• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Anyone else doing some home improvement projects?

Eera

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Your backsplash is beautiful!

I fell in love with it the moment I saw it - it was actually quite a hard stone to get hold of at the time. Then a couple of years ago we were in a mall in Seoul and they had the entire floor clad with it, so that's where it all ended up.
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Cool remodel. Any before photo of the hideousness?

Is it the black counter that is too soft? Is the striated backsplash the marble?

I love cooler toned choices. Are you in a warm climate?
 

WaterGirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yes what is the brand of oven ?
I have an older fisher&paykel with similar lines....
 

newboots

Angel Diva
The marble is stunning! I know I am echoing others here, but ... stunning!
 

Cyclone6

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Ooh yeah, big time. Just did a kitchen reno. The dudes who built the house seemed to either run out of money or interest after the build and the original kitchen was just cheap - horrid cooktop and wood effect laminate throughout. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so I wanted a really good oven. I'm also a geologist so wanted stone everywhere.

I built the kitchen around the splashback (Marmara marble) and the oven. The bench surface I put in as I kind of liked it in pictures and couldn't find anything I loved like I did the spashback. Unfortunately when it arrived it turned out to be kind of soft and damages easily (Andalusite mica schist - I actually got it thin sectioned and looked at it under a petrological microscope).

Overall I'm really happy. In hindsight I should have paid attention to an interior designer friend who told me to find the colour I liked for the cabinets, then then go a shade lighter as they are a bit dark. But I can live with it.

I'm not a geologist, but I did do some geochemistry related research for my PhD! :wave:Super cool that you looked at the backsplash under a microscope! Also, having gone to both geological and chemistry conferences, I can say without a doubt that the geologists are a more fun crowd!

:focus:

Our kitchen severely needs a remodel too, but it's just not in the budget right now. We'll be living with this for the next year or two at least:
PXL_20210423_233732473_exported_64867.jpg
(Sorry for potato-quality image)

It's not great, but is a vast improvement over the kitchen we had in our rental, which was basically the size of an RV kitchen. Appliances are all new, so that's nice also.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
I'm not a geologist, but I did do some geochemistry related research for my PhD! :wave:Super cool that you looked at the backsplash under a microscope! Also, having gone to both geological and chemistry conferences, I can say without a doubt that the geologists are a more fun crowd!

:focus:

Our kitchen severely needs a remodel too, but it's just not in the budget right now. We'll be living with this for the next year or two at least:
View attachment 15833
(Sorry for potato-quality image)

It's not great, but is a vast improvement over the kitchen we had in our rental, which was basically the size of an RV kitchen. Appliances are all new, so that's nice also.

New appliances are great! My condo definitely came with appliances from 1984 which is when they were built, I’m convinced of it. That’s only a year younger than me, which is way too old for appliances! Lol They still work though, so we’ve been debating whether we should replace now or just wait until we remodel the kitchen overall in a couple of years. Still tbd. Sure don’t make things like that anymore though, I’m so amazed that they still work great. There are many units that still have them, I had the same stove in my seasonal rental this year and we used it a lot including for Thanksgiving dinner. :thumbsup:
 

Cyclone6

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
New appliances are great! My condo definitely came with appliances from 1984 which is when they were built, I’m convinced of it. That’s only a year younger than me, which is way too old for appliances! Lol They still work though, so we’ve been debating whether we should replace now or just wait until we remodel the kitchen overall in a couple of years. Still tbd. Sure don’t make things like that anymore though, I’m so amazed that they still work great. There are many units that still have them, I had the same stove in my seasonal rental this year and we used it a lot including for Thanksgiving dinner. :thumbsup:

My parents' dryer is from 1980. It still works. I think they plan on running that thing into the ground.
 

Abbi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
New appliances are great! My condo definitely came with appliances from 1984 which is when they were built, I’m convinced of it. That’s only a year younger than me, which is way too old for appliances! Lol They still work though, so we’ve been debating whether we should replace now or just wait until we remodel the kitchen overall in a couple of years. Still tbd. Sure don’t make things like that anymore though, I’m so amazed that they still work great. There are many units that still have them, I had the same stove in my seasonal rental this year and we used it a lot including for Thanksgiving dinner. :thumbsup:

I had a repair man in to fix some thing on my 2012 refrigerator. He la at the 1985 stove but said it was a good one from then. I’d love to remodel my kitchen and bathroom but in today’s contractor situation that’s not happening. I just hope my appliances hold out until a remodel! (Highly unlikely!)
 

elemmac

Angel Diva
My parents' dryer is from 1980. It still works. I think they plan on running that thing into the ground.

My parents JUST replaced their stove which was probably from the 80s. My mom has been wanting a new stove for...I don’t know...maybe 10 years. Dad is the “if it’s not broken, we’re not replacing it. And if it’s broken, we’re fixing it” person. Finally it died and mom got her new stove.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
My understanding is that older appliances were much better quality. New ones have a shorter life span and end up in the landfill a lot sooner.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
I built the kitchen around the splashback (Marmara marble) and the oven. The bench surface I put in as I kind of liked it in pictures and couldn't find anything I loved like I did the spashback. Unfortunately when it arrived it turned out to be kind of soft and damages easily (Andalusite mica schist - I actually got it thin sectioned and looked at it under a petrological microscope).

Wait, so those stripes are just natural? Is that one piece cut to fit the space?
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
My understanding is that older appliances were much better quality. New ones have a shorter life span and end up in the landfill a lot sooner.
Yep was told the same thing. My appliances are original from 2003 when condo built (white) and want to replace with new ones just because I want new modern ones but they work just fine .
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
My parents' dryer is from 1980. It still works. I think they plan on running that thing into the ground.

I would think they already had! Haha that’s awesome.

I had my dryer repaired a couple of weeks ago because the heating element died. It’s a Samsung front loader and I was told their lifespan is about 6-10 years. That’s shocking to me, so wasteful!
 

Eera

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Wait, so those stripes are just natural? Is that one piece cut to fit the space?

Yep, entirely natural, it's actually two pieces, a big one up to the height of the cupboards and a smaller one behind the extractor, but because it's stripy the join blends in great.
 

Eera

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
What sort of an oven is that? Can you tell us more about it?

Mine? Sure, it's a Rangemaster 110mm Induction; it's got 5 burners on top, with one fan oven and one regular, plus grill and warming drawer. That master company is Aga and they get sold overseas under the brand name Falcon. I actually got that imported from the UK as with the exchange rate and the VAT rebate on exports it worked out being half the price of buying it in Australia.
 

Eera

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm not a geologist, but I did do some geochemistry related research for my PhD! :wave:Super cool that you looked at the backsplash under a microscope! Also, having gone to both geological and chemistry conferences, I can say without a doubt that the geologists are a more fun crowd!

Awesome. My PhD was in physical volcanology and geochemistry. Then I went into engineering geology and basically spend my time making mud pies.

And back to topic too... You reno looks great, it's things like that make a place your own.
 

Eera

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Cool remodel. Any before photo of the hideousness?

Is it the black counter that is too soft? Is the striated backsplash the marble?

I love cooler toned choices. Are you in a warm climate?

I'd have some somewhere, it was orange...

Yep, the stripy is marble and the black actually has a not-flat texture but it's stuffed full of soft minerals so I got to cover it with wood boards to keep it in good condition. You can see in the attached picture the kind of swirly texture, it's also glittery under direct light and sometimes glitter overrides common sense with me
 

Attachments

  • countertop.jpg
    countertop.jpg
    70.6 KB · Views: 25

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,233
Messages
497,561
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top