This is a great ad for Viridian. Those guys really look like they know their stuff. And your interior designer is great, too. The colors in your house are beautiful.
Quartz countertops for the win. You have a wide variety of colors from which to choose, it is very durable, stain resistant, you don't need to seal it - ever, and uniformity of the material make seams melt away. We've had ours for 6 years and they look the same as the day they were installed. Plus, you get to have someone else do all the prep, construction and installation to include the kitchen sink. What more is there to ask for?
Engineered stone is good. Defo check on any companies compliance with health and safety when machining/ working it. In Aust, there’s a union backed push to ban it due to a disproportionate number of workers severely affected by the dust. We do like our engineered stone bench tops though.
just make sure the sink area is properly built to support it all. whoever did our house had joins around the sink and made the cabinet to light. Had to be reinforced with 2x4's and rattles badly when the insinkerator is running.
We had engineered stone (it's essentially a fancy version of concrete) installed in our new kitchen a year ago now, so still pretty early. I was quite skeptical and pushed for wooden benchtops but that just got too expensive. The stone has been good though, there's no finish on the surface, it's just the "natural" product polished to a high sheen. I though it would be too hard and we would be breaking glasses all the time but it's been good so far. I agree with the health and safety checks for the workers though apparently it can be dangerous for them during the manufacturing process.
One other thing, if you go with quartz/engineered stone, just make sure to ask for the plug(s) they cut for the faucet. Those can be ground at a later date to make a repair if you get a chip that will be a perfect color match.
Scott, the blue looks great in there. The whole room is coming together very nicely, and I'm real happy that you and Jess are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Great content duder.
When I remodeled my home in LA, I decided against stainless countertops for the same reasons you did. My wife then wanted me to do concrete countertops, but that required additional support & zero movement to prevent cracking. I ended up going with cherry butcher block, finished with pure tung oil from Real Milk Paint. The butcher block was inexpensive compared to many other options, and easy to work with by myself. Applying the pure tung oil finish was tedious, but definitely worth it. I thinned the first coats of pure tung with natural orange oil solvent, so the finish penetrated & remained 100% natural food grade. We use cutting boards, but could prep food directly on them if we wanted to. If/when the tops eventually get scratched they're infinitely & easily renewed simply by re-applying tung oil. One caveat about cherry is that it darkens over time with exposure to direct sunlight. So, if you have one section that will receive much more sun than others, cherry may not be the best choice of wood.
granit for the countertop. first you have a plenty of choices.. like really a lot.. secondly, it's just gorgeous thridly nothing more practical, you can cut on it, you can put hot pan on it, you can do everything on it, it will never break. nothing is more durable than granit. it will literally last you your whole life if you want to and finaly it's just gorgeous. i'm a woodworker in switzerland and i installed a lot of kitchens, i have work very often with granit.i have now my own comapny and i work with my italian family who work the granit. We always have granit in my family for more than 25 years in our kitchens and we even do the flooring of our house with granit it never move break or anything, it's like it's new. the best i can suggest you is granit. you can also choose other stone it will be good to, like quartz or ceramic. bit the quartz will be less durable and more fragile. and the ceramic is a lot like granit but way more expensive. so the best quality/price is clearly the granit and by far. if you want i can happily help you about this ! Greetings from switzerland and sorry for bad english
Being an American Italian with an Italian immigrate father, that Italian line is perfect. Except he would never hire someone to help him. To proud. Love your videos Scott
Hi Scotty, my names Quinney and I come from Chch but lived in London for the last 20 years, we are just doing up our bungalow after a series of flats and with our kitchen we’re going with a 40mm Oak block worktop and on the island quartz. It’s a good mix and the oak stays looking good for years if you use the Polix oil, and putting things on the wood like glasses or plates is quiet as a posed to the hard quartz. The timber adds warmth and style, perfect for a carpenter! Good luck and hope it goes well. Regards Quinney
one man renovation team here, working on a 100 year old 400sqm home. what i wanted to say was as a furniture maker i looked at all the granite, concrete type benchtops and the cost. have decided i will be making a wooden bench top and covering in either two pot poly or epoxy. for me a lot cheaper and i like the look of wood. if it is damaged just sand it out and refinish.
