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The Resources


Cabinets: Rutt HandCrafted Cabinetry, Fusion.
Construction: Frameless Contemporary
Door and Drawer Style: New Yorker
Color/Finish: Valspar 80 White Paint, 10 Flat Sheen

Hardware: Restoration Hardware Aubrey knobs in polished nickel; Classic Brass cup pulls in polished nickel; Rejuvenation cabinet latch in polished nickel; Blum hinges; soft-close drawers

Countertops: Moon Night granite, polished

Backsplash: Waterworks Architectonics handmade subway field tile in Mykonos; Scotia liner in Mykonos

Floor: Ann Sacks porcelain floor tile: Vault in Carbon, Dimensions: 11 7/8" x 23 5/8"

Sink: Franke KBX11021 undermount stainless steel sink

Faucet: Perrin & Rowe Single Lever Single Hole Mixer with Sidespray U.4746 in polished nickel

Dishwasher: Miele G1262SCVI Fully Integrated 18-inch Dishwasher

Refrigerator: Sub-Zero 700TCI with pro handle

Range: Wolf 30" Gas Range with pro handle

Hood: Wolf 22" depth Pro Wall Hood

Undercabinet lighting: Task Luche Xenon LX Series

Overhead lighting: Hudson Valley Lighting Haverhill pendant

Wall and ceiling paint: Benjamin Moore Decorator's White in Eggshell

the backsplash redux

Math is not my favorite thing. But I know a bad subway tile layout when I see one. And I saw one. And it was in my kitchen. This subway tile hot mess led to a weekend of calculations, layouts, fractions and obsessions.


As well as some construction paper subway tile fun. Mmm. Crafts.


And finally, a real pro, who was bemused by my calculations, came to save our backsplash. I've been obsessing over these layouts and calculations, I said to him. I can see that, he said. After about a half hour of discussions and measurements and lasers and shiftings, we had lift off.


Above the range! Soon to be partially covered by a hood.


And around the corner and down the wall. I think this is my new favorite nook.


Corners! Without slivers.


And even more corners that are sliver-free.


One place where slivers were most welcome was between the cabinets and door trim. Love it.


Can't wait to throw sauce all over it.

the backsplash disaster

Backsplash! It's like the homestretch, isn't it? Yes, except when it isn't. It could become the bane of your existence. I have always loved subway tile for as long as I can remember, and I couldn't wait to see our tile installed. But instead, I came home to a hackjob. Literally. Our handmade Waterworks subway tile was reduced to slivers and snaggelies, and I lost it. Lost it, I tell you! How do you like this beautiful job in the corner to the left of our range?


Or perhaps this corner next to the sink is more your taste. Once that side wall gets tiled, it will create quite lovely lines where tile meets snaggly line.


And to top it off, someone mysteriously turned our once horizontal outlet to be vertical. Needless to say, all that tile got ripped down and we're back where we started.

the countertops

Finally, after going back and forth and having last moments of indecision and doubt, our countertops are in. Moon Night granite. How do you do?

the cabinets

Kitchen cabinets are done and done!


No hood yet.

the install

After a week's delay, the cabinets are finally getting installed! And it's a glorious site. I can't believe they are actually in the kitchen and it makes me feel like things are moving along...that we're not just living with a newly installed floor as our only accomplishment after practically a month.

There was much banging and drilling and other crazy machine like noises that I could not bring myself to look into. As well as some curses of "Oh sh-t! Oh sh-t!" Great. The cabinet installer is cursing over what a masterpiece he has created, right? Right?! When I inquired, he said there were no problems, everything's going well.

And as far as I can see, things seem in order.


Hello, bases. You please me, yes you do.


And hello, uppers. How nice you look up close to the ceiling.


The left side of the kitchen. Sitting pretty.


And the right side of the the kitchen. Hello, lover.

no, just no

Some BX wiring, stuffed behind the baseboard, seems to be causing it to pop out. This is less than attractive.


Ummm....baseboard fail.

the torture

I am currently obsessed with the grout on our floor. Our contractor had used the wrong grout color (Delorean Gray), took it out and replaced it with the Charcoal, the darkest one on the chart. But it seems uneven in its coloring. I don't know whether it's because the old grout is still there and that's what's showing through, or if because the grout just dries unevenly. But it goes from a pretty dark gray to light gray in some spots. Bollocks! It drives me mad. I was down on my hands and knees moaning over this grout! Something that I thought I would never do. Now, after the kitchen is installed, I'm considering using Aqua Mix Grout Colorant to get it a nice, dark and even charcoal color. I see more obsessions in my near future. Carry on.

the wait

The appliances arrived last week. Sitting pretty. Well, not really. They are lined up in the dining nook, awaiting their proper places.


Meanwhile, our door trim is looking a little out of shape. Or, just ripped out.


And this will soon go up. One day.

the delay

Doh! Our first real delay. And it involves the cabinets!! Nooooo....Here I was, for the last three months, living with the deadline of August 23rd in mind. That was the day the cabinets were to arrive. That was the day I kept anxiously telling every worker: Will this be done by then? This has to be done by then! The cabinets are coming, people! THE CABINETS ARE COMING! (Clap your hands for emphasis here.) I mean, I was seriously the Paul Revere of kitchen cabinetry. Until I wasn't.

I found out today that, due to delays because of another job, our cabinets will in fact, NOT be coming on Monday. They will be delivered next Thursday, sit God knows where in our apartment, and be installed next Friday and the following Monday. What?! Horrors. I'll have an entire weekend to freak out with my half installed cabinets.

grout grist

Grout! I shake my fist at you! The first problem to occur was over grout. I had requested "Pewter" and we got "Delorean Gray." The wrong grout went down, and my anxiety went up. Delorean Gray! Who are you and what are you doing in my kitchen? It was showing way too light, not what we had envisioned at all. So, learning that not only does wrong grout not look good, but that right grout can tend to dry lighter, we decided to go one level darker, to "Charcoal," now that we were re-grouting. And now the tile sits, grouted, under paper. A fine place to be indeed.

the floor

The black floor tile in our "before" kitchen was less than glorious to me. It was fine, not bad, just dated, and I couldn't stand the square grid layout.


When we went tile shopping, I knew I wanted dark gray/charcoal colors, slate-like, matte as opposed to shiny, and a large format porcelain tile that would be staggered. We went to Daltile, Nemo Tile, Ann Sacks, Artistic Tile and Cancos Tile, and ended up choosing a throughbody porcelain tile from Ann Sacks called Vault, in 11 x 24.


And thar she blows! The tile guy installed the floor on Friday, with grout to come on Monday.


Come to mommy.




No one allowed!