Kitchen Countertop Reveal

Our kitchen is FINALLY just about done, with the exception of a few switch plates, this project has wrapped!

When we bought our house back in May, we knew we wanted to give the kitchen a bit of a facelift. There was nothing wrong with it, just wanted to make it a little lighter & brighter and to our taste. The changes in the kitchen that we made are as follows:

• change out backsplash to 3×6 honed bianco cararra marble subway tiles
• new countertops: replace the granite with Hanstone Quartz in “Montauk“
• paint the cabinets white
• change out the cabinet hardware
• cut out the island shelving to create a seating area
• level the area behind the sink and extend the countertop to create another seating area
• install a new sink, faucet & lighting

Here are the photos of our kitchen when we purchased the house:

Together all of these changes made a HUGE impact on our kitchen, but one of my favorite new parts is our Hanstone Quartz countertops. I LOVE the look of marble countertops, but knew in my heart of hearts that would never fly in this house. We like to make messes, wine has been known to spill in our presence, we sometimes choose to leave a mess in the kitchen and go to bed instead of immediately cleaning it, and we have a CHILD! I needed a worktop that would be low maintenance, but still beautiful…enter Hanstone Quartz.

Here’s a little background on quartz, and Hanstone’s product in particular:

• zero maintenance, no sealing, polishing, or conditioning…and you can leave a mess on it without worrying about etching or anything else
• scratch and stain resistant- hello new cutting board
• up to 6 times stronger and more durable than granite
• fabricated of over 90% mined quartz crystals (a naturally occurring material) mixed with polyester resin & pigments to create the look of stone without the upkeep
• because the material is fabricated, the slabs for each of the 70+ colors and patterns are consistent wherever you buy them

Once I decided I wanted quartz over marble, granite and any other material, I headed to some stone showrooms to check out samples. Luckily with quartz, you can get a pretty nice preview online of samples and the full slab views (remember each slab is made to look the same, so you always know what you’re getting!). Hanstone also sent me some samples of some of their grays and whites. Their new “Boutique” line is gorgeous.

Since I was redoing the backsplash as well, I decided to attempt to pick that out at the same time so I could best coordinate them. A marble backsplash is much more practical than a countertop for our family, so we went with a 3 x 6 honed Bianco Carrara subway tile in the traditional pattern. I was luckily able to find my tiles on sale and snatched them up. I brought my Hanstone samples and backsplash tiles into my (under construction) kitchen to lay out all of my options by my now white cabinets.

I had it narrowed down to five samples originally: and then had a tough time deciding between the Chantilly and the Montauk. (Some if you helped me by voting on my Insta Stories, thank you!)

Bringing the samples into my space really cleared things up. Since there was so much white, the Chantilly really got lost in the room while the Montauk, a little more gray, stood out more. I loved Montauk from the beginning of this WHOLE process, it was my favorite from the first time I went into a stone showroom before we were even seriously looking at countertops (no joke). So I was thrilled to go with my gut!

According to Hanstone, their description of “Montauk” is a follows: “The soft pearl undertone of Montauk is elevated with warm sandy dappling and an ivory marble pattern for a vintage yet modern feel.” I loved how realistic it looked and how close to a marble look it was. Some quartz samples from various companies seem pixilated, they LOOK manufactured. But Montauk looked like a natural beauty!

(Hanstone’s Montauk, full slab view)

We chose a “DuPont” edge which gave it a little something extra.

Install day finally came and my new counters were installed, the backsplash went in a little later and the kitchen was almost complete! I love, love, love the look of my countertops. They also pair spectacularly with the marble backsplash, white cabinets and polished nickel hardware. After a few weeks of using them I can now also attest to how durable the Hanstone material is. I’ve cut on it, put hot items on it, spilled red wine, watermelon juice, you name it, and the quartz is completely unaffected, it looks as new as the day it was installed! We could not be happier with our decision to use Hanstone Quartz as our kitchen countertops, and now mama finally has the light & bright kitchen of her dreams!

Our kitchen also opens up to our family room. I will be doing another post on that renovation, but one touch we did add that I love is we pulled the quartz countertops into the family room by adding a Hanstone “Montauk” fireplace surround when we relocated the fireplace. See the before and after:

Thank you to Hanstone Quartz for providing us with our beautiful new countertops and making this post (and our kitchen reno) possible!