This is what the kitchen looks like now. I know, I know, it looks like a nice kitchen but there is very little storage in this kitchen and I have to keep some of my dishes sitting out all of the time. I hate the little fruits in the border of the back splash and the glaze is rubbing off of the tiles and they are chipped and uneven. The grout is impossible to keep clean, and on and on with my complaints about this kitchen.We are still pulling all the pieces together to remodel it but I can tell you one thing that the new kitchen will not have.....Gorky Gonzales tiles. I love his color palette and his designs but I'm shocked at the prices. He wants about $6.10 USA per 6x6 painted tile and $4.20 per 4x4 painted tile. And the plain white tiles would be $3.10 and $2.70 each. Too much, too much, even though I'm only using the tiles for the backsplash and behind the stove.
So, on to Plan B. We are now talking to Casal about the tile. I've found a design I like but we are going to have to work on the colors in the design. They will make us some samples. And the good news is they are much more reasonable than Gorky. I didn't say cheap but more reasonable.
We have decided on the stove.....A Mabe.....made by GE in Mexico. Very nice looking stainless steel stove with cast iron grates. Very professional looking! But we haven't decided on a refrigerator yet but we do know we want to have at least 16 cu. ft. maybe even 18 cu. ft. Oh my that will be a treat after living with 9 cu. ft. since we bought the house.
We now have the quotes from carpenters, an albanil or bricklayer who will do the destruction and also build the arches for china cabinets in the dining room and lay the tile for the backsplash, and a quote for the granite.
We could be ready to start in a couple of weeks.
So, on to Plan B. We are now talking to Casal about the tile. I've found a design I like but we are going to have to work on the colors in the design. They will make us some samples. And the good news is they are much more reasonable than Gorky. I didn't say cheap but more reasonable.
We have decided on the stove.....A Mabe.....made by GE in Mexico. Very nice looking stainless steel stove with cast iron grates. Very professional looking! But we haven't decided on a refrigerator yet but we do know we want to have at least 16 cu. ft. maybe even 18 cu. ft. Oh my that will be a treat after living with 9 cu. ft. since we bought the house.
We now have the quotes from carpenters, an albanil or bricklayer who will do the destruction and also build the arches for china cabinets in the dining room and lay the tile for the backsplash, and a quote for the granite.
We could be ready to start in a couple of weeks.
7 comments:
que bonita!
Claudine
Hi Billie. Just a comment on the stainless steel stove. Have you had stainless steel before? I know that they look lovely; but are they ever hard to keep looking clean and nice. Every fingerprint, etc. shows on them after awhile and it seems that they never look clean. Just my thoughts.
Have fun with the remodel, I think half the fun is the planning.
Have a great day. Brenda
Hi Billie - Just to assuage your fears about a "medium" quality granite.......there is no such thing! Granite is granite is granite. The only difference is the price and the reason some is more then others is the rarity and the distance it ships and the difficulty of quarrying it! So, rest assured there is no way to have granite any lesser then what you find in the USA.....
Barb
Hola Billie:
Kind of ironic - the tile situation - when you think of inexpensive Mexican tile - the times they are a changing.
We have stainless stove and refrig. here in Colorado - what Brenda says is true about the difficulty to keep sparkling- but I like the commercial quality of consumer grade stainless appliances (even though Sub-Zero, Wolf or Viking would be the real way to go ;-)
We really like the LG appliances in Mexico. Have you checked them out?
Saludos - John
The first stainless steel stove we bought here in La Ceiba, Honduras started rusting within 2 months. We took the bottom storage drawer back to the store to show them. They didn't want to take it back but I asked in my poor Spanish, "Que significa inoxidable?" The manager shrugged and agreed to apply the purchase price to a different model.
We bought a GE stainless steel model and have had no problem with rusting in the 5 years since.
Stainless appliances do need a little more care to keep looking nice, but there are special products for cleaning them.
If you don't have children around making messy fingerprints, they aren't so bad. Like you, I just really like the look.
Blogger won't let me sign in!
La Gringa
http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot
John, I've looked at some of the LG appliances and they look fine. But we want to buy from the appliance store here in town. He gives good service and his prices are in line. You know support the local businesses.
And John, we can still get inexpensive tiles here. That is what I've had in my kitchen. Been there, done that. Now I'm going for quality AND looks. That seems to cost more anywhere in the world.
LaGringa, Mabe stoves are made by GE here in Mexico and actually we see very little difference in them, you know like Kenmore and Whirlpool. So I'm glad to hear that your GE is holding up fine. I had a stainless steel cooktop in Houston so I know what I'm getting into with the cleaning but it wasn't bad and besides here I have a maid. Such a luxury. Also thanks for the heads up about the granite. We were planning to go check again before they started cutting the slab to be sure it is still the same. And I'll set a glass on the granite and check to see if it leaves a watermark.
Billie
The photo of your sister and you so resembled the era of my teen years. The yearn to talk to a missing person never fades, does it? I visited San Miquel d Allende a decade ago and still have warm feelings of that exquisite area. Thank you for posting.
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