Kitchen Inspiration

Hello from the road! 

My main squeeze and I are headed back from an awesome visit out in Indiana.  We have family out there and it was so amazing to catch up with them.  We thought a road trip would be fun so we packed the truck up with snacks, waters, electronics, and we headed west for 12 hours.  We stayed for a couple days and now we are headed back to good ol' Jersey.  We are only about 3 hours into the ride and I am sooooo wishing we flew! Road trips always seem like the BEST idea on the way to somewhere but I never seem to think about the drive home....grrrr!  So, what better time to blog....I recently posted about my sister's kitchen re-do and I am insanely jealous.  My kitchen has been a white box for way too long. I have white laminate floors, white cabinets, white countertops, and white appliances. To spice it up without getting new cabinetry I decided I want to paint my lower kitchen cabinets gray and keep my uppers the bright white that they are.  If you didn't know, I live in a condo and I DO NOT want to put all of my savings into this kitchen when there is probably no way I would ever recoup the amount of dough I put into it. So the plan is to re-do my kitchen without spending more than 4,000. I gathered some inspiration photos off of the www and the wheels are already turning....

 

I think I am leaning towards the gray cabinets in the second inspiration photo.  I like the deeper tones because they really pop against the white countertops. I will mostly likely invest in Silestone Quartz countertops because they are hard, resilient, and virtually no maintenance. The most attractive feature is that they are made with bacteriostatic protection. Have you ever seen Candice Olson's commercials where the milk and cookies spill on the countertop? Yup, that's Silestone showing you how they are the ONLY countertops that have built in protection against bacteria. Such an awesome product! So the plan for now,which could totally change, is to do white quartz countertops and then a backsplash like the one you saw in the first inspiration pic.  Obviously a new sink, faucet and hardware will also be apart of the plan.  Not sure how I will stay under 4,000 but I will try my hardest. Appliances and floors will be hanging around for a while because like I said I won't recoup the money so it's not worth it. 

I'll be back with pictures of my kitchen and a style tile/mood board real soon. I also want to get your opinions on hardware and lighting options. 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! 

Only 9 more hours to go, shoot me now!