The Pedraza kitchen at this point is just a whirlwind of activity, purchases and installation.  There was nothing in a particular order…everything was arriving in batches, getting installed whenever there was a free moment and sometimes things overlapped. So I figured that just taking you through all the items first and catching you up to speed is probably the best way to do this part of the process.  That way everyone gets a little nugget of something that they may like.

The last update was sharing the wall info….what we made bigger and what we made smaller….and then I shared that the cabinets arrived from the RTA Store.

This is where we left off….if you don’t recall the plan then read THIS POST….and if you can’t remember the demo or the wall opening step then go back to read THIS POST.

I have a whole post about the cabinets….I mean….just look at that warm chocolatey goodness.  I want to melt it in the microwave and eat it with a spoon.

It’s part of the kitchen tuxedo cabinet plan….but a more demure tuxedo….not black & white….more like the tuxedo’s rugged older brother who has a mountain house and a beard and a dog named Rusty.

Danny & Jeremy assembled all the cabinets and they are beautiful.  I will share that full cabinet post later.  Then Jeremy and I started installation.

Basically at the same time, we were making sure to have the perfect floor tile for this family.  I wanted to install a large format floor tile for them because less grout = less time cleaning grout.  And it needed to be dark and not too porous.  At Floor & Decor, we found three options that really were beautiful.  This gray one was BEAUTIFUL but not warm enough….

This stone had us at hello but then we realized it was more porous than desired.

Then we found this beauty….

It is the Symphony Gray porcelain tile and it fit all the check boxes.  Will you be easy to clean?  CHECK.  Will you be warm but not too yellow?  CHECK.  Will you take me out on Friday night and tell me I’m pretty?  A girl can dream….

Then it was time for countertops…

Like we said before, the family knew that they wanted butcher block….so now it was just time to narrow that down.

That is only like half of the wood they have available…..it’s crazy how many options they have for butcher block!  In the end, we went with this hunk….

And yes, if you ever wanted to know what it was like to go into a store with all of us….it’s a little chaotic….like imagine my four boys crying over nothing.  And usually we lose a shoe and have some sort of food-in-hair incident.  BUT the Pedraza’s two kids are like mini babysitters….they entertain our boys so well that we have literally asked them to come with us TO ANY STORE.

Once shopping was done and everything was ordered or delivered, we got it home with a plan in mind.

The tile was the next big task and Danny and I tackled that together.  He would thinset and I got to cut.

AND YES THE NEW TILE SAW I GOT DESERVES ALL THE CRAZY FACE.

Seriously….I’m obsessed.  Some girls want diamonds and flowers…..I just want cool tools.  And this bad boy is MY JAM IN A CAN WITH A TAN.  (sorry I read too many dr. seuss books to my kids and it just sticks).  I got the Ridgid tile saw and it cut through these 12×24 tiles like BUTTER.

And we had a LOT of cuts because I decided that we were gonna do something a little different….

Yup!  Herringbone!  This was my first time ever doing a large tile in a herringbone pattern and I gotta tell you, it’s a little tricky!  Especially when dealing with wonky walls.  But in the end it does everything right.  It still feels open yet gives it some interest.  It makes both entrances feel like the right entrance.  Plus, I think it hides so much more!  I know I talk about hiding dirt a lot and I don’t want you guys to think they are dirty people…they really aren’t….they actually HATE clutter and have like three things on their walls.  In fact, I think I hung more stuff on their laundry room walls than the rest of the house.

I just think it’s important in a growing family to not announce the dirt.  The dog hair doesn’t need it’s own instagram account.  We dial it down because there will be times where other things are more important….like homework or dinner or bath time or diapers.  And stressing over keeping something white-glove-worthy is TOO MUCH.  Clean on a normal basis and invest the rest of that time in the kids.  That’s my philosophy anyways.  And this tile makes it happen.

We mixed our own grout (more on that in our tiling post) and it basically disappeared into the tile.

After that we got appliances.  A big shoutout to Home Depot for providing these Whirlpool babies.  I will share with you guys more details on these later but just know that the kids were SO excited to have ice in the door 🙂  They basically thought it was like Christmas.

We were able to pick out a new fridge, new range and a new dishwasher….all stainless steel and they really made the space feel more finished.

At this point came countertops.  I have an entire post about these….you will need it if you are thinking about doing some butcher block in the future.  I have learned SO much and we have even done butcher block in the past!  It’s crazy how DIY works like that….you think you know something and then boom…walnut to the face.

Excuse the crazy hair and outfit….it was 2 am and I was trying to Waterlox these bad boys to get them installed.

Okay so this basically catches you up to this week when we started installing the pretty things!  It’s so fun to give you all this beefy stuff all at once!  Next we installed the sink and the faucet and the garbage disposal….so be on the lookout for that here in the next 24 hours!  ahhh!