Weeehooo!!!!! Time for a new kitchen!!!

~ Today is a DesignTies double-post day!! Check out Fifi Flowers Design Decor, where we prepare a table for Fifi in Provence… ~

I am SOOOOOOOO excited……. after living with our less-than-inspiring kitchen for 7-1/2 years, we’re finally making some changes!!!! Weeeehooooo!!!!!! Not a big re-do – just replacing the countertops and backsplash, and painting the cabinets. And we’ll need a new sink and faucet. Everything is staying where it is, so no major demo or reconfiguration.
Hubby and originally wanted a dark brown slate for the new countertops. But then we were steered in the direction of a gorgeous granite called Brown Cabernet:

The fantabulous Paul Anater at Kitchen & Residential Design made me an offer I couldn’t refuse… when my dream kitchen lost out to the egg kitchen in Paul’s dream kitchen contest a couple of months ago, Paul offered to advise me to my heart’s content about re-designing my kitchen. He said I could ask him anything, really. So… I did!!
The most important question was on behalf of hubby, who’s first consideration is always resale value. Ugh!! I say who cares about resale value, WE’RE the ones living in the house, WE have to like it!! And I DO NOT like our kitchen cabinets. I want to paint them. Hubby thinks painting over wood is a bad thing (MEN!!) But he said he might be willing to paint them IF an expert said it was a good idea… and our expert said…“that pickled oak colour you have now is awful... it needs to be covered and fast.” Yay, Paul!!!! Kelly 1, Hubby 0!!!!! ;-) Seriously, would you leave your cabinets looking like this:

I want to keep the wall colour because I really like it, and also because I don’t want to re-paint – especially because the kitchen colour carries into the family room, and that’s just too much painting!! The walls are BM Tiramisu (5th from the left), and the colour looks good with the Brown Cabernet granite. The granite doesn’t actually have red in it, that’s my shirt reflecting in it. I think that’s also a tree reflection on the right — oops!!

Paul suggested painting the cabinets either…

BM 1080 White Oaks(umm, Paul, are you SURE about this one?!)

OR

BM 1084 Lake Shore Trail

To go with…

CC-486 Tiramisu

I have no idea what White Oaks and Lake Shore Trail look like in real life. Because here’s where we have a small problem — for some silly reason, BM USA and BM Canada don’t have the same numbers and names for their colours. Paul was able to find out from BM USA that CC-486 Tiramisu in Canada = 1083 Beach House Beige in the US. When I contacted BM Canada to ask what the two US colours are here, the answer was “we used to have those colours, but we don’t anymore”. Well, that’s a useless answer!! But I have a plan — I’ll be heading down to NY in about a week, and I found a store that sells BM paint in the town I’m going to. I’ll get the colour chips from there :-)
Paul also suggested this awesome mother-of-pearl tile for the backsplash from Mirage Glass Tiles…

Every time I go to a tile store here and ask if they have mother-of-pearl tiles, I get this really dazed look and “I have no idea what that is” response. So, Paul kindly offered to send me a sample, and I’m waiting VERY IMPATIENTLY for it to arrive!!! Come on, Canada Post!!!! (It’s here!! But it’s being held hostage at the post office till after 1:00PM tomorrow – GRRR!!!)
We’ve got two quotes on the granite, and we’re going back to talk to the first granite place to see if they can beat the second granite place’s quote. Then we’ll put in our order. Which means that we also have to choose a sink and faucet soon. Eeek!!! I really like the Silgranit sink from Blanco. Silgranit is 80% natural granite with acrylic bonds. It’s hard, doesn’t scratch or chip, and is heat resistant. And it looks great too…

I think a Silgranit sink will work much better in our kitchen than a stainless steel sink, because we have so SS in the kitchen. Our appliances are black and the cabinet hardware is brushed copper. Silgranit sinks are available in these seven colours…

Unfortunately, Café isn’t the right shade of brown to work with the granite, otherwise that would have been my choice. Anthracite looks OK with the granite. I want to see how Cognac and Biscotti look, but I haven’t been able to find them in real life.
The undermount sinks come in these configurations…

Hmmmm, which configuration… one bowl or two?? I like Precis U 2, Precis U 1 3/4, and Precis U Maxi.
Oh, and a faucet!! I want a brushed copper or oil-rubbed bronze faucet. Something like one of these…

I’d love to hear your thoughts on what we have planned for our kitchen. Especially the sink — feel free to share why you think a one-bowl or two-bowl sink is better :-)
As we move along, I’ll post updates of our kitchen progress. And of course, the final reveal when it’s all done :-)