Before and After: Countertops

Today is an exciting day at our house. The new kitchen countertop was just installed and, lo and behold, I actually like what I picked out! That is a complete shock. I usually don't like what I've selected. I'm happy!

I'm sure you can tell from the photo collage that the top two pictures are "before" and the bottom two are "after". (You must ignore the fruit-covered wallpaper, which will be replaced (sooner than later, I hope) with a sagey/olivey green paint.) The old white laminate countertop had a strange surface which sort of looked like snowdrifts. It was very hard to keep clean and when you wrote while pressing on it, texture would come through. The edges were also beveled, which drove me crazy and had to go.

The new countertop is a solid surface blackish gray with a tan fleck. It is smooth! And the edges are totally squared off...no round, beveled or diagonal cuts! We also got a new inset sink (not pictured here), which is very exciting for me. We recently replaced the knobs on all of the cabinets and drawers with the ones you see here. They coordinate well with the new countertop.

So right now, all of the contents of our kitchen cupboards are spread around the dining room and living room. Everything in the kitchen is covered with a fine layer of dust. I have started cleaning the area and replacing drawers. I am going to weed through the contents of the lower cupboards before putting things back, because it is quite apparent that we don't need a fraction of the stuff we have stored there. To see it all, you'd think I was a whiz in the kitchen, but the truth is, I don't even recognize some of it.

The other minor problem is that, in order to save money, I cancelled the line item on the installation contract that read "re-install plumbing". Spouse can do that, thought I. But gosh darn it, I forgot to mention that little detail to him until today. He is not happy about that. The guy at Lowes told me to have a cold drink waiting for him.

Probably a good idea.