The day the countertops came

Picking out the countertops turned out to be an easier decision than I initially thought it would be. Ultimately, we were deciding between quartz and granite and originally I thought we would go with quartz. I had heard and read about the cons of granite being the hassle of sealing them, but after talking with more and more professionals, we came to realize that sealing the granite just isn't a big deal at all. Personally, I like the natural look of granite and that it isn't a complete uniform pattern (like quartz), but I understand those who prefer the uniformity of quartz. Just a personal preference; I don't think you can really go wrong with either one. So my husband and I had looked at granite at the big box stores, and were pretty surprised at how expensive it is there, especially compared to quartz. So we expanded our search to the Chicago area and found a wholesale granite distributor and we went and picked out our slabs. That was a fun process, and I highly recommend picking your own slabs if you ever go the granite route. No surprises about how it will look when it is installed, and if there are veins you want to avoid you can express that. I knew I wanted a lighter color granite since the kitchen cabinets are cherry and we have wood floors. We chose White Kashmire. It turned out so nice and looks great with the stainless steel appliances and the cherry cabinetry.

I was surprised the countertops were hauled over on the back of a small truck. I guess I was expecting something a little bigger? Anyway, I thought this was funny.

The employees of the granite factory are all from Poland. And of course they speak in their native tongue the entire time. I can't be sure, but most of the time it sounded like all explitives while they were doing the installation :) And man do these guys earn their money! I really did feel bad watching them carry this stuff up the front steps. They told me the island slab weiged around 800 lbs. One of the guys banged up his shoulder carrying this in. And while I don't know how much these men make in a day, I can tell you it's not enough. 

 These two DID enjoy watching the show!

 And this little monkey will only sit still if she has a snack. So we do lots and lots of snacks around here.

 So here is the kitchen in its current stage. We still need to decide what kind of backsplash we want and what material to use on the back of the island. For the island, we are thinking cherry beadboard or possibly a stone material that would match the fireplace wall.

 The fireplace wall on the left side of this picture is what I'm referring to. It will be wrapped in some kind of stone....don't know on that yet either :)

 We chose to do a 10 inch overhang on one end of the island so we can have seating there. On the other side of the island, it would be too close to the fridge and dishwasher to have a barstool there.

 The gas line still needs to be ran from the basement up through the cabinet beneath the cooktop, which is why that drawer is off the hinges right now.

So that is what the kitchen looks like now. We ended up paying $31 per sq ft on the granite, which did include installation. This price was so much cheaper than anywhere else we looked, so we're happy with not only how it turned out, but the reasonable price as well.