As time has gone by, and we're talking about 15 years here, it's a bit worse for the wear. I always wanted a gas stove like I had in Takoma Park - where we had inadequate electric service for anything else. But when the electric stove died I replaced it with another electric stove because I needed a stove pronto.
Some of the cabinet doors have come off their hinges and are close to impossible to repair. The fridge is in need of repair as half the shelves are broken, the door handle is duct-taped on and it leaks.
The last straw was when the bath upstairs started leaking and dripping into the kitchen. We repaired the bath but ended up with a big hole in the kitchen ceiling. Dan taped it up with plastic very nicely but it's not the kind of thing we wanted to live with forever.
We'll have cherry cabinets in a praline stain. The bulk of the counter tops will be green granite. The eat-in kitchen area will have the same cabinets with the white granite counters. Dan liked the green and I liked the white so it was a happy coincidence that we were going to need two slabs of stone and could switch colors without a money-hit. Originally the breakfast bar was to have the green granite but we decided to have that be wood, stained the same color instead. You can see the flooring on the right-hand side peeking out behind the granite.
Originally I wasn't going to get granite. I've seen wonderful laminates at Home Depot and thought that would be a money saver. We had one estimate that had laminate instead of granite and they were higher than the place with granite so I threw in the towel. Of course granite is not as fancy as quartz compositions but it's been my experience that counter tops fall out of style before they wear out so I'm going to take the granite.
We were read the riot act about bacteria in granite counter tops when Dan had his bone marrow transplant a few years ago. They are porous and food should not be prepared on them because they can harbor bacteria. Dan is fine these days with an immune system re-grown from our son, but I still stick with the food prep guidelines. I'm the one at the grocery store checking to see if the cheese includes un-pasteurized milk. I currently use a plastic cutting board that can be cleaned with Clorox, and I plan on continuing that practice with my new kitchen.
We also had to pick out pulls. These are our choice. Kelly, the designer at the kitchen place says stainless appliances with these colors. I'm about worn-out on choices so stainless appliances are what I'm getting. The kitchen place has an appliance dealer who's supposed to give us a "good" price. I'm skeptical about that but willing to shell out to have the appliances arrive without dents and on-time for the kitchen workers. I'll be getting a duel-fuel stove -gas cook top, electric oven-, and a new fridge.
You can see a bar stool sitting about where the cupboards will extend, which is currently carpeted. The carpet will come out with the new installation, leaving exposed wood floor. The carpet will either need to be re-bound or more likely taken up. It's more than we're ready to think about at the moment.
