Soapstone, harbinger of cabinets (Beach house #70)
I ordered countertops!
I have to admit, I don’t actually have cabinets yet. Or rather, I have them… all clustered together in a forlorn huddle in corner of the old kitchen. Still in boxes. Most decidedly not hung and arranged on the walls.
The plan is to get them up quick this weekend before the templaters get here next week. What could possibly go wrong?
I found these Chesney Rouge cabinets at a local wholesale place. I had been about to buy white cabinets, but then these just happened to be the exact warm reddish brown hue of the ceiling beams and the floors. Plus, they are all-wood frames and soft-close doors but at a wholesale price… perfect!
Then to Home Depot for countertops, which turned out to be about 3x as expensive as I’d thought and totally gobbled up all the savings from the cabinets. Sigh.
I was considering this:
or this:
or even these, real (cheapest) granite on a clearance sale:
But even though it was only a very small bit more in price, I decided against granite because of the maintenance involved. And the potential for stains (pretty sure we can’t tell renters not to drink red wine or orange juice.)
Finally I decided on this one:
I adore soapstone, and this is a fair approximation (in person). It’s actually laminate, of course – real soapstone is perhaps the very worst possible choice for a countertop that will get some real use. So buttery, though. So smooth. Mmm.
Anyway. This one lacks butteriness but does sport a nice soft greige never before seen in nature. It’ll go nicely with the wall color and the warm cabinets, while the pattern won’t compete with the marble tiles I found for the backsplash (I hope). It wasn’t the cheapest laminate, though still cheaper than the very cheapest granite or Corian (and let’s not even mention quartz, that lately-come darling of the HGTV gurus.)
Templaters come on Friday, installation a couple weeks after that. Cross your fingers that I can actually get this project completed on time!