little kitchen update

My kitchen got a little update.  It wasn't something I was planning, but when you open a cabinet to find black soot dripping all over the place it's kinda a "have to" situation.

Yeah, my disposal was leaking all kinds of who knows what and it had to be replaced.  But instead of putting a new disposal on my old, cracked sink, we went ahead and got a new one for practical purposes.  And why he was at it, we had him install a new dishwasher too.  Our previous one only worked on one setting and all my other appliances are stainless so it was time for a change.

{before}

You may remember that I spray-painted the faucet oil-rubbed bronze (ORB) for a little update a year or so ago.  

*Update: Other than some minor wear and tear, the faucet still looked decent. I would certainly recommend it to anyone wanting a change on a tight budget.

You may also remember me sharing about the time my finger was punctured by a shard of porcelain that broke off the front of the sink.  Not a good day!

I'm a clean freak, but I'm especially particular about my kitchen sink.  I like it to be spotlessly clean at all times.  I hate dishes being left in the sink or wet dishtowels, etc.  This sink has driven me batty from day one because no matter how hard I scrubbed, I could not get rid of those rust/residue stains around the edge.  Which led to me hurting my finger so bad--scrubbing like crazy!  By the way, I still have little to no feeling in it.  It was a doozy!

{before}

I love the appearance of a cast iron porcelain sink (like our old one)--it's really nice, but not in our budget. 

Fortunately, I've already got a buyer from Craigslist on our old sink!

{after}

We went with a stainless steel sink that is a step up (or two) from the basic square tub stainless sinks.  I learned that you don't put ORB fixtures directly on a stainless sink unless it's a drop-in.  Maybe that's basic knowledge, but it was news to me.  I have ORB fixtures/hardware and I assumed I would get an ORB faucet to match.  The salesman shot me straight on that and I got a satin nickel one to match the sink.  I'm in love with my new faucet.  I've never had one with a pull out sprayer--it's great!  I like having my little soap dispenser too!

Our other appliances are stainless with black accents so we got a dishwasher in that same family.  We didn't get top of the line anything--not in our budget. Even so...all of this: the sink, faucet, disposal, dishwasher, and plumber cost just under 1K.  Whew!  Fortunately, I did get a big discount on the plumber because the salesman misquoted the install by 200 bucks and I document everything and was able to negotiate. So...that was good.

Merry Christmas to me! I'm happy with my little update!