[…] We had our cabinets taken out to be spray painted and, I must say, that it was totally worth the extra money.  They were primed and had FIVE coats of Benjamin Moore Simply White.  Yes, I can only imagine how long that would have taken me!  You can no longer see the wood grain and they wipe down beautifully.We kept all of our old appliances {which we have only had for a few years} with the exception of getting a new dishwasher.  You can click on the following links to learn more about our fridge organization, how to clean an oven, and the best way to clean a glass top stove.  So our countertops are a bit of a story.   I spent almost a month trying to figure out what kind of countertop surface we were going to use and finally decided on quartz.  I did a lot of research on all of the different kitchen countertops and will be writing a post on the pros and cons of each.  Hopefully it will help you out and save you some time if you are trying to figure out what material you would like to use.So once I had decided on quartz, I needed to pick the color.  After a week of going back and forth from the kitchen countertop store with different samples, I finally decided on Storm Grey from Dupont.  Unfortunately, there ended up being a little mix up in communication and the installer put in Stone Grey from Caesarstone.    I pretty much had a small stroke.In the end, we did stay with the stone grey quartz.  Although it wasn’t as much of a contrast I was originally looking for, it did tie in really nicely with the grey in the marble subway tile {from Home Deopt} that we used.  And, of course, the fact that it was almost $2000 cheaper pretty much sealed the deal. The tile backsplash made such a HUGE difference in the look of the kitchen.  We had the wall tiled behind the stove as well as a half wall along the windows.   I was kind of hoping to do a full wall there as well, but due to the uneven layout of the cabinets on either side of the wall, we decided to stick with the half wall.  The windows were framed out {which also made a huge difference}and painted with Simply White and the walls were painted with Old Soul by Benjamin Moore.  Since we have such an open floor plan, this color is used a lot in our home and I love it!  It is a soft “griege” color and can really has a lot of variance in different lights – sometime it looks more grey and sometimes more beige.We had the countertops extended out by a few inches in the little bar area  and just that little extra space makes it so much more functional.  It’s a great place for the kids to eat their breakfast or for me to sit down to have some tea.   The stools were from Target and a great deal at less than $40 each.  And just to give you an idea of the rest of the space, the kitchen eating area is just behind the breakfast bar.  It gets lots of natural light and I love the open floor plan.As you walk towards the formal dining room we have a bit more cupboard space that we use for our pantry and cleaning supplies.  On the other side of the wall is a desk and our kitchen command centre.  I put this together about a year ago and it makes such a big difference in keeping our kitchen counters clear and clutter free!  If you would like to see more areas in our home, I am currently working on putting a full home tour together for you.  It is still a work in progress but you can see where I am at by clicking HERE.Special thanks to my friend Rose, from Rosalee Roy Photgraphy who took the photos for me!For more kitchen ideas, check out these posts….How to Organize Kitchen CabinetsHow to Clean and Organize the KitchenKitchen InspirationI shared this post at Liz Marie Blog. […]