Hope your move is going ok Andy, glad to hear you finally got to do your PDI. Just wondering was you fridge upgraded? I remembered you mentioned you guys got that upgrade as well. We may be interested in the tempered glass too, I was actually thinking about changing the counter tops to quartz, just trying to persuade my wife. But I think she maybe more inclined to do something less expensive. I will let you know very soon.
Thanks. Haven't moved my stuff yet.
I didn't know you could upgrade the counter tops. It might be quite costly though? Do you mind posting the price they give you for the upgrade if you get the chance? (might be more for us since from the photos it appears the 01 tower unit has more counter space with since there's the island counter too).
And no, we didn't get the integrated fridge. The show room had the integrated fridge but when asked, they pointed out that the showroom may not have the same decor as what's in the contract. My fiancee and I decided that $6000 just to have the fridge integrated might be more than it's worth. I probably could buy some decorative lighting to put in that area and use the rest on furniture.
Anyway so here's my design idea for the counter tops but I welcome other designs too. I want to make it look like the glass is part of the design.
For my unit (the 01 tower unit), we have the stove island which has a large countertop area and then the sink area which has a large counter area as well. I was thinking of cutting a piece of glass that fits the large counter areas perfectly or slightly smaller. I’m still trying to think of a way to put glass on the smaller area next to the stove as well as the narrow areas next to the sink (I suppose I can get one big piece with a hole cut in it but it might be expensive).
Another idea is to cut the pieces exactly to fit the counter top with seams in between (so I can cover even the smaller areas next to the sink and stove top).Instead of rubber bumpers, I would have them flush onto the countertop and then small beads of caulking would hold them in place. With the weight of glass, I can use removable caulking (which is what I used on my car for things like making seals along areas of paint so I don’t damage the paint). The drawback to covering everything with glass is that it’ll hide the white countertops. However, my fiancée thinks the countertops are a bit cheap looking since it’s all white so covering with a layer of tempered glass might look very classy. On the plus side, by putting them flush and cutting smaller pieces, it’ll be easy to put together, transport and if it gets damaged, easier to replace. I might have to put caulking between the seams though so that water doesn’t leak through. This idea will work for the bathrooms too and I think it would look great.
I’ve seen the green tempered glass on white countertop idea at an Ikea show room. It looks great actually and I might go back to see what they did. I’ll try to get some cost estimates and maybe post them up. I have a glass desk of 56” x 32” which has tempered green tinted glass with rounded edges. I was given a quote from a place in TO for around $250 if I were to have it cut again. That’s about $7/sq in but I think I can probably get that down a lot more.
Edit: green glass for the countertops might not work well. The backsplash is green glass too. Also, I'm considering other glass materials such as maybe a heat-resistent and scratch-resistent plexiglass.
