When we first walked through our home back when it was on the market, one of the first things I noticed was the dark kitchen countertops. (I hated them.) But the house otherwise was perfect for us and so I got over the kitchen and we moved in. We immediately painted the entire house and the facelift on the kitchen was amazing with just paint alone. The kitchen had previously been painted a dark red color, making the entire space feel so much smaller than it actually is. We painted it a soft blue color (Breezy Blue by Valspar) and that immediately brightened things up.

When we moved in, we replaced all the appliances and redid the floor. While the cabinets were already painted white, they hadn’t been done very well and were starting to chip. But we left them for the time being. When we started talking about redoing the countertops this winter, the topic of repainting the cabinets came up. And then backsplash. So, in the end, we decided to redo the countertops, sink, add backsplash, and have the cabinet doors repainted (which saves a lot of money from actually redoing the cabinets in whole).

Here’s a picture of what I mean about the chipping of the paint. Once I started sanding to smooth it out, the paint peeled off in sheets. It appears that it hadn’t been primed before and only one coat had been applied so it’s a wonder it looked as good as it did! From an overall view, the paint on the cabinets doesn’t seem much different, however, it’s so much smoother and brighter and all that chipping is finally gone. I chose Sherwin-Williams Pro Classic in Extra White.

I ordered the new hardware from Amazon; a bit risky, yes, but I knew what I wanted and it saved us money that way. The drawer pulls are here, but the t-bar pulls are my favorite because they’re unique.

One thing I learned quickly about a dark countertop was that it showed every speck of dust, dirt, and crumb. That’s not entirely a bad thing in a kitchen, but it’s also impossible to keep your kitchen looking clean. One of the other things I learned quickly in home ownership was how hard it was to keep a white sink white. I actually prefer a white sink, but in choosing a new sink, that wasn’t even an option after knowing how often I had to bleach our old sink. I am very excited now to have an undermount stainless steel sink. Those of you who have an undermount know how amazing it is to just wipe from the counter straight into the sink.

One of the other things we noticed while painting when we first moved in was a small gap between the wall and counter lip. When they pulled the old counter off, we realized that whoever had installed it had cut a hole in the wall when they were putting it in and then just patched it over with that white trim. I’m very glad to have it all patched up correctly now!

I love the subway tile backsplash we had put in! I’m with Joanna Gains that subway tile is classic and timeless. I chose the whitest white to keep it clean and bright.

As for the actual countertop, we chose to go with quartz countertop and, after agonizing over the color decision, I finally decided to go with the Haida quartz. Let me just say, it’s really hard to pick your entire counter based on a 2-inch sample. I originally didn’t like the Haida and wanted something more like Calcutta Marble. But after seeing another kitchen done entirely in Haida, I was like, “THIS. This is exactly what I want.” And I’m so so happy with how it looks.

The actual process would’ve been really easy–everything had been lined up to perfect timing–but the company that did the counters and the sink had a hold up on their end which left us without a kitchen sink (and running water) for 5 days. Ten minutes after the plumber hooked up the water again, I had the dishwasher running and was working on hand washing entire counter full of dirty dishes. This was even after using paper plates and ordering carry out. It’s amazing how many dishes pile up when you can’t wash them.

Now that it’s all done, I just love our kitchen. I love how bright and white it is. I would make the same picks all over again!

Click here for more of our home updates over the last few years!