We’ve reached the half way mark of our kitchen makeover for the One Room Challenge. If you missed the previous 2 weeks, feel free to go get caught up. In Week 1 we shared our overall design plan for the space. Week 2 was all about our colour inspiration and a little progress update. This week we’re getting into the details of the biggest element we’ll be upgrading.

As we mentioned before, our main focus when we were building the house was just getting to completion. When you’re working with a budget that needs to be divided up to finish an entire house, there are often things that get pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities. In our case, most of those were the “pretty” things. In the kitchen specifically, the biggest of those pretty things is the countertop. Sure we could have taken on the extra expense to get exactly what we wanted at the time, but that probably would have meant forgoing a fridge. Lol! Decision made.

But now, here we are. It’s 2 years later & we’re starting to hear Beyoncé whenever we enter the kitchen.

“Let me upgrade you, flip a new page, introduce you to some new things, and upgrade you…”

The upgrade

Quartz countertops have been on both Kes’ & my wish lists for as long as I can remember. So when the opportunity arose for us to partner with HanStone Quartz for the kitchen, you can imagine that there was zero hesitation! Not just because they make beautiful countertops – and there’s no disputing that – but because the benefits of HanStone Quartz go so much beyond the aesthetic.

The benefits

They’re DURABLE. Quartz is one of the hardest components of natural granite, which is what makes it such a fantastic choice for manufacturing new quartz kitchen countertops. What you might not realize though is that when quartz countertops are engineered, they’re made from a combination of primarily ground quartz crystals along with pigments & polyester resins. Those resins bind the material together, but they also help make the counters stain and scratch resistant.

They require virtually ZERO MAINTENANCE. Quartz countertops give you the look of natural stone, but unlike granite or marble, they’re non-pourous surfaces which means they never need to be sealed. Like ever. More importantly you’ll never find yourself having to RE-seal, apply wax, or pretty much any other type of countertop maintenance you can think of. You can literally just wipe them down with a soft cloth, some warm water & a tiny bit of mild soap & they’re good to go!

They’re LOCAL. Supporting Canadian companies is something that Kes and I feel strongly about for many reasons. By choosing HanStone Quartz we’re not only making a choice that supports Canadian manufacturing jobs, but also one that minimizes the environmental impact that can come from having to ship stone over large distances. In fact, HanStone isn’t just a Canadian manufacturer, they’re also the only manufacturer of quartz countertops in Ontario.

And if ALL that isn’t reason enough…well we’ll just let these inspiration photos speak for themselves.

Campina via hanstone.ca

Grigio via hanstone.ca

Italian Waves via hanstone.ca

So what do you think? With so many beautiful options, any guesses on which colour we chose for the kitchen??   Hint – If you’ve been following our Insta-stories this week you might have seen a sneak peek.  Head over to HanStone Canada  and check out their collections then comment below with your favourite!

Also be sure to keep following along with us as well as with the rest of the ORC participants! Just 2 weeks to go!!

Disclosure: This post was brought to you in partnership with HanStone Quartz Canada who is providing the countertops for our kitchen makeover. As always, opinions are our own.