Chicago, Design, One Room Challenge™

#OneRoomChallenge 5: Chicago Urban Kitchen Counters & Cabinets

kitchen-counter-island
View from above of our kitchen island, countertops, and wood floor.

That’s right! We’re back for Week 5 of the OneRoomChallenge, the seasonal event when bloggers write for 6 weeks about remodeling a room in their homes and we’re showcasing how our new kitchen came together! Be sure to check out the other participants’ posts for design ideas and trends. This week, we’re giving a sneak peek of our countertops and island.  

As the big pieces of our kitchen design were installed, we came home one day to find ALL of our belongings in the living room-surprise! Of course, I had a vision of the day that all design work would be completed, and then our boxes would be delivered and we’d set up home again, then jump up for joy admiring our new kitchen with everything perfectly in its place. We all know by now things don’t always turn out as expected, but we decided having all of our thing delivered early  before work was completed was a good thing so that when we were ready to get settled, we wouldn’t have to wait for them.

Remodel-moving-back-in

In the meantime, our new island was delivered with the wall cabinets, complete with a section to build in the microwave and free up space above the stove, a built-in pull-out pantry, and easy-glide deep drawers. Doesn’t the gray look awesome with the rich dark wood floor color?

grey-kitchen-island

The countertop selection was the trickiest piece for me. While I wanted natural stone, many of the granite styles we saw were dark, which wasn’t the look we were going for. Also, marble wasn’t recommended because it’s porous so cooking remnants could seep in and it could be difficult to clean, and we wanted to avoid the need to seal it once a year.

After visiting several countertop shops, which were mostly storefronts with warehouses full of slabs in the back, we went with Quartz, a compound material that includes natural stone that is white with small grey veining that gives it an earthy, but marble-y look. It feels smooth to the touch, the color is bright and fresh, and it has rounded corners to avoid banging and bruises.

So, I will leave you with a view of our fully-installed island and countertops. We are awaiting the side panels to match the grey wood front and back panels, but we’re really excited about the sleek, modular layout and expanded, leveled island top for more working space that really opened up the room!

kitchen-island-complete

Get ready for next week as we show the final pieces of our remodel before the big reveal! Thanks for following along as our kitchen comes to life!

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