Major Kitchen Renovation Week 13

It was an unlucky week 13!

Miscommunication mixed with unforeseen circumstances made for one messed up backsplash.

You can see progress from the previous weeks by clicking on the links below.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

It would have been too easy of a project completion if this week went smoothly. The backsplash was the finishing touch to the quartz countertops.

Even though a portion of the backsplash needs to be taken off and redone, it has given us a glimpse of what it will eventually look like.

The decision to go against the norm of a tile backsplash and instead continue the countertop quartz was a gamble. I think it will pay off in the end once everything is said and done. I’m loving the sleek look and it will be very easy to wipe clean without any grout to deal with.

So what went wrong?

Thankfully the backsplash didn’t turn into my nightmare from the night before install with a quartz flower mosaic pattern. But, the backsplash did not turn out as expected.

The backsplash around the sink window is to go from the countertop to the ceiling. It is to be a focal point.

The miscommunication stems from “all the way up.” I remember going over this in depth during our bidding process with diagrams, and even adding “to the ceiling.” It appears this got lost in the shuffle because “all the way up” ended up being all the way up to the upper cabinets. Which is technically correct everywhere else – except – around the window.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of the backsplash woes.

During install, the largest piece cracked. The installers tried to fix it by making it look more like a vein…but it definitely still looks like a crack.

There is a bright-side to this crack though! It is located in the piece of backsplash that needs to go all the way up to the ceiling around the window. So next week (hopefully) that portion will be taken off and completely redone.

In the meantime, we are without a sink again.

It is too much hassle to connect the faucet, disconnect it a few days later for the backsplash work, only to reconnect it once again.

I think we will live!