Granite Shopping

Yesterday was a marathon day for granite shopping. We checked out 4 places in total. The first two places, TorontoGranite.com and City Home Granite Depot specialize in prefabricated granite. These are granite pieces that are pre-cut into straight counter top pieces. Since the polishing and cutting are done before the granite is shipped the cost for this type of granite tends to be quite a bit lower than places that cut/polish the slabs on site. Both of these places had good scores on HomeStars (1,2) so we had some confidence that either would do a decent job.

The last 2 places we looked at were Lowes (specifically their Blanco Leblon granite) and Granite and Cabinet Depot . Lowes granite was one of the prettier ones we looked at, but price ruled it out. Then the last place we looked, Granite and Cabinet Depot was recommended by one of our neighbours who had his kitchen done by them and was happy with price/quality. Their granite was comparable price to the other places we looked, but the selection was not quite as good as the other places.

So, here are the finalists for our granite. We were torn between Black Galaxy and Kashmir White. While shopping we found out that Kashmir White is a couple hundred dollars cheaper than black granite. We're now leaning more towards it, but we're still a bit worried about it staining.
1. Kashmir White from City Home Granite, 2. Snow White Quartz from City Home Granite, 3. Kashmir White from Toronto Granite, 4. Black Galaxy from Toronto Granite, 5. Absolute Black from City Home Granite.

Right now 3 is in the lead. The price looks good and in general Toronto Granite made a better impression on us than the other places we visited.

A small project...

While tidying up for guests I had the idea to put a picture over one of our plaster holes. It was located in a weird spot though (its the top right picture in the group). So since this wall is on the list of walls to get drywall I figured stabbing a bunch of holes in it to make it look nice until then was a worthy endeavor. Here is the result:


Not too bad for an ad hoc arrangement :0) .

More kitchen inspiration

Progress on the house has slowed since we're getting ready for guests that will arrive soon and we don't want to get in trouble like we did earlier this summer...

We're still doing a lot of kitchen dreaming. Since we have to wait a little bit before starting the kitchen because of some craziness at work, we're working on figuring out what we want the kitchen to look at and sourcing materials. We want to make this room nice but affordable so lots of driving around town looking for deals will likely be required :oP .

Here are our 2 favorite looks so far:

[http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg101250599127.html]

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/designenvy/203542894/]

We like the look of these 2 kitchens but will likely try to bring in some warmer colors to make it flow better with the dining room.