Love at first sight.

Hubs and I have been talking about remodeling our kitchen ever since we moved in over 5 years ago now, but it wasn't until just about a year ago that we started getting serious about actually getting it done. Now for all of you who have ever watched an episode of Spice Up My Kitchen on HGTV and think that is what we are about to then I would just laugh. If I had $40,000 to spend on a new kitchen it would not be in what is considered a "starter house." If our kitchen remodel were to be televised it would be more appropriately called Design on a Dime because I don't pay full price for anything! Not to mention, like I said before, this is a starter home. No one expects a high profile kitchen to be in here, nor will anyone pay for it when it comes time to sell. All a buyer is going to be looking for is that it has been upgraded - period.

Our kitchen remodel discussion began last summer when we made a random trip to Ikea. I spotted one of their "rooms" they had set up with pretty white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and butcher block counter tops. As soon as I saw it I thought to myself 'this is the perfect look for our kitchen.' As if I wasn't sold already, when I saw the price of the butcher block counters (about $88 for an 8 foot section) I was even more giddy. Here was a nice looking upgrade from the ugly laminate that we have now and it would probably cost less than the laminate did when the house was built. So this has been my dream now for almost a year - well, till about 3 weeks ago.

We made a more serious trip over to Ikea. Hubs was nervous about installing the counter tops himself, so we decided to see how much Ikea would charge to install it. The man there put us in touch with their install team. Everything was going smoothly till we mentioned the odd shape that is our kitchen. If you have never seen it before, just picture a U-shaped kitchen set in a bay window. While it looks really cool, I have learned this is also a pain in the rear for designing a kitchen. And it is also why we can't have my oh so inexpensive counter top idea. Apparently butcher block has to be cut perpendicular which just can't be done in our kitchen, so back to the drawing board we go.

We have been given lots of other inexpensive ideas by family and friends, but hubs really has his heart set on granite. I figure since we are skimping on everything else, maybe we can spend a little more on the counter top. So we have gone to warehouse after warehouse full of granite to try and find something in our price range. Okay, so we haven't been to so many because of our price range, but more so because I just haven't found anything that I felt was worth spending the money on. My problem is I saw a picture in a magazine of a kitchen with white cabinets and white marble counter tops. I immediately was in love, till I was informed that marble is really not suitable for a kitchen. Then, even worse, learned that there really is no such thing as a white granite. I even googled white granite and sifted through page after page of endless pictures. Then suddenly, last Friday night I stumbled upon this blog post: White-ish Granite Options. Let me tell you, for someone who has spent as much time looking at granite as I have, finding this blog post was like finding the north star because that was where I spotted IT - Delicatus White granite. I drooled over the pictures of it for hours. While you would think this would put an end to my misery, I still had the task of locating a granite dealer in our vicinity that carried it. Another few hours later I had it - OHM International. Unfortunately all these granite places don't have the most convenient hours, I had to wait a whole week and make an appointment just to be able to go see my beloved in person. Finally, at 9:30 am this morning it was my time. This place wouldn't allow children into the warehouse, so I went back by myself and the guy took me straight to the Delicatus. I immediately felt my heart begin to flutter. It was the feeling I had been waiting for. Then I hear the guy say "Hmm a lot of these slabs have hold tags on them." After a few discussions between sales people I was informed that there was one slab left that wasn't claimed yet, so they dug it out for me with their forklift, so that I could see it in person. I came armed with my cabinet door and floor tile, but I really didn't even need it cause I knew this was the one that I wanted. Though setting them down next to it really solidified that I had picked the perfect combination for our kitchen. The bad news, cause there is always bad news, we still don't know how much it costs yet. OHM is just a granite dealer. You go there and pick out what you want and they send the info to your fabricator. Which is what they did for us this morning. Now we have to wait till we get a call from our fabricator some time Monday to find out what the damage is. Apparently granite prices are pretty secretive cause I have again googled till I am blue in the face and cannot find anything that will even give me an idea of the price per square foot. So for now I just cross every finger and toe that I haven't just fallen in love with the $80/sq ft granite.

I leave you with the few pics that I snapped with my phone. While they do it no justice, I am just happy that, hopefully, my granite search is finally over!!!