The Granite Test

You may have noticed that things have been pretty quiet around here.  While we still have a nice long list of projects to tackle around the house, we’ve been struggling to motivate ourselves to get back to work after the holidays.  So, instead of painting/caulking/unpacking, we spent some time in the kitchen.

To make sure we knew how to care for our kitchen countertops properly, we did a lot of reading.  We kept seeing information about the importance of sealing granite to ensure that it doesn’t get stained.  When our granite countertops were first installed, the installers applied a coat of sealer.

Of course, even though we knew our granite was protected, we couldn’t help but worry about spilling things on it.  Who wants to wreck their brand new countertops?

Will the sealer really protect the granite?  Do we really need sealer at all?  What sort of things stain granite?

To ease our minds, we decided to do some tests on our sample piece of Giallo Ornamentale granite.  We divided the piece in half and applied sealer to one side.

Once the sealer was dry (we let it dry overnight) we used Dave’s favourite Christmas present to label the sides.

Our (highly scientific) method for testing our granite was as follows:

• Select a substance and pour a bit on each side of the piece of granite.  Take a picture.
• Wait 30 minutes.  (We figured that we were pretty unlikely to leave a spill on our counters for longer than that.)
• Remove the substance with paper towel and take another picture.

Test #1 – Water
We decided to start with water because we had noticed some dark splotches on our counters when we spilled water.  We knew that the marks disappeared once the water evaporated, but we thought we try and see if there was any difference between sealed and unsealed granite. 

Water Test Results: When the water was first poured on the unsealed side, it looked a bit darker.  But, in the end, there was no difference.


Test #2 – Olive Oil
After the water, we were ready to move on to the more fun stuff.  We decided to try something greasy, so we brought out the olive oil.

 

Olive Oil Test Results: There was not much difference between the sealed and unsealed sides.  If anything, the stain may have been a bit darker after 30 minutes on the sealed side, but that could have just been the colour variation in the granite.

Test #3 – Coffee
Next, we thought that maybe something dark and hot would do some sort of damage to the granite.  Bring on the coffee.

  

Coffee Test Results: Still no difference.  The coffee left wet marks on both the sealed and unsealed sides, which eventually evaporated and left no visible stain behind.

Test #4: Orange Juice
With coffee and oil appearing not to have any affect on our counters, it was time to try something  really dangerous!  We’ve read that acidic substances can damage natural stone, so let’s see what orange juice does to our sample.

   
Orange Juice Test Results: Just like the coffee and the water, the orange juice left dark patches until it evaporated.  But, after it dried, we noticed that the texture of the granite was a bit different.  The spots where the orange juice had been were rougher.  This roughness was more noticeable on the unsealed side.  We were worried that the acid in the juice had damaged the surface of the granite, however, after wiping it with a damp cloth, we were able to get both sides nice and smooth again.

Test #5 – Red Wine
So far, our granite seemed to be holding up pretty well to our spills.  For our final test, we brought out the red wine.  We’ve already experienced a couple of instances where we were afraid to set an open bottle of wine on the counter because we worried that the wine would drip down the bottle and stain the counter.  Time to see if we really need to be worried!

 

Red Wine Test Results:  Not as bad as we expected, but the red wine did leave a faint pink tinge on both the sealed and unsealed sides. Given that our granite has some reddish-brown flecks in it, a small drip would probably go unnoticed if wiped up after 30 minutes.

Since the granite held up so well through all our tests, we thought we’d try the red wine one more time.  This time, we left it overnight.

After approximately 12 hours we saw some real staining.  After rinsing off the sticky residue left behind by the wine, we were still left with some pretty dark stains on both sides of the granite. 

Granite Test Conclusions
So, what we’ve learned from our little test is that we seem to have chosen a pretty good type of granite for kitchen use.  The colour variation hides any darkening that comes from little spills.  Obviously we don’t plan to leave any spills on the countertops that could potentially damage them, but spills happen.  If we wipe them up fairly quickly, we shouldn’t have any problems. 

Whether it makes a difference to use sealer was pretty inconclusive, but we figure it can’t hurt to keep our granite protected. 

Have any of you found that something stained or damaged your granite countertops?  Or is there something that you’d like us to test?  Let us know!

