Kitchen Renovation: The Countertops

You’ve likely seen pictures of our kitchen renovation on Instagram. To follow along, just check out the hashtag #diylikeachampion on Instagram. This is Part 3 of our renovation series. You can find Part 1, the timeline and demo process, here and Part 2, painting and prepping the cabinets, here. 

It’s been a while since I shared a renovation update with you guys, but today’s was worth the wait (well, at least for us). Replacing the countertops in our kitchen was not something we were planning to do. After all, this was an unplanned renovation due to a leak that damaged our kitchen. Still, that didn’t stop us from daydreaming about ripping out our laminate countertops and replacing them with something more our style.

This daydreaming led me to wander around the kitchen sections at a couple of home improvement stores, and I stumbled across one kitchen that I immediately fell for. It was basically everything I wanted in a kitchen, you know, if we had unlimited time and funds and all that jazz. My favorite part (besides the ridiculous amount of space) of the kitchen was the countertops, and I was surprised to see they were made by LG. Every appliance we’ve purchased for our house is an LG one, so it’s safe to say we’re fans of their products.

When I got home, I did a bit of research and was convinced that the countertops I’d seen, LG Hausys HI-MACS, were exactly what I wanted. There were a few qualities that really stood out to me:

・They’re nonporous, which means they’re more resistant to bacteria and stains than other types of countertops. They don’t need to be sealed/waxed/etc.
・All HI-MACS solid surfaces are GREENGUARD certified, which means that they’re low-VOC.
・Because of their makeup, they can be professionally repaired if something damages them. This prevents them from being tossed in a landfill because the whole countertop wouldn’t have to be replaced if one small part gets damaged.
・There’s a production facility in Georgia, so the products don’t have to travel overseas to get here.

Now that we have our new countertops in place, I can tell you that they are perfect. We had the hardest time choosing a color, but we ultimately decided to go with a light one, White Quartz. Since our kitchen is small and doesn’t get much natural light, going with a light color seemed like a good way to brighten up the space. I was concerned about the white on white, but once I saw the countertops in place, I knew we’d made the right decision. The color we chose has just enough flecks of color in it to make it stand out from the white cabinets, and it looks ever so slightly gray against them.

Another bonus is that the pointy edges of our old laminate are gone. You can’t really see them in the before pictures, but they were ridiculously sharp. Sometimes I’m not very graceful when I’m running around the kitchen (especially with Clara and Abby underfoot), and I bumped into the corner of our old countertops way too many times. Clara’s getting taller, and it’s only a matter of time before she’s at eye level with the countertops. I feel so much better knowing we’ve got nice, smooth corners now.

For our sink, we decided on a single bowl, undermount variety. We got this one during an awesome Cyber Monday sale from Plumbing Depot. I have always wanted a single bowl sink because we use so many baking sheets and large pieces of cookware, and I don’t see us ever going back now that we’ve had a chance to use this one. You can see that we’ve got a tiny bit of space underneath the new bar area, but it will eventually be covered up by the backsplash.

We’ve still got some finishing touches to add, but things are looking mighty different than they did a few months ago. Still on our list of things to do before calling this renovation complete are painting, installing cabinet hardware, choosing and installing the backsplash and nailing in the quarter round. I’d like to paint some striped curtains for our dining area, too, and we still need to install the new lighting. I’m thrilled with how things are looking, and I know they’re going to be even better once we finish. Here’s a little peek into the transformation.

I have to give a huge thanks to the staff at Custom Countertops Unlimited for installing our new countertops and letting me stand around snapping Instagram photos the whole time. Eric and I obviously love to DIY, but this type of countertop needs to be installed by a professional fabricator. They were awesome, and the whole thing was done in just a couple hours.

Full disclosure: LG Hausys North America provided the countertops mentioned in this post, but my opinions, as always, remain my own.