Kitchen Renovation: To my pleasant surprise...

[kajcienski]

So... I'm finishing up a major house reno and one of the last (of many) potentially draining decisions I had to make was this afternoon. Is was my kitchen grout color. Imagine the grin on my face when I saw this handed to me at Home Depot! I especially find it funny that this is one of the few featured colors on the sample sheet.

26350

I don't have to tell you all this was a no-brainer for me.

[Michael]

Don't pick because of the name. My wife redid the master bath a few years ago and picked that very grout just for me. A: It didn't go with the color of the tile and B: it's much lighter than the card suggests. To beat it all, the grout color didn't matter to me at all especially since I use the other bath...The master bathroom is her sanctuary. Heck even if I did use it I still wouldn't care what color it was so I was surprised she obsessed over wall and tile color only to choose the grout because of my car. She was just thinking of me I guess. Anyway I'll snap a pic of it tomorrow so you can see it.

EDIT: Here you go.
26351

[NightFlyer]

EDIT: Here you go.
26351

Nice floor - looks good to me...

[Alan]

Nice floor - looks good to me...

Same here. I think it's pretty sharp.

[ccurzio]

Man, kitchen renovations can be a nightmare. I did my kitchen a while back, and it was a TON of work. I toyed with the idea of doing some tile on the backsplash, but decided against it since I lacked the necessary tools and skill, and couldn't really find an appropriate color to match what the kitchen's end result would be. (I can't see DeLorean gray entering into it anywhere.)

Except for running the gas line (to replace the shitty glass-top electric stove in my kitchen with a proper gas range), I did all of the work myself. After painting the kitchen walls (which was a huge relief to get rid of the horribly ugly mural that ran through the kitchen), I took down the cabinet doors and resurfaced everything, stained all of the wood, sealed it with poly, and replaced all of the cabinet hardware. I went with all stainless steel appliances, and a much richer color for the cabinets.

http://i.imgur.com/Am0tOvX.jpg

It was a shitload of work and it took a while to do, but I'm overall pretty happy with the result.

[RoyHinkley]

Man, kitchen renovations can be a nightmare. I did my kitchen a while back, and it was a TON of work. I toyed with the idea of doing some tile on the backsplash, but decided against it since I lacked the necessary tools and skill, and couldn't really find an appropriate color to match what the kitchen's end result would be. (I can't see DeLorean gray entering into it anywhere.)

Except for running the gas line (to replace the shitty glass-top electric stove in my kitchen with a proper gas range), I did all of the work myself. After painting the kitchen walls (which was a huge relief to get rid of the horribly ugly mural that ran through the kitchen), I took down the cabinet doors and resurfaced everything, stained all of the wood, sealed it with poly, and replaced all of the cabinet hardware. I went with all stainless steel appliances, and a much richer color for the cabinets.

http://i.imgur.com/Am0tOvX.jpg

It was a shitload of work and it took a while to do, but I'm overall pretty happy with the result.

Great accomplishments can make all our hard work absolutely worthwhile. Nice result Chris.

Careful of those stainless appliances, they scratch really easily. Oh but I guess we all know that due to our cars' exteriors.

I like the darker cabinet color too.

Your "asshole" friend, Roy.

[Alan]

Man, kitchen renovations can be a nightmare. I did my kitchen a while back, and it was a TON of work. I toyed with the idea of doing some tile on the backsplash, but decided against it since I lacked the necessary tools and skill, and couldn't really find an appropriate color to match what the kitchen's end result would be. (I can't see DeLorean gray entering into it anywhere.)

Except for running the gas line (to replace the shitty glass-top electric stove in my kitchen with a proper gas range), I did all of the work myself. After painting the kitchen walls (which was a huge relief to get rid of the horribly ugly mural that ran through the kitchen), I took down the cabinet doors and resurfaced everything, stained all of the wood, sealed it with poly, and replaced all of the cabinet hardware. I went with all stainless steel appliances, and a much richer color for the cabinets.

It was a shitload of work and it took a while to do, but I'm overall pretty happy with the result.


It's funny. Woodwork scares me. I'd tile in a heartbeat before I'd try and resurface all the cabinetry. A tile backsplash is on our list of things to do.

It is a really nice looking kitchen.

[Jimmyvonviggle]

Man, kitchen renovations can be a nightmare. I did my kitchen a while back, and it was a TON of work. I toyed with the idea of doing some tile on the backsplash, but decided against it since I lacked the necessary tools and skill, and couldn't really find an appropriate color to match what the kitchen's end result would be. (I can't see DeLorean gray entering into it anywhere.)

Except for running the gas line (to replace the shitty glass-top electric stove in my kitchen with a proper gas range), I did all of the work myself. After painting the kitchen walls (which was a huge relief to get rid of the horribly ugly mural that ran through the kitchen), I took down the cabinet doors and resurfaced everything, stained all of the wood, sealed it with poly, and replaced all of the cabinet hardware. I went with all stainless steel appliances, and a much richer color for the cabinets.

http://i.imgur.com/Am0tOvX.jpg

It was a shitload of work and it took a while to do, but I'm overall pretty happy with the result.


How do you find a wood floor is in the kitchen? I was thinking of pulling my tile up and installing one.

[ccurzio]

Thank you for the compliments.


How do you find a wood floor is in the kitchen? I was thinking of pulling my tile up and installing one.

The first floor of my house is entirely that same (real) hardwood floor. This is my first house with actual real hardwood floors. My last house had some kind of faux-wood laminate flooring so it looked okay but it was kind of crappy.

The kitchen, and some other areas of the house, can stand to have the floor refinished but overall I like it. The only downside (which isn't a huge deal) is the expansion/contraction with the weather.

[RoyHinkley]

My kitchen floor was tile and even after sealing the grout it was a pain to keep the grout clean. Now (post hurricane flooding) my new floor is hardwood and due to the polyurethane sealing it, it holds up exceptionally well. (It has only been under a year though) the finish scratches easily, and as Chris said it does expand and contract slightly with the seasons, but it is much better than laminate flooring which will swell and buckle is contacted by water, even spills that make it into the seams.

[Dangermouse]

How can I put this nicely - what the hell was on your backsplash Chris? That farm scene - wallpaper, mural, ?

Vast improvement, well done.


Tile back splashes are about the easiest tile work to do, btw, if you fancy trying it.


I find wood floors very forgiving when you drop something, compared to tile or stone. Makes the kitchen a bit quieter too

[ccurzio]

How can I put this nicely - what the hell was on your backsplash Chris? That farm scene - wallpaper, mural, ?

Vast improvement, well done.

First, thanks. :)

Second, that shit was an actual painted mural, not wallpaper. My real estate agent said that the listing agent mentioned that the mural was "commissioned and painted by a local artist," but in talking with my neighbor across the street I discovered that the woman who used to live here painted it herself and was immensely proud of it.

I had originally thought the mural had been painted directly onto the wall, and I'd said more than once that I wanted to sand it off before painting over it because I wanted to be absolutely certain that it was destroyed, but it turns out that it had been painted onto a fiberglass backboard and then glued to the wall. I discovered this when I pulled off a piece of trim and a chunk of the mural came with it. So I just kept going, and ended up with this:

http://i.imgur.com/gbcwHwA.jpg

I pulled off every last bit, sanded down the wall behind it, patched and repaired the drywall as needed, sanded again, and then painted it.

[Dangermouse]

I miss it already.

[Jimmyvonviggle]

I think the part about tiling a backsplash that is confusing to people is how to work around outlets. If you figure that out and take your time, and use a good wet saw it is quite enjoyable work.