June 12, 2007
Countertop of my dreams
When I was a girl we always took visiting relatives to the French Quarter in New Orleans while they were with us. We’d walk along the riverfront, eat in a fancy restaurant, maybe take in a museum or Preservation Hall, and spend the rest of our time wandering in and out of the shops. One of my favorites was the praline shop, where we could watch through a large glass window as the candy was made. I always thought that it was very cool that they didn’t pour and shape the patties on waxed paper like we did at home. The poured the hot candy directly onto a marble countertop where it miraculously shaped itself into perfect patties. It was explained to us each time that the marble helped the candy maintain the right temperature and to cool at just the right rate to retain that shape. I’ve wanted marble countertops ever since then. Many of my little-girl dreams have fallen by the wayside, but this one is with me still.
My kitchen remodel is still about a year away. I hate the thought of living for another year with and outdated kitchen that was poorly designed in the first place. Still, I’d rather wait until I can do it right than to put myself on a too-small budget and end up with a kitchen that doesn’t fulfill my dreams or my needs. I purchased the wood for my cabinet fronts when I was getting the supplies for the new room last year (silly me, I thought I’d finish the new room and go right into the kitchen remodel.) I also have my floor coverings picked out. I know my paint color. The only major design decision left to make is which countertops will pull it all together. I’ve just spent about an hour fooling around at Marble.com and I have to tell you it was the most fun I’ve had in ages (all of you other DIY fans can appreciate that, right?) Who knew there were so many color varieties to pick from? The site has 2D and downloadable 3D showrooms, so I picked different cabinet colors and marble or Granite Countertops and tried them out together. They even have over fifity different edges to choose from, so I played with those, too. The granites are lovely, but I think I’ll be sticking with my old dream of marble. There are so many choices that I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now and keep changing my mind about what I want. Still, I have a year to decide, so it’s not like I’m in a huge hurry. There’s one thing I know for certain though. My new kitchen will have a large island with a marble countertop. When that boy of mine finally blesses me with grandkinds, I’m going to show them how to make candy the right way.
[tags]countertops, granite, marble, memories[/tags]
Posted by skeet @ 5:37 pm • Home & Family
RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI
June 12th, 2007 at 5:59 pm, Lisa Says:
I want that kitchen.
June 13th, 2007 at 9:30 pm, skeet Says:
You and me, Lisa! You and me! You could fit my kitchen in there at least twice, but I’ll have a little more room after the remodel. Mostly I’ll be expanding it by better usage of space.
My cabinets are going to be pickled - a light brown with a transparent white wash over them, making them quite light. The floors will be a vinyl pattern called barnwood, which is just like it sounds - looks like old and silvered planks. Walls painted terra cotta like an old flowerpot. I found several stone countertops that will work really well with that and add the brightness it needs to keep it from being dull. And now that I’ve written it all out I’m getting all excited again & don’t want to wait, lol.