I love the granite!!!! I can't wait to see it all done!!! That's great that you were able to get all of your office stuff on sale!!! How exciting!!!

Love your granite, Gayle!! Is that Copper Canyon?? It sure looks like it. That's one of my favorites!!! Your kitchen will be beautiful!!! If you paint your cabinets, you might look at Sherwin Williams softer tan with a dark brown glaze. I forget the color name. It goes well with your granite color. I'll try to post a pic later.

Thanks so much Marilyn. The granite is golden Bordeaux. We looked at granite till our feet nearly fell off over many days in the blazing heat. We really liked yellow river too, but liked golden Bordeaux the best.

Thanks for the paint recommendation. Would you recommend painting the cabinets or not? Someone else recommended creme brulie (sp?) by Behr. As I mentioned they look a bit worn and dated. But painting them seems so final somehow.

Can't wait to see pictures.

You will know more about whether or not to paint the cabinets after everything else is done.

Judy, you are right. The walls will have to be painted, and that's why I was thinking of having a decorator come in for an hour to tell me if I should paint the cabinets too. Gary does not want them painted but if the decorator says they need it, I think he'll be OK. She also does landscape design and I need some advice what plants to plant in our beds if we ever get out of this drought.

Sounds like a very good plan!

I am going to contact our gardener, and get some landscape advice. They will supply and plant, and I will pay for this. Then, they will maintain it all for me.

Should I do it in the summer, fall, or next spring?

You are wise to take it slow. Painting isn't final. It can be stripped later, but if you did want to go back to wood finish it would probably be easier to replace the doors and stain than to strip and refinish.

If you would like to see the paint finish I suggested you can go to www.designerhomesbyrexhorst.com. In the photo gallery, check out kitchens, image 15 of 48. That's Sherwin Williams Softer Tan with a Van Dyke Brown glaze. The painter has to use the right technique to get it right. Not too heavy, not to light. We have to supervise them when they begin so that they know how we want it to look. It's beautiful when complete and goes well with a granite that has a lot of motion like yours does.

Have fun!!! Hope this helps. I'll try to post some pics of another house where yOu can see it better.

OMG Marilyn! I want Rex to build me my dream home!!! He is an artist extraordinaire! I think I want the home with the columns!

How is Karen?

Gayle, have they begun putting in the counter tops, and so on, yet? I can't wait to see pictures.

The counter tops are in but the backsplash is not done. I'll post some pictures when I get home. I have a few on my iPad, but I don't know how to post pics from my iPad.

They will put in the backsplash on Monday and Tuesday. Then we'll have our stove installed on Wednesday. The only thing we will have left then is painting.

When are you going on vacation?

No more vacation Judy. My summer school is over this week, then meetings start next week for the fall semester, then the fall semester starts aug. 24th. So, I'm here for the long haul!

The backsplash tile guy called today and said he has to go out of town and will be back Tuesday evening, so that means he can't start till Wednesday. That's OK, but we were waiting to hook up the new sink in the kitchen until he was finished, but I can't go another 5 days without a kitchen sink. So, Gary will hook it up tomorrow. I'm going to delay the stove installation until Friday, there's no sense having it installed Wednesday since the tile guy will have to move it out to work on Wednesday. I don't mind not having a stove, but no water in the kitchen gets old fast!

Here are a few pics I took of the new counters. Please excuse the backsplash area, it looks horrible after they tore out the old formica that was all the way up to the cabinets.

What gorgeous graphite! Your kitchen is going to be so amazing! I love the island too!

You will be done at the end of the week!!! Great!!

You are going to have a very beautiful kitchen Gayle. You'll want to cook all the time... :)

LOL LOL LOL LOL :yelrotflmao::sidesplit: No Janet, I won't want to cook all the time. I don't think there is ANYTHING that would make me want to cook all the time. In fact, I'll probably want to cook LESS so that I don't mess it up! :D