Week 6: One Room Challenge - It's all coming together now that the countertops are in

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Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | The Reveal

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2 more weeks until our final Kitchen reveal for Better Homes and Garden’s One Room Challenge. And finally, our Compac Unique Statuario Gold (that’s a mouthful!) Quartz is in. We also have our butcher block countertop too. How did we decide on these particular materials? Read on…

Quartz

We wanted a countertop that was:

• Durable, non-porous, heat and scratch/ding resistant
• Low maintenance – not requiring special cleaners or sealants
• The look of marble with flowing veins
• Warm white color to match our existing marble chevron backsplash along the perimeter of the kitchen
• Availability of large slab size to decrease the amount of visible seams

Quartz had all the above requirements so after weeks of searching, reviewing, and comparing, we decided on the Compac Unique Statuario Gold quartz. The veining is very natural with slight gold and brown tints.

Below you’ll see a few other warm white quartz options we considered:

We ordered 6 of the largest slabs (130″ x 65″). One slab for the backsplash, 2 for the island, 3 slabs for the perimeter countertops. That’s a lot of quartz!

It took a herculean effort to get that one large and heavy slab up behind the kitchen hood. 4 guys trying to manuever it on very precisely for about an hour.

We were able to get away with no visible seams on our waterfall island and get the edge perfectly vein matched.

The perimeter countertops are also vein matched, but there is a seam, which you can’t see from afar.

However, the seam is visible up close…

Butcher Block

For more prep and cooking convenience, we added a butcher block prep area with a new sink and trash. It’s right across from the fridge and microwave area.

We selected unfinished acacia butcher block. It was readily available and in stock from Home Depot. We just had to cut it to size. After some research, I decided we will finish it with Boos Block Mystery Oil and Butcher Block Cream. Not sure how much darker it will get, but hopefully it will turn out like our Acacia dining table. I’ll share the result with you in next week’s post.

Since our live edge dining table is also made out of acacia I hope these warm woods will tie the kitchen and our dining areas together.

You’ll notice that the butcher block is lower than the quartz countertop by 1/2 inch. Why?

For practicality, because wood will expand and compress with temperature/humidity changes so you may see uneven distribution if you have the wood at the same level as the stone.

For design, the elevation difference helps make the butcher block cabinet area look like its own piece of furniture.

The prep sink and faucet are also different on the butcher block vs the main kitchen sink and faucet to further distinct the two spaces.

Stay tuned for next week (7) when the paint should be completed! I’ll also share a surprise paint addition with you 🙂 I’m also hoping that our hood will be newly plastered by then too.

Hang on tight to week 8 – the reveal week where I plan to share my final kitchen and all my materials and learnings with you!

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Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | The Reveal

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