I wanted to share the results of our kitchen renovation completed last September. Of course, while the work only took a few months, I spent hours and hours here on the discussion boards learning about kitchens and all the details and decisions that go into them. I found the reveal posts very helpful - especially those with rather humble spaces such as mine! So here is my contribution to the collective Houzz wisdom (wisdom might be too strong a term, but you know what I mean). I'm also going to include approximate material costs (to the extent I remember) because I think that is so helpful when you are in the planning stages. Happy to answer any questions in the comments and I will also post the before pictures in the comments.

The cabinets are Kraftmaid and we got them through Home Depot during a sale. The base cabinets are Greyloft and the upper cabinets are Moonshine. We upgraded to plywood construction and wood doors - the cabinets are Maple. The sale was a lifesaver, as the cabinet supplier I was working with was quoting us more than $20k for the same cabinet layout (which I had largely come up with in the first place). I think the total from Home Depot was $14-15k. Also, we ended up changing the layout slightly after ordering because once we opened the walls, we saw that we would be able to eliminate a portion of a wall to create a walkway. This caused slight changes to our cabinet layout and Home Depot handled it surprisingly well. I did have to work with two different designers because the one I had been working with was on vacation when this need to change things arose, and the second designer was not quite as good as the first. But overall, the customer service was good, everything arrived when promised and undamaged and they are so far great cabinets! Home Depot even let me return a cabinet from the changed layout as well as extra trim pieces we ended up not needing. Definitely worth the savings to go this route.

The counters are MSI quartz - blanca statuarietto (sp?). I think they were about $4k. I didn't do too much price comparison here, because I was tired at this point and we had budgeted $5k for counters so I was happy with the price. We love these counters. It is one of those faux marble looks, but its more subtle than the ones with veining - similar to silestone lagoon, but maybe not quite as subtle. So far very happy with the stain resistance and no problems with heat either. They are easy to clean and feel nice to the touch. Very happy with these.

All appliances are Bosch. My husband got a discount through his job, so it was a no-brainer. We are happy with these - especially the induction cooktop. We had gas before and all the professionals warned us not to switch, but we really like it.

Cabinet hardware is from Rejuvenation - the Bowman pull. Definitely not a budget option, but after trying out several others, we just liked this one the best. We were also impatient and didn't want to wait for a sale, so this ended up being a bit more than $600.

Backsplash tile is from the The Tile Shop. It's called Op Art, in white and dark grigio. This was probably the most anxiety-inducing choice I made (I posted about it here!). I wanted something "different" but not too different and I wanted to add some shine and texture to the area. When the tile first went up, I felt the gray tile clashed with the gray in the cabinets. Sometimes I still feel like that, but overall I like it and am happy with the choice. Probably not what I'd choose if I had it to do again, but I do really like the backsplash and it doesn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the kitchen (no one else seems to notice either). So lesson is that sometimes a "mistake" or just something that you don't quite love 100% will indeed grow on you and won't "ruin" your kitchen.

Sink and faucet - not much to say here - we ordered these through the cabinet supplier we worked with initially and I don't remember the brands. The sink is a stainless steel single bowl under-mount, 26 inches. I was initially worried it would seem small, but it doesn't at all (we had a double bowl in the space before). I really like the faucet, but can't recall the brand.

Floors - we also installed all new floors in this room. We had white oak hardwood original to the house from the '40s and chose to replace it so that it would match the new floors that were going into an adjoining room. The floors are white oak with two coats of provincial and then the bona HD water-based poly. We also had other floors refinished on the first floor and everything all in was like $7 or $8k.

I think that's it. We've been in the kitchen for almost 6 months now and it has made such a difference in the way our home feels and also how we are able to cook. Happy to answer any questions, and happy remodeling Houzzers!

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