I’ve been meaning to post an update of our shaker kitchen for a while. I had planned to wait till it was completely done, but I’ve come to realize that’s not going to happen anytime soon. The last I showed the kitchen was in October just after the cabinets had been installed by Vedder Woodworking. Tony used to work with Rod Vedder making and installing cabinets, so we worked it out that Tony helped Rod install our cabinets for a day, and then Tony and I would finish off the rest of the kitchen.

Counters

Towards the beginning of November we had the counters installed by The Stone Fabricator from Ottawa. All along I had wanted to pour our own concrete countertops using Z countertop edge forms, but when it came down to it we just didn’t think we had enough time or energy to add one more project to our list. And the mess and dust from sanding concrete just didn’t seem worth it at the time. We already bought the edge forms and a few other supplies, but we’ll probably do some kind of outdoor project so they won’t go to waste!

So instead of concrete, we decided to go with a solid surface. We wanted something light to add some contrast against the dark cabinets. We ended up choosing Zenith White Crystalo, which is a classic white quartz with big chunks and sparkly flecks.

Sink

We ended up going with a black granite undermount sink that we bought from Costco. Actually the first one we bought from Costco, but somebody dropped it and it shattered. But then I just happened to find the exact same one on Kijiji for less money, so it wasn’t a total loss. I love this sink because it’s so big and deep. I can let my crock pot soak in the sink for days and it doesn’t bother me because I can’t see it.

Faucet

We chose the delta essa matte black kitchen faucet to match our sink. It’s simple looking, but still has the pull down sprayer.

Hardware

We also drilled holes in the cabinet doors and installed the hardware throughout November. The hardware we chose is Top Knobs Dakota Pull and Bergen knob in antique pewter finish. This hardware is really solid and heavy, and so far seems like really great quality.

We decided to do a mixture of knobs and pulls, with knobs on the bottom cabinets, and pulls on the upper cabinets and drawers. I love the look of these pulls, but they were a little pricey, so I thought by adding a mixture of knobs it would reduce the overall expense.  I think mixing knobs and pulls gives the kitchen some nice variation.

There are still a few details yet that we have to finish in the kitchen, but we hope to work on the rest over the winter. We still need to install the crown moulding, add valance lighting, install two doors and four drawer fronts, there are decorative legs and baseboard yet to install on the island, tile for the backsplash, remove the plastic from our appliances, clean kids finger smudges from the cabinets…

But for now though the kitchen functions well and we’re so happy with how it’s turned out!