Kitchen remodel

Last week we finally got moving on the kitchen remodel we paid for in November. We didn't want to have this done over Thanksgiving because we were going to be in Mississippi and didn't want folks in the house without us there. Christmas and New Year's are bad because everyone is taking time off then. We finally got it scheduled in February, just before Dad came out.

Here's the before shot taken at the island. You can see we had the white countertops and appliances.


Here's the after shot.


So here's what we had done:

• Replaced exisiting white countertops with "Impala Black" honed granite countertops.
  
• New tile backsplash.
  
• Replaced existing vent hood witha more powerful Vent-a-Hood.
  
• New Bosch dishwasher.
  
• New sink, faucet, and disposal.
  
• New gas cooktop
  
• Installed in line hot water heater to provide quick hot water
  

The sink and faucet. The new sink is stainless steel and asymetrical in width and depth and it's undermounted, which makes it easy to scrape my coffee grounds into the sink.. The faucet is has an odd control system, but the nice thing is that is has an integrated spray head.


The new hood, cooktop, and backsplash. The new hood has a squirrel cage fan in it and has a higher CFM flow rating i.e. the damn thing actually works and doesn't make a lot of noise. The old one just about worthless (even though we had an external duct) and it was loud. The new cooktop is a lot more powerful than the old one. I'm having to cook everything on low.


Closer shot of the backsplash.


Overall, Emily and I are both happy. The granite had to be done twice and there are two sections that need to be replaced because the dimensions are wrong. It was supposed to have a larger overhang on two sides of the island so you could sit at the bar with a stool and not have your knees agains the wall. They got it right on one section, but not the other. Trouble is the way that the granite is fit together, two sections will need to be replaced.

The dishwasher is incredibly quiet. Emily and I ran it this weekend and we couldn't even tell the thing was on. No regrets on that one....

Chris