The Kitchen

The kitchen was extensively remodeled in 2007 as you can probably tell from the photos. If you're interested in the details, read on. The flooring is Italian travertine tiles, 18 x 18. I've been told by my brother-in-law (a granite and stone specialist at Eurostone in San Leandro, where we purchased the tile), that it's fairly high-end travertine. It's laid over a spread concrete base (not wonderboard). The kitchen cabinets are from Maki Cabinet, and are made of solid maple with plywood sides and shelves (not manufactured wood like particle board). The solid slab granite countertops are blue tiger's eye granite (named because of the specs of blue throughout the stone), and come from Union Stone of Santa Clara.

As for the actual remodel, no plumbing, gas or electrical was moved, so no permits were actually required for the remodel. New fixtures were used and we did replace the outlets and switches so they would match each other.

There was a little bit of a splurge on the kitchen cabinets as you can probably tell, since there are 3 pantry cabinets, all with roll-out drawers, as well as glass front cabinets.

A lot of people ask about the sink, it's actually made of a composite material that has real crushed granite as part of the composite. The sink, as well as the kitchen faucet (single handle pull out) are made by Pegasus.

The appliances have a "stainless-like" finish. What that means is that it's supposed to look like stainless-steel, but have none of the drawbacks of stainless steel. For example, the finish is fingerprint-free, so little kids can touch it, and you don't have to worry about the smudges that get left behind on real stainless steel. It also has the advantage that magnets work on this finish, unlike stainless steel which does not work with magnets. The refrigerator stays as does the other kitchen appliances.

The closet in the kitchen houses the inside laundry, and includes a stacking Maytag Neptune washer and dryer that stays with the house.