How To Care For Quartz Countertops

Ever since I bought my house, I dreamed of the day that I could redo my kitchen. My original kitchen was fine, but not the kitchen of my dreams! The biggest purchase I made in my remodel was new quartz countertops. They are one of the biggest purchases I have ever made (other than my actual house and car). I was so happy when they were installed and for the first few weeks I didn’t even want to use them.

Quartz is more stain resistant than granite or marble countertops because it is not a porous stone, but you still want to make sure that you are taking proper care of them to prevent damage. Quartz is actually made of ground up stone held together with binders. This gives you the look and feel of stone without it being an actual slab of stone. There are a few things to know about quartz countertops in order to keep them looking their best.

Spray Varnishing Kitchen Cupboards

The final step for my kitchen remodel was to give all of the cupboards a sprayed coat of varnish. Because the cupboard doors and drawers have to be sprayed outside (due to the mess and fumes), we had to wait until the summer months to do this part! This time, we were not only doing the cupboards that were refinished before, but giving all of the cupboards in the kitchen a fresh new coat.

The benefits of using a spray gun to varnish is that it gives a beautiful, even coat of finish. It also can make the project go so much faster than if you were to use a brush to put it on. The risk with spray varnishing (and with any varnishing), is that things like humidity, dust, or anything on the wood surface can cause a mess!

Kitchen Remodel: Favorite Details

Looking back on my kitchen remodel, there are some pieces of the project that surprised me with how well they turned out. We did majority of the work ourselves, and with little experience in some of the projects, it’s always a little scary whether they will turn out or not!

In fact, the only part of the kitchen that I am not totally happy with is the seam in the counter top (shout out to Home Depot installers). They didn’t fully fill in the seam crack and im STILL fighting with them to fix it.

Other than that, here are some of my favorite details of the project!

Kitchen Remodel Reveal: Before & Afters

One of the biggest and longest projects I’ve done in my house has been my kitchen remodel. I touched almost every part of the kitchen– from the walls, to the cupboards, counters, and the floor.

The goal of the project was to embrace the midcentury style of the kitchen, but refresh it in a modern way. I wanted to keep the original birch cupboards as-is and design the room around them. I also wanted to brighten up the space to give it a more open and airy look. Finally, I wanted to add my own personal touch on it, to make it feel like it fits my home, and isn’t just a copy paste from something on pinterest.

My kitchen when I first bought my house!

Installing a New Kitchen Floor

The next project on my kitchen remodel to-do list was putting in new floors. The current floor was a beige linoleum that was actually new when I bought the house. The floor had a matte finish with a little texture in it, which made it look okay for linoleum, but it held dirt so bad! I would scrub and scrub, and it still looked dingey. I was so happy to start ripping it up!

Rebuilding Vintage Cupboards

One of the plans that I have always had for my kitchen remodel was to remove the dishwasher that was added into my cupboards. The opening was pretty sloppy, and the placement of the cheapie dishwasher bothered me. It didn’t feel right for the space and I don’t use a dishwasher so it was all just an eyesore.