It all began with the refrigerator. Our 14 year old one had an engineering flaw in that whenever any particle fell into the drain tube, defrost condensation would not flow, eventually flooding the freezer bottom with ice, then running onto the kitchen floor. When this happened for the 3rd time, my DH had had enough and took me appliance shopping.


After selecting the refrigerator, it was on to a slide-in range. We bought stainless appliances to compliment the dishwasher we replaced earlier in the year.

The next day it was to the granite yard.

This isn't the complete kitchen remodel we have been planning for at least 3 years. The housing market in our area simply does not warrant such an investment. We added bead board to the island, then painted it and all the existing cabinets. In conjunction with new counters we added a single basin under mounted stainless sink and a new faucet.

Here's a summary of what we used:

Dishwasher - Bosch, Whisper Quiet

Refrigerator - Jenn-Air, Side-by-Side, cabinet depth

Range - Jenn-Air, natural gas, slide in 4-burner with single convection oven plus warming drawer

Sink - Soci, 16 x 28 x 10 undermounted, 15 guage

Faucet - Blanco

Disposal - KitchenAid, 1HP

Granite - Cathedral Brown. We continued it onto the window sill and a new top for the accent table.

Backsplash - 4 x 4 stainless tile

Paint - Cabinets: Cabinet Coat, White, semi-gloss. Walls: C2, Shaker and Fusion - both in Eggshell finish

From appliance shopping to completion of room painting took 37 days. We handled all the painting DIY. Because we had been considering a remodel or facelift for so long, decisions were fairly easy and we caught the granite fabricator in a slow time so the counters were installed in only 11 days

Linked are some before and after photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: Updated and Before Kitchen Photos