Buzz and Mud: Kitchen Remodel

Our home was a summer cabin, remodeled, but only half-way, and therefore was a bargain fixer. The kitchen, the first room that greeted you, was a simple but hideous no-drawer eyesore. The counter consisted of beige 12" tiles with white (to begin with) grout that nauseated me every time I tried to clean it. I've moaned about it for years but there were more crucial problems, like a foundation, our septic, double-paned windows etc. that needed attention before the esthetic needs of the kitchen. It's been a slow process....

The Install

We began with the flooring, lovely light-reflecting bamboo. Then the entry way: a queen bee mosaic tile set by me and surrounding black slate to provide a safe place to remove shoes. Then we moved up. Being in remodel-focused construction, Joey was replacing a kitchen and managed to rescue their cabinets for us. These he altered and fitted with better hardware before reusing in our kitchen. I got a new (to us, it's stainless!) sink from Industrial Reusable Materials in Windsor (where remodelling treasures abound). And I created a tile back splash for around the stove and above the counter.

We bought PaperStone for the counter, a smooth product made of recycled paper (and recyclable!), praised by all the green builders and testers. We sealed it with oil and beeswax and I love it! No grout! And it's so strong you can buy a 1/2" thick slab and simply glue a little strip to the edge to make it appear like the traditional 1" thickness (you'll see that we haven't got to that finishing touch before I took the pictures).

Then Joey installed the tile. I numbered them on the back for easy placement. In one day, Joey on the Mastik and me on the tile saw (there will ALWAYS be miscalculations that need correcting), we glued the tiles in place. The next day we added black grout.