A Kitchen for Christmas

Our kitchen received an early Christmas present: our granite countertops were installed this past weekend!

We visited a number of stone places around the city and ended up going with Pro Stone, which we found on Home Stars.  Pro Stone handled both the fabrication and installation of the granite. The granite we selected is called Giallo Ornamentale.

The installation took a couple of hours.  Once the counters were in, we had to wait 24 hours before we could install the kitchen faucet.  Then we hooked up the stove and dishwasher. 

Finally, we put together our new Ingolf stools from IKEA. 

The colour of the granite looks great with our white cabinets and the wall colour (Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White).  All in all, we’re thrilled with the look of our new kitchen.

   

Over the holidays, we’ll spend some time finding a permanent home for our small appliances.

We feel really lucky that, even with the Christmas rush, were able to get our counters installed before the holidays.  Having full use of our kitchen (and not having to see the pizza delivery guy every night!) will really help make our house feel like home.

Kitchen: Sneak Peak

A couple of days before we moved in, we got a pleasant surprise from our kitchen designer.  Our kitchen cabinets had arrived in Toronto and were ready to be installed.

We were pretty excited to see how they would turn out and if our risk would pay off.

We don’t have the countertops yet (we’ve selected our granite and it’s supposed to be installed before Christmas) but here’s a sneak peak at the cabinets:

 

We are really happy with the cabinets.  The quality is better than we expected and the workmanship (especially the crown moulding) is great.  So far it seems that our risk paid off!

We’ll share some more photos once all the appliances and the countertops are installed.

The Countdown is On

It’s official.  In one month, we’ll be moving into the house.  Of course, it’s not going to be an easy month.  As we’re learning, the closer we get to the end of the renovation (or at least the end of the major work) the tougher it gets.

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve experienced a few setbacks and frustrating situations.  For example:

• our kitchen cabinets are going to be two weeks late
• the fridge that we ordered back in June has been discontinued (and our custom kitchen was designed to fit that specific fridge)
• the weather has been crappy, so we haven’t been able to paint the front of our house
• the newly refinished tub (which we protected very carefully before tiling the bathroom) got some chips in it.

On the positive side, the bathroom tiling is going really well, we’ve selected a paint colour for our main floor and our couch is getting picked up to be reupholstered next week. 

We chose Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White for the living room, dining room, kitchen and hall:

And we bought this fabric from Designer Fabrics for our living room couch:

The problems we’ve experienced may not have seemed so frustrating earlier in the renovation, but after more than five months, we’re starting to get pretty tired.  So, despite the challenges, we’ll continue to push forward and hope for the best.  And, in a month we’ll finally be living in our new house!

Kitchen Continues

Production of our kitchen cabinets continues to move forward.  We received some more photos this week and it looks like the doors and drawer fronts have been painted.

 

Over at the house, the drywall guys worked all week and finished hanging the drywall.  The taper has started the taping and mudding, so things should be finished by the end of this week.  It’s looking great so far!

More Kitchen Progress

We received some more progress pictures from the production of our kitchen cabinets.  The drawers have been built and the cupboard doors are underway. 

In the pictures below, you can see that the doors are constructed in five pieces – a center panel and four edge pieces.

Eventually, these piles of wood will look something like this (we hope!):

It’s good to see that things are coming along.  In a little over a month, we should be seeing them in person!

Kitchen Cabinet Production

Today we received some photos from the factory where our kitchen cabinets are being made.  It’s exciting to see them taking shape!

The Kitchen Verdict

Now, some of you may think we're a bit crazy, but this is the story of how we chose our kitchen (or how our kitchen chose us!)

One day, shortly after we took possession of the house, we arrived at the house to find a CD on our doorstep. On it was a name and phone number. We took it home to check it out on our computer and discovered that it was filled with pictures of kitchens. Since we were just in the early days of our renovation, we didn't really pay much attention to it.

A couple of weeks later, a guy named Robin stopped by the house and introduced himself to Dave. He is a kitchen designer and was the person who had dropped off the CD.

Then we hit July and it was time to look more seriously at kitchens. After looking at a number of kitchen options, including Ikea, Lowes and custom, we decided to call Robin to get a quote.