Words can not describe how much I love these videos. I literally look forward to these every week now. Hopefully it will inspire me to make my own someday. Thanks for another great one Scott and Jess!
Love the colours you have chosen.. very bold! So good you asked for help with the double glazing. Can’t wait to see it all fit into place.. coming along well.😎
You could think about building a form for the bench tops, fill it with concrete & aggregate and then learn all about concrete polishing discs. Lovely little project for a builder
My brother poured a benchtop out of concrete with crushed/broken glass mixed into it. You can even press tiles or draining ribs into it while you're at it. He poured it in place from memory but I have seen James May of all people make one too and then lift it and flip it into place wirh the help of some friends.
Hi Scott. Great progress. We made a large island unit with a stainless steel top and used a a contact adhesive that can withstand a few hundred degrees (centigrade). After 3 years there has been no delamination with the mdf subsurface. We do a lot of cooking and just love the stainless surface.
I really enjoy watching experts work, be it glaziers, carpenters etc .. Just to be different, why not use your skills for the counter tops , and use the timber scraps you have in your shed Reuse & recycle is a tremendous way to recycle your home and reusing the remu as a counter top feature is very cost effective and tells the story of the home. Another option is modern concrete bench tops - I made one for fun for my bar in the shed , threw in some dark colour , used white stone exposed the aggregate, polished used a hard floor wax recommended by where I bought the polishing discs, and voila- cheap & looks great.
Windows look awesome, especially the ones that are where the kitchen is going. That Blue color also speaks to me. You are getting there. Looking forward to when it's finished.
It's so great when you own your space and you can paint, buld, customaize the way you like and want to. When you rent and contract is strict - no holles, no nails/screws for picture frames, no this no that. I understand the landlord. We bought our own space and we had so much ideas to impress ourselves in our apartment that apartment went too small for all ideas. Then we limited our ideas and now it's getting close to end. Still things to do, but due a lot of work, time is limit. But we gettin there.
I would strongly recommend Quartz countertops. I recently bought my first home and the Kitchen has white marble-esque Quartz countertops and they look basically brand new after 20 years of use! A lot of friends have thought our kitchen was remodeled 5 years ago instead of 20 because of how well the materials are holding up, along with the overall design being thoughtfully laid out.
I have a bathroom shower that has some type of quartz material that is seamlessly “welded” together forming one piece with no sharp corners anywhere. It is very durable and easy to keep clean.
Knowing when to let someone else do the work is hard. I need to do that more myself 👌 Stainless steel looks really good when it's first installed, but unless you are going with a brushed surface, it is a nightmare to maintain. Don't ask me how I know. PS. For counter surface, we used slate from a snooker table. Bought an old beat up table for $CDN500, spent another $CDN1000 having it cut to fit. It is so dense it is nearly stain proof without sealant and you can put a pot/pan directly off high heat onto it and it just shrugs and ask what? Ours is a deep grey/green matt colour and we love it.
I have to say the double glazing and insulation you are doing (I call it deep reno) really works so well we just moved from a very nice but original 1960 built house in Auckland to a deeply reno'd 1960 built house in rural BOP the difference is astounding (our BOP house is professionally done 10yrs ago but insulated and double glazed (using new aluminium units) this made it quieter, different level warmer, and much more manageable. Only possible negative is less light through the double glazing but hard to say if that's worse or just different if that makes sense. From the outside the 2 houses look like they were identical for design style inside livability is just transformed.
Great move getting an interior designer in each to their own. You can't be a jack of all trades, something I still struggle with because I always want to have a go at it. The colour choice, navy blue, looks good - not sure about green velvet curtains - wasn't that a 70s thing. That is the best place for the TV in my opinion. Anyway, progress is being made even though it is through charitable means it will hopefully get you to completion this year.
Thanks so much for another great episode! Concert counter top is my suggestion. Easy to work with. Durable, versatile (can be colored in a lot of different ways), heat resistant. You could even cast the sink so it’s totally seamless
I've just done this myself - out of 10 fixed windows that needed hammering out, I broke 1 and cracked 1. I didn't have the carpet on my bit of wood, so maybe that was the difference.
