Once I had my plan... I needed some inspiration.

Once I'd nailed down how the cabinets were going to be configured, I wanted to spend a little time figuring out exactly how I wanted the kitchen to feel...

Silestone's Lyra in action! 

I was beyond psyched that Lowe's was going to sponsor my new countertops for my American Dream Builders "Never Stop Improving" segment, so that was the first decision to be made... After a fair amount of obsessing, I ended up choosing Silestone's Lyra quartz counter material-- mainly because what I really pined for was a Carrera marble counter top, but I knew that the maintenance of that was not in the cards for me. Silestone's Lyra is a close cousin, aesthetically, to Carrera marble, though admittedly, not as close as Carrera is to Carrera. That said--- the fact that I don't have to stress about staining Carrera (with almost anything), polishing Carrera (frequently), or resealing Carrera (every few years!)--- the resemblance to Carrera seems preferable to the real thing!!!

Once that decision was made, I moved onto the color of the cabinetry. I have a Russell Wright pitcher that is this completely hypnotic muted teal color, and it seemed like the perfect point of inspiration. I love the depth and saturation of the color, but I also love how it relates to the rest of the palette of our house, so it seemed pretty much perfect. And because I had Lowe's on my side for this renovation endeavor, I brought the actual pitcher into my local store and they literally scanned the freakin' thing and made a COMPLETELY PERFECT COLOR MATCH.

Holy f-ing science. They can do anything now. 

At this point, if you just can't stand the suspense, you can swing over to NBC's American Dream Builders Website to see the video of my fully renovated kitchen or... you could hold out and get more deets on our process and inspiration again tomorrow. : )