We redid our oak and tile kitchen with black paint and marble. It was a mix of DIY (I painted our cabinets) and help - the marble was installed and fabricated by someone else, obviously. We pulled out the tile ourselves, both counter and floor, and installed the appliances ourselves. Our kitchen remodel in total cost just under $10,000. I've blogged about it in detail if anyone is interested.

Before and After pictures.

How I made my kitchen choices.

My best shot at a how-to on painting kitchen cabinets yourself.

A complete source list as best I remember.

Here's a few pictures:

Great forum, good luck with everyone on their current endeavors.

Warmly,
Rebekah

Enjoy!

Kat :)

It was so much work at the time, but I can say after a year of enjoying it, completely worth it.

yes, I did lightly distress about half of the cabinets (haven't finished that project, yet!). They all have a red undercoat which I can rub/lightly sand through to, and then top with Paste wax for a hand rubbed lustre. It's very subtle though.

Thanks again!

I thought your kitchen looked OK until I saw the transformation - WOW!!!!! Fabulous! Spectacular!

thank you so much for sharing.....
Maria

Absolutely love what you've done. The black looks fantastic & the marble fits perfectly!

Keep enjoying!

Katie

I hope my blog posts and details can be of some help to others, considering how much help I received from other people's work during the remodel research phase.

I'm working on ideas for two bathroom remodels right now. :-)

Any chance you could share the source of your really cool paper towel holder??? Thanks!

I got the Paper towel holder at Ballard Design, of all places. They still sell it - the fleur de lis style is what I have.

I love gray too but am not the best at picking the right shade. I was curious if you remember the name and brand of some of the grays in your home. It looks as if the kitchen has some gray and it looks nice without being drab. Thanks, Meg

Did you do a light poly over to protect the cabs?

Great job! You must be so proud!

Trish

Thanks! I used Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray on the walls of the kitchen and breakfast nook. I love this gray. In my living room (which I'm not sure you see in above pictures) I used BM Revere Pewter. I love this gray too. I sampled about 15 grays from Benjamin Moore as we were remodeling and these were the two main grays I used (with BM Feather gray inside the cabinets for a slightly cooler tone).

For all of my ceilings I did a custom mix of my trim (White Dove) with my wall color.

Hope this helps!

tntw:

Thanks also! I didn't poly, because a) I liked the soft sheen of the finish which completely cures in 30 days, and b) I was planning to lightly distress/paste wax over that for a hand-rubbed look.

Our bar area has not been distressed or waxed yet and has no poly on it, but has no scuffs, and that's with us sitting there daily and all of my two year old's spills and kicks. Cured paint is strong stuff!

On our old bar/island in a previous house (which was maple-esque), I used to get black scuff marks from shoes around the baseboard/wall area. These are unnoticeable on the black peninsula.

Hope this helps! Good luck painting!

Thanks for sharing-- I love it!

Seriously, where would the world be without Garden Web? Kitchen remodelers of the world, unite!

Just the motivation I needed to keep on working!

As I recall, there is a charge for the type of edge (in our case, ogee) and then any hand-cut inner corners. The cost per corner can be pricey, so to negate this we went with a 1" rounded inner-corner so that the computer could handle it. With all of the inner corners sharp and hand cut, it would have been about $900 more! Not worth it for a small visual difference, I actually like the smooth corners better now.

I'm not sure if they charged per linear foot, because they just charged us for the whole job.

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much for the wonderful tutorials and your website. What an awesome way to give back to the gw community!

Thanks so much to all for the kind comments!

This is an INCREDIBLY SEXY KITCHEN!! I'm in love!!

I've bookmarked this thread for when I tackle our powder room. I hope to transform our GO cabinets with some burnished red paint. I lack the time to do my kitchen (plus there are other issues) but I can definitely manage my powder room. Thanks for the inspiration and tips.

I especially appreciate that it was DIY - hence 'green' and budget-friendly. Yet it looks like a million bucks!

May I add your kitchen to the Finished Kitchens Blog? There are many, many members looking for low-budget ideas.
If so please submit the FKB Category Checklist to give your permission.
Thanks!

BEAUTIFUL job! I keep looking over the photos!

Scrappy25,

Renaissance Marble and Granite in Blackwood, NJ should have the ability to make any designs you are looking for. I know they have state-of-the-art robot, saws, edgers and computers there.

momtofour: stealing your recommendation for my file! ;)

This is a marvelous example of putting the money where it shows: I'm so impressed with all that marble detailing on the counters that I wouldn't have noticed the cabinets were the same ones.

Did you add raised panels to the centers of the doors, or switch the doors out?

Starpooh, I'd be happy to, I'll look over your list!

Bunnicula03, we did switch the doors out. I mentioned it on the blog, but it was very affordable. I highly recommend it as an option if people need better molding on a budget!

We love the marble. It's everything I thought it would be, etches and all. In fact, I love the etching. It's really subtle and a perfect character edition.

We're doing our bathrooms in January - lots of marble and subway tile there, I hope!

What size are your bin pulls?

They are the Gilmore 4 inch in Polished nickel.

ajard:

I sent you an e-mail from your blog comment - we love the counters and are over a year into using them. They haven't stained at all, but they DO etch, it's a kind of slight, lived in look we love. Once you have a bunch of etches (like when these photos were taken, there are tons on that counter) it just blends in and looks like a nice patina.

Hope this helps! Thanks for all the kind comments!