I took some time off around the holidays with a few goals in mind. One was to spend some time with family, which was awesome. The other was to knock off a bunch of things on my checklist around the condo. I had almost an entire week, and I think I did pretty good.
New Counter Tops
The big news was that the new counter tops were installed on New years Eve. We ultimately decided upon Corian for a number of reasons:
- I Hate Granite - I hate granite with a passion, I hate the look, I hate the feel, I hate the cost, I hate the trend, I hate everything about the stuff.
- DIY Concrete Tops Are Too Messy - I desperately wanted concrete, it is incredible cheap, looks amazing, and will last FOREVER. But with the amount of space we have to work in this place, it would have been a nightmare putting them in, and to purchase from a retailer would have cost as much or more than granite.
- Wood Requires Too Much Maintenance - I love the contrast a nice thick slab of hardwood makes against white cabinets, and its relatively cheap, but the maintenance on wood was a deal breaker.
- Corian ROCKS MY SOCKS - Corian looks great and will continue to do so for many, many years with little or no maintenance. It’s easy to repair, relatively cheap, and did I mention it looks fantastic.
One of our goals is to make the condo as “Rental-Proof” as possible. There is not a whole lot a renter could do to damage Corian, which was a major deciding factor. If it gets scratched, or chipped, it’s as easy as buffing it up with a little light elbow grease. If it is something that it quite severe, call up a professional and they will will cut out the offending section, slap in a new piece, and blend it all back together, good as new, without having to replace the entire counter top.
The color we decided upon is Silver Birch. It is a very bright white background, with a lot of detailed and varying shades of gray slag. The slag or blends together as soon as you step away from the tops, and really look like a light gray from across the room. But as soon as you step in for a closer look, it really is quite pretty.
- New Counter Tops 2
Brand New Corian Sink
Food Storage
Colorful Bowls - From my Mom
Garbage Disposal
Convert our food pantry into a coat closet,
Converted Pantry To Coat Closet
And, finish the “Modern Art Masterpiece” of an electrical wiring job by the sink,
Electrical Wiring
Although we do not have any photos, I added some much needed weather stripping and caulked almost all of our incredibly drafty windows, and used great stuff expanding foam, to insulate the 2 inch gap between floor and wall, where we were loosing incredible amounts of heat. So all in all it was a good week, we knocked a bunch of things off our list, and have a brand new kitchen to finally hang out it!
Tagged: corian, counter tops, electrical, garbage disposal, kitchen, plumbing, Real Estate