Robin produced very detailed drawings and measurements. He came up with great ideas and suggestions and delivered a very reasonable quote for a fully custom kitchen. The difference between his quote and other fully custom kitchens was significant and seemed to be too good to be true.

We were a little skeptical at this point and asked a lot of questions. Robin was very upfront and explained that all the cabinets are custom built in China and shipped here, which is how he keeps his costs low. We realized that many of the other large manufacturers also produce their kitchens in China. Robin showed us pictures of the factory and he had lots of samples of the products. We checked his references and he had really good recommendations.

So, we decided to go for it.

Here's the breakdown:

• The layout will be similar to what we designed through the Ikea planner, but the cabinet sizes are customized to fit our space.


• The island will house the sink and dishwasher, as well as a pull out drawer with built-in bins for garbage and recycling.


• The back and side of the island will have decorative paneling that will match the cabinet doors.


• A wall cabinet above the island will have glass doors so we can display our glassware.


• The doors will be painted MDF in an antique white colour.


• The drawers will be solid wood with dovetailed joints.


• The cupboards will have Blum hinges and the drawers will be soft-close.

Here's the door style we selected:

We realize that we may be taking a bit of risk by not selecting one of the large, well-known kitchen companies, but after a lot of contemplation, we decided that the potential reward outweighs the risks.

Our new kitchen should arrive and be ready for installation in late October!

Kitchen Design: Take Two

After looking at Ikea kitchens last weekend, we decided to do some comparison shopping. When we were at Lowes last week to check out the toilets, we saw some of the sample kitchens and really liked some of the off-white cabinet doors. We hit up Lowe's this weekend to check out their kitchen options. A sunny Sunday on a long weekend seemed to be a better time to shop for kitchens and we didn't have to wait to speak with a kitchen planner!

We really liked the KraftMaid line. While it was more expensive than Ikea, there were more options for cabinet sizes, making it seem more like a custom kitchen. We loved the painted maple doors (in Canvas, a creamy white colour), but unfortunately they are a bit out of our price range. A good alternative is the thermofoil door (MDF with a laminate coating), which is less expensive, but still available in a nice cream colour. The KraftMaid cabinets also come with the soft close hinges and full -extension drawers, which are things we really want.

The biggest downside of the Lowes kitchens? The timelines. With the Ikea kitchens, they have everything in stock so they will be ready whenever we are. With Lowes, the kitchen installer won't come to measure the space until after the drywall is up. Then, it will take 4-6 weeks for the cabinets to arrive. After that, we'll still need to get a countertop installed. Given that we aren't sure when we'll be ready to drywall, it's really hard to estimate when the kitchen could be complete.

We're going to check out a few more options before we make our final choice.

Kitchen Design

We went to Ikea this weekend to talk to a kitchen planner. (Some advice: DO NOT try to talk to a kitchen planner on a rainy Saturday afternoon. We waited for hours!) We had already spent a lot of time using their 3D planner program to lay out what we wanted, but we had a few questions.

Our basic plan for the kitchen is this:

• Place fridge and stove/microwave along the outside wall, with the majority of the cabinet space.


• Add an island (approximately 6' long and 3'wide) under the new beam, between the kitchen window and the dining room door.


• Place the sink and dishwasher in the island.


• Add a small cabinet with glass doors above the island, on the back wall.


• Add a tall, built-in pantry to the space across from the fridge.

There are still a few things to figure out before we make the final decision about going the Ikea route. If you have any ideas/suggestions, we'd love to hear them!

Beam Installed

Once the concrete footing was dry, we were able to move forward with taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Jerry and Rich came by to help Dave with the work. First, they installed two temporary walls to hold up the floor joists while the wall was removed.

They installed a post in the basement (on top of the new footing), removed the old load bearing wall and put the new beam up in its place.

Here's what our "open concept" main floor looks like now!

Appliances

We did our research and finally settled on which appliances we want for the kitchen. We decided to order them now so that they're ready for delivery when our kitchen is done. The Brick gave us a great deal. Here's what we picked:

• Frigidaire side-by-side stainless steel refrigerator


• Frigidaire built-in stainless steel dishwasher


• Frigidaire slide-in dual fuel range


• Panasonic stainless steel over-the-range microwave.

Before: Kitchen

Here's the kitchen. It's in great shape so we plan to save the cabinets for our new laundry room or garage.