During winter, we painted our builder oak kitchen cabinets white.  

Then we started stashing cash to upgrade the countertops.  Then…I hit a road block.  Then…once we finally had enough money saved for new counters…I froze.  I couldn’t make a decision.  Granite?  If so, honed or polished?  Concrete?  If so, try to DIY it?  Soapstone?  Oh, wait, we don’t have enough money for soapstone.  So, what did I do?  I waited it out.  I perused images of all my favorite kitchens searching for inspiration.  Hoping a common thread would jump out at me.  It took a while (I have plenty of dream kitchen pics to inspire confuse me) but I finally made a decision.  Finally.  

Notice a trend?  Yup.  Butcher block islands with natural stone perimeter countertops.  Eureka!  Handy Hubby and I decided on a granite perimeter with a wood-topped island.  It seems as though I have a thing for mixing materials in the kitchen.  We’re going with the polished granite after drooling over the honed finish but disliking its porous nature.  We put down a 50% deposit on the granite last week and still need to choose our slab.  But by June, we should have new countertops!  The even better news is that since we saved up enough cash we were able to “bargain” and get a great deal. 

We’re thinking the butcher block island top will come from IKEA.  They have killer prices on their wood counters.

In the meantime, Handy Hubby and his woodworking friend are whipping up a small, inexpensive extension for the island.  Can’t wait?  Me neither. 

Photo credits: 1) Rachel @ girl learning along the way 2) Decor Pad 3) AZCentral 4) HGTV‘s Style Sheet