Tuesday 29 January 2019

The Kitchen Counters Go In

Yesterday left me almost crying from happiness. It feels so surreal that we have the new counters in the kitchen now. After years of dreaming and months of intense planning and going over every detail they arrived and are even better than I imagined. You know when you are planning such a massive purchase you second guess yourself around every corner (especially on the things that can’t be returned like cut stone). We used North Shore Marble & Granite (we used them in a rental and in the last flip as well) and have had a great experience with them each time and this time our order was definitely more custom and they handled that beautifully (this is not sponsored).

We had a lot of square footage to cover so we set the budget at $75 per square foot which eliminated a good chunk of marble-like quartz that I was looking at. It was really helpful to have that budget and nix some options right away so don’t get upset if you are working on a budget. I decided on Mara Blanca Quartz from Q Quartz and ended up paying $72 / sq foot.

We also knew that we wanted the chunkier look to the counters because the kitchen was so large we didn’t want them to feel dinky in such a large space. We had the perimeter made double thick around the edges two inches in. North Shore Marble & Granite call it a “laminate edge” and some other places call it a “mitered edge”. There are two ways to do the thickened edge. One is to have a seam where the top of the counter meets the sides and the other is to have a piece glued under the full size slab of marble and harden for three days then have it cut (this is method North Shore uses). There will be a slight seam but it is unreal how non-noticeable it is. I am sitting directly next to the counter and I had to really look to see where the seam was. I walk around the kitchen and I’m thinking that I paid for a piece of art here… it’s incredible.

About a week before the counters were supposed to be installed I started to get really nervous about how thick the counters were going to be after AJ put a 2.5 inch board up on the counter. It felt ridiculously large and modern looking. I was reading Kristy Wicks’ Kitchen Q & A post and she mentioned she put an Ogee edge to her 2.5 inch counter tops and it looked simple and classy so I went to North Shore and asked about it. It wasn’t cheap to add on an Ogee edge, for the entire length of our perimeter it was $1450 (in comparison it was only $900 something to do the thickened edge around the perimeter). We knew we might need to wait on the bar stools and painting but I will tell you, it was 1000% worth it. I can wait on those things but can’t redo the edge of the counter once it’s installed.

Source List

(some are affiliate links)

Counters: North Shore Marble & Granite

Cabinets: Building Supply Outlet in Peabody, MA (all cabinets are the Eastman St. line in the Salem door style in Pure White and Gray Screen)

Range: ILVE found here and here (disclosure: we got the range at cost from ILVE)

Range Hood: hopefully this one… waiting to hear from the plumber if this will meet code

Fridge: Home Depot (being delivered on February 5!!!)

Apron Front Sink: Overstock

Apron Front Sink Faucet: Amazon

Bar Sinks: Amazon

Bar Sink Faucets: Amazon

Kitchen Dish Towel: Marshalls from Kate Spade (also here)

Sitting Area Chairs: Wayfair (and with ottoman here)

Sitting Area Rug: Pottery Barn (almost half off!)

Coffee Bar Beverage Fridge: Target

Coffee Bar Tray: Wayfair (can’t find it on the site anymore)

Coffee Bar Cream and Sugar: Swank

Bar stools we hope to get: Ballard Designs

The post The Kitchen Counters Go In appeared first on Migonis Home.


The Kitchen Counters Go In posted first on http://ssmattress.blogspot.com

Monday 28 January 2019

The Most Important Ingredient to Avoid: “Fragrance”

“Fragrance” is the easiest, simplest ingredient to avoid in your personal care products! And ditching this one ingredient will greatly reduce your toxic chemical exposure because it’s likely in A LOT of your products. Maybe...

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The Most Important Ingredient to Avoid: “Fragrance” posted first on http://ssmattress.blogspot.com

Friday 25 January 2019

Valentine’s Day Tree

If keeping your Christmas tree up through February and decorating it with paper heart doilies is wrong, I don’t want to right. How is a Valentine’s Day Tree not a thing? Even during the winter months, we spend a decent amount of time out...

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Valentine’s Day Tree posted first on http://ssmattress.blogspot.com

Wednesday 23 January 2019

House#7 – House Progress, a Video Tour

I shared a little video house tour of the building progress over at our seventh house on Instagram stories over Christmas break, but with Instagram’s algorithm a lot of you may not have seen it. Plus, I know there are quite a few of you that...

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House#7 – House Progress, a Video Tour posted first on http://ssmattress.blogspot.com

Tuesday 22 January 2019

The Best Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies

I’m not tooting my own horn when I call these the best gluten-free sugar cookies. In our house we call these “Gigi’s Sugar Cookies”. My mother-in-law is an amazing baker! And these are literally the best sugar cookies...

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The Best Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies posted first on http://ssmattress.blogspot.com

Escape Off-Grid With This Smart Self-Sustainable Mobile Micro Home

Here’s a civilized idea for getting away from civilization…or for hunkering down right in your own backyard. Escape off-grid (or not) with ...