from Granite Transformations!!

kitchen2

kitchen 3

DSC05967

DSC05974
(I just have to say that this here used to be the 4 janky, messed-up drawers you saw pictured above. Now it is a drawer with a cabinet door with two roll-outs inside the cabinet. I LOVE IT!)

Blanco sink!
My beautiful new Blanco sink and faucet. THANK YOU BLANCO for partnering with Granite Transformations on this!

kitchen1

(OMG BFF check out the CROWN MOLDING UP ON TOP!!)

Need I ask “What do you think?”  Isn’t is AMAZING??

I seriously teared up when it was all done.  I just cannot believe how gorgeous it is!  And it took less than 4 days – 3 days for the cabinets, and actually just about 3 hours for the counters.  And at no time was my kitchen un-usable, I always had plumbing and could use the dishwasher and everything.  The men from Granite Transformations did a fast, quality, phenomenal job and I could not be happier!  And they were SO NICE and respectful – every last person that was in my home.

Now Bobby and I just have to paint – I think I’ve got a color picked out – but OF COURSE I will post pictures when it’s done!  The white walls are a little too much white, but we don’t want something real dark in our small kitchen.

I am so excited, I love my counter tops so much I wish I could SLEEP on them!! The material is heat-resistant up to 560 degrees and stain resistant and so durable you could even use it as a cutting board (although it would dull your knives it’s so hard!)

I cannot express how THRILLED I am with Granite Transformations’ cabinet refacing (they just took what was there and made it NOT CRAPPY! How amazing is that????) and counter tops.  If you are looking to upgrade your kitchen, this is the way to go!  No ripping out your appliances, walls, counters, or cabinets – just a beautiful new kitchen in a very short time.

Thank you so much Granite Transformations!  I will sing your praises for years to come!

(So, really, tell me – whaddya THINK!??!!?)

Disclosure: I have said this before in previous posts, but I’ll say it again!  Granite Transformations is providing Emily and I with new sinks and counter tops for free, and Emily and I got a great discount on the cabinets, which we paid for ourselves with our own money. 🙂

Post to Twitter

The Colors have been Chosen!

A few weeks ago Emily and I told you about the exciting opportunity we have to get our kitchens re-done by Granite Transformations as “Trendsetter Bloggers” for them. We are getting brand-new granite countertops placed over our existing ones for FREE and we are getting our cabinets re-faced at a great discount.  We are both SO excited about this (can you say “Dream Come True?? WE CAN!) and as we’ve both had our consultations and templating done, we wanted to share with you what colors and designs we’ve chosen – and thank you for your input!!

I’ll go first: I chose white cabinets with a rectangular inlay and brushed stainless steel knobs for my hardware.  The countertop color Bobby and I picked that we thought would best go with our floor is this one, Grigio Wintermute:

Whaddya think? I think it will be just the right amount of “warm”! We didn’t want to go too dark because our kitchen is so small and I thought it would be overwhelming. We are also going to paint, and I’ve been getting some great color advice from my friend Maria. But I am going to wait until the counters are in to pick a paint color, although at the moment I am kind of obsessed with Sherwin Williams’ 6675 “Afternoon”.  It makes me happy.  But we’ll see!

Anyhoo, thus far, everything with Granite Transformations has been wonderful.  Even the day when I had the time wrong when they were coming to measure my cabinets, and they arrived three hours earlier than I expected, and I was still in my pajamas (I have been doing a lot of embarrassing myself in my pajamas lately!) it was totally no big deal.  Even when the installer and I got to talking (so, so nice, these people!) and it was discovered that I went to high school with his son and daughter, and I thought, “Great, he is going to go home and tell them I was in my pajamas this whole time! ” – it was still such a positive, pleasant experience!

My cabinets are being installed September 1-3, and my counter tops September 7th.  I am BEYOND excited!  And even more excited that they can do this in just a few days without ripping out my entire kitchen and plumbing!  We’re not going to have to eat out or move out just because we are having work done!

And now, because I’m so sweet, I’ll let Emily tell you about how things are going at HER house.
**********

Hello, it’s Emily. I am trying to get my blog-legs back after all those giveaways! But as Jenny said, we are both super excited about being Trendsetter Bloggers for Granite Transformations ! It has been such a good experience so far, and the fun stuff hasn’t even started yet!

During our consultation with the local GT guys, Andy and I decided on white cabinets as well, with rectangle inlays with an arch at the top (does that make sense? Like it’s a rectangle, but the top side is arched) for the upper cabinets and regular rectangle inlays on the bottom. That was a recommendation from the GT guy – he said having arches on the bottom would be too much. That’s just one example of the helpful advice he gave us throughout the consultation. He talked me down from some rather out-there ideas I had that I would have been sick of in about six months!

Here’s the counter top we chose – it’s called Mocha Real and it’s brand new:

I am still in need of advice on paint colors, so fire away! And also flooring ideas. And general decorating recommendations.

I wasn’t home for the measuring (or templating – I think that’s the technical term), but Andy was incredibly impressed with both of the men who came out to the house. He was even more certain we were in good hands after talking with them and watching them do their thing. And like Jenny, we had a connection with one of them – his daughter owns a bakery we used to live around the corner from, and she makes all our kids’ birthday cakes. (Because, unlike Jenny, I outsource these things and don’t torture myself!)

My goodness, I am rambling this morning.

In any case, we are really excited about the changes about to take place. I came home from work the other day to find the contents of my entire kitchen in our dining room – Andy is ready to get the show on the road!

Stay tuned to see the finished products!

Post to Twitter