Marble and Sparkle in the Kitchen

Today is a big day for our little kitchen! We finally bit the bullet and splurged on some amazing countertops and backsplash for the space!

So far the kitchen has gotten tons of smaller updates including painted cabinets (I swear a tutorial is coming soon-ish!), added hardware, a new faucet and new appliances (a must since the ones when we moved in were not functioning). We held off on countertops since we always had dreams of blowing out a wall or two and expanding the space, or at least changing the layout to make it more modern, but we ran into problem after problem after problem with every idea we had, so we decided to love it the way it was and commit to countertops.

Countertop shopping is what dreams are made of let me tell you. I wanted to run through that slab yard petting every single one slow-mo style while music played in the background like a fairytale movie. There were so many gorgeous options, but we narrowed it down to quartz and were between a more marble looking option, and a white version with the perfect amount of sparkle. After debating back and forth for a few, we decided that the sparkle option that was already in stock was the winner so we put down our deposit and grabbed dinner to celebrate. We clearly get too excited over this stuff 🙂

I loved that we could see the actual slab that would be cut for our space making it so much easier to picture. While we were waiting for the amazing team to install it (if anyone is local in southeast Detroit I’d be happy to share the company!) we went backsplash shopping. There were tons of amazing options at all price points, but in the end we came home with this super reasonable marble subway tile. We had to dig through a few boxes to make sure there were no bad pieces, or large orange streaks in the stone, but it was so worth it for the price!

M and I installed the backsplash on a Saturday, and grouted on Sunday. It was a perfect weekend project and with the help of our new tile saw, went much smoother than tiling projects in the past. Got to love projects that go exactly like you had in your head!

As you may be able to see in pictures, we also added a 10″ overhang that’s perfect for a few slim bar stools. We almost exclusively sit there now and love the extra serving and prep space that it adds. Plus that huge undermount single bowl sink makes me have heart eyes even while doing dishes 🙂

In the end I’m glad that we waited and tried out all of our kitchen options before committing to our kitchen layout, but I sure am happy to have a gorgeous new stone to finish off the space! We also updated the light fixtures to be a little more light and airy with glass enclosures vs. the polished nickle versions we had up before.

This kitchen has definitely come a long way since we first moved in and might be one of the biggest projects we had left on our list! The only thing original in the space (at least without major alterations!) is the flooring. After all of those roadblocks we ran into, we decided to work with it instead of replacing it. Sometimes original isn’t a bad thing at all, even if it’s from the 70s 🙂 With some major grout whitening and cleaning, it’s as good as new and has a similar color tone to our wood floors, so the transitions are relatively seamless. So for now, this space is a wrap! Here’s a little before and after to end on just for fun 🙂