Quartz Countertop & Stainless Counter Top

We have three different work surfaces in our renovated kitchen, quartz, butcher block and stainless steel.  Each chosen for their different purposes.

The butcher block is for the working side of the island.  This surface allows for easy cutting and food prepping.  It's a great surface to roll out cookies and knead bread.

We have stainless steel for the counters flanking the Viking Range.  This is great if you have a hot pot and need to lay it down quickly.  It scratches easily but does well against heat and it's stain resistant.  It's for all the tough, messy, greasy, cooking that come from the stove top.

They have been installed, but we won't remove the sticky film until all the backslashes have been removed.

For the bar seating and other countertops, we chose the Ceasarstone quartz, because it's clean and pretty and looks freaking amazing as a bar.  It spans 15 feet across and is flanked to the floor on both sides.

The bar is a few inches above the butcher block.  This separates the work from the play area, and you don't see any of the butcher block mess from the dining room and great room.  People seated at the bar also get a great view of cooking without getting dirty.

Butcher Block aka "The Butcher"

A few weeks ago, after the island cabinets were installed, they came to measure for the butcher block.  Our butcher block was custom made by Concept Giroux.  Today it is being delivered.

Here is it in all it's beauty.

The circular hole is for the compost bucket.  So now we can chop and throw with ease.  The rectangle will house our island sink.

So pretty.  And yes we cut on the butcher. It does not show our cuts.  The colour of the butcher is the actual colour of the wood.  It is protected by mineral oil, which is food safe.

Appliances

Electricity.  It's a good thing.  We were living in the dark for a few weeks while the pot lights were being installed.  This week the electricians came and installed lighting in many shapes and forms.  We have pot light, under cabinet lights, and in cabinet lights.

We also got our appliances in today.  These bad boys were ordered back in March 2011 and it's now November.  They are not installed yet. But they are all shiny and happy in their new home.  This here refrigerator will be best friends with my 4 children who are constantly hungry. 

This is my husband range.  It's a 6 burner Viking.  We ordered it in racing red and it came in stainless steel.  Interesting.  It was really to much of a pain to reorder a new one in red.  5-6 week delay and we would have wait for it to install the back splash and it would be one delay after another.  So stainless it is. Plus the company we ordered it from gave us a cash compensation for the error.  But they have yet to pay for the scratches on the floor the delivery guys made during installation. Just saying'.

More lighting photos and my two double dishwasher.  Super silent ones.  I love them as much as my kids love the refrigerator.

This is my steam, convection, microwave combo.  Pretty.

 This is what happens when an overweight electrician stands on your cabinets to install lighting.

This is how they cover it up.  Then they tell you the appliance delivery guys did it.

Don't worry the cabinet guy fixed it.

The cabinets come rolling in...

This week the cabinets are being installed.
We still don't have a functioning sink but look at all these cabinets.

This is where the stove will be.  There will be a bench seat under the window.

This used to be our dining room.
Here is the before of the dining room

The cabinets in the center are for the 15 food island.

Here the old stove is in place as well as the surrounding cabinets.

This one shows the island cabinets taking shape.  The cabinets in the great room are all the upper cabinets that will be installed in the next few days.

Here is where the quartz bar will be installed. It will easily seat 6 people.  The space to the left of the window with house our 48" refrigerator.  If you have 4 kids you need this.

The far end of the photo shows the cabinets for surrounding the sink and dishwashers.  That's plural for two dishwashers.  Again, if you have 4 kids you need this.

Remember the before? Can you see it coming together yet?

Wood Floors - Before and After. The nightmare begins.

Do you remember our rustic modern flooring?  The dog loved it, because if he peed on it, no one would notice.

Then came the installation of our new wood floors.  My son is thrilled.  Or he's just excited to play on my phone.

So in order to get the new bare wood floors to match the rest of the house, we needed to leave the house.  So that the sanding, buffing, tinting and varnishing could move along.

So we lapped it up in a nice chalet on a lake.

When we were driving home the contractor called and said "I'm not quite happy with the floors.  I'm going to buff them out and do one more coat of varnish.  Can you stay at the chalet a few more days?"

"What the??"

Anyways...we opted to leave again the following weekend and so that his guys could do the floors again. 

Here are the floors from the first round of finishing..

From far they are shiny and new.

But close up they have sawdust and hair from the varnish rollers stuck into the top coat of varnish.

The week comes to an end and we make our way back to the chalet...

Not to shabby, but after 4 weeks of being in a home that's not yours, you really want to go back to your own home, sleep in your own bed and shower in your own shower.  We get the call from the contractor that it was ok to go back home.

Well he didn't see the floors yet.  He only thought it was safe to go back.

That's some deep uneven sanding...along with some kind of residue left on the varnish.  I don't know the technical term, but it looks like the guys left the sander on and forgot about it.  It gouged the edge of the wood where it meets our bathroom ceramic tiles.  You can also see more sawdust, dirt and hair.

Do these look like brand new, just installed, sanded, buffed and stained floors to you??

NOT

And those recessed wood vents we paid extra for, they don't even fit flush now that the varnish has been slapped on so haphazardly.

On the bright side, this guy is not phased.  As long as the fridge is still stocked.  It's been relocated to the entry room.  To make  way for our floor massacre.