Once the kitchen layout was finalized, it was time to order all the fun stuff. My original wish for the cabinetry included white slab door fronts, but based on our timeline and budget, it was clear we would need to go with a white shaker profile instead.

Next up we had to pick out a countertop. In my mind’s eye I had been envisioning a beautiful Statuario or Calacatta Venato quartz from Francini Marble, but was quite nervous to find out just how much that would cost, ha. It turns out the quartz slab was 2.5 times the amount our contractor allotted in the budget. Thankfully, and shockingly if I’m being honest, there was another slab that stole my heart the minute we entered the stone yard, before I could even decipher where the quartz slabs were.

So then what was the problem? The stone that made me googly-eyed was marble and I always swore I’d never put marble in a kitchen of ours because we really use the kitchen. Multiple lemon waters are made every morning…juicing occurs with things like turmeric and ginger…wild blueberry and cherry smoothies are blended and poured each day…chopped up produce flying every which way. The thought of what might happen to the more fragile (i.e. etch-able and stain-able) marble surface had me freaked out. I certainly didn’t want us to pay to install a countertop that could become quickly destroyed.

I searched through the entire stone yard, several times over, looking for another option…but nothing caught my eye quite like the marble or the (way-out-of-budget) bold-veined quartz. So after some patient reassurance from my husband, mom and stone yard employee that I needed to trust what lit me up, I took a leap of faith and decided on the marble.

With that decision crossed off the list and a sample of marble in hand, we eventually headed to an amazing local store to pick out the tile for our backsplash and our floating shelf accent wall. The second I walked through the door, I felt a pull from a delicious matte black tile that was hanging on a side wall. I loved the fresh take on subway tile. I was smitten with the more modern length and the handcrafted texture that created an amazing surface irregularity. From certain angles, the tile even looked velvety. It. Was. Perfect.

After that it was on to selecting the jewelry of the kitchen…aka - the lighting and hardware Early on in the process, when I first started dreaming up our remodel, I had seen and fallen in love with the most beautiful brass pendant. I knew using that pendant for our space would be a splurge (especially since I was planning on using four of them), but it felt like a non-negotiable for our space. Hanging a pair over each island was a vision I just couldn’t get out of my head. I also chose a brass sconce to accent our future wood shelves and sizable brass pulls to play off the lighting selections.

Since I splurged a bit more on lighting, hardware and countertops, I knew I needed to save when it came to our sink and faucet. I went with stainless steel options that coordinated nicely with the stainless steel appliances I planned for. These options also worked well with the reverse osmosis faucet that would be supplying our filtered water at the sink.

I love the warmth the brass would bring to the space, especially when paired with the stainless steel throughout. I’m a big fan of mixing and matching finishes throughout a kitchen, and a home in general. How about you? Are you #teammixandmatch as well?