Kitchen Reno (here we go!)

As I sit here typing I am also watching men carry in the parts to our brand-new kitchen. This moment has been a long time coming! As anyone who has ever been through a kitchen renovation knows, the entire process is incredibly long and all-consuming. For us, it started about a year ago when I opened the corner cabinet and three pots fell out. My husband came running when I yelled: "I hate this kitchen!" And that was that. From that moment on my every thought was consumed with the details of our new kitchen.

I started by tearing out images from the stacks of magazines I had collected over the years and pasting them onto a large poster board (sort of like a 3rd grade school project). One thing was clear when I stepped back and looked at my collage, the style I was coveting was a classic white kitchen, not too fussy and hopefully not too trendy. I still wanted to love it in 15 years. 

Now seems like the perfect time to show you the kitchen we are replacing. It was still in good condition and I had some friends openly question our decision to spend big bags of money on a new kitchen when our old one was perfectly fine. But the heart wants what the heart wants. And this heart wants a new white kitchen.

Original kitchen with new(ish) appliances. 

This is the state of my kitchen right now...

And this is my dining room...

Finding food is an adventure.

Choosing the colour and style of the kitchen was easy but everything else was not. When I started pulling images from magazines I was 100% certain that we would be putting in marble countertops. But after nearly every person I spoke to, including our kitchen designer, questioned the soundness of putting in marble in the kitchen I caved and started looking for an alternative. 

My second choice was quartz. I thought I had found the perfect one from Cambria. On a small scale, Cambria's Torquay does a good job of imitating marble. On a large scale, not so much.

Finally, we settled on Devon. From Cambria's Desert Collection, this is how the company describes it: "Awash in gray and black, much like waves rumbling through the pebbly coves of Devonshire, England. Peaceful, neutral and simple, Devon is unmistakably the new black for contemporary or traditional rooms". Very poetic, I know, but hopefully it will look as good as its description. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks when it is installed.

In the meantime, here's a photo of my sample of Devon.

It looks concrete gray in this picture but in the natural light there's a hint of a brown undertone. 

By tomorrow progress will have been made and I'll be able to post a few more photos. Wish me luck and lots and lots of patience!