Corian, if you can get it in your area, is a very durable stain resistant countertop that you can actually cut with your woodworking saw. Any joints you need blend perfectly when using their glue. It can be sanded and polished dry. It's not as cold and hard as rock and may have enough forgiveness to resist breaking dishes. Probably shouldn't put a hot skillet directly on it. It's made of 2/3 minerals and 1/3 acrylic.
10mm mild steel benchtop coated with flame metal spray, copper, anti-rust alloys there's a selection of materials to choose from. A quick search and 3 in the south island seem to offer the service.
I recommend a tinted glass splash back, (green tint). Lit from the top with recessed LED strip is very clean looking and easy to clean. Maybe give you that little bit of a reflection and makes the room look bigger.
Smashing it guys ... looks amazing🎉 . Me and my wife went for oak worktops I wasn't convinced but we have them now and I would only say go with a quartz or material that need minimum work to look brand new for as long as possible ... we are 4 years and a lovely daughter down the line and a more durable worktop would have been better
I have tempered glass as a splash back. Best I’ve had so far, in the past I have had stainless steel ( gets scratches and watermarks, tiles (the grout will get dirty”, high gloss paint (becomes nasty and or dull after a while. Glass is definitely the way to go so easy to clean and just looks great.
Completely agree. Kitchen Reno earlier this year and went from tile to glass for splash backs. Best change, looks great as a single flat surface and so easy to keep clean.
The only problem with that idea is in BC lower mainland it means a lot of rain. Weirdly, we would have been drowned by now, but it is sunny. :) We need rain in BC, Canada.
Talking about splash backs: coloured glass with a distorted texture is far superior, hands down. G,day Scott Brown Carpentry with Jess from Sydney Australia. Modern kitchens are the hub of the home and smart use of LED light can give that special touch.🙂🇭🇲
I think a concrete benchtop would look the goods with all those colours it's just a nice plane canvas that won't take away from the beautiful timber look of the cabinets. you could even do a polished exposed finish
Manufactured stone bench top with a glass back splash is our choice, the stone is really hard wearing and does not stain like marble. You can have the back of the glass painted any colour to suit your decor and it's easy to keep clean.
I renovated our Kitchen and used hi gloss black wall tile, and they reflected like a mirror and looked awesome. i used a tinted grout with black oxide that was just a little lighter.
When we did our countertops we found a 2 foot by 4 foot porcelain tile. Put them on double layer of 1/2 inch ply with backer. Looks like stone but tougher. Can take really hot pans and skillets. Only end up with 2 seams.
Building standards are so different in different places. I also just replaced a bunch of old single pane windows. But would never have occurred to me to just put more panes in the same frame. We had to get all new frames that could accomodate triple pane sealed units, with Argon between all the panes. This is what any modern window is here.
You wouldnt be able to fit triple glaze windows in old style window frames I wouldnt think. All the triple glazed stuff I encountered in europe was in proper thick frames.
@@nutsandgum Oh, definitely needs new frames. Not just because of the space for 3 panes, but because of how you have to seal them up to keep the argon in. But no one here would just add a second pane, that's a really foreign idea (and really, sounds like just moving from 60s windows to 80s windows, still 4 decades out of date.)
Giant butchers block made from different strips of local timber is always a good option for kitchen benchtops. They gain character as they age and you can always resurface them later if they get damaged too much.
When my wife and I remodeled our kitchen we went with Quartz. Mainly because of the ease of maintenance. They have been in since 2004 and look as good as when they were installed.
Benchtops, have you considered tile? I'm not talking about the yellow ones you used to have but modern large 600x600 floor tiles. Most robust thing you could imagine. No need for coasters anymore! Nothing else compares. No staining, no marking, no bubbling, no burn marks. Will outlast the kitchen. The only negative if you consider it a negative is grout lines. That's why you use bigger tiles and epoxy grout so it doesn't stain.
Really, really love the alcove/feature wall. The colour is perfect. I always wanted to paint a feature wall the blackest Black, light absorbing black. On your alcove possibly a black strip would break up the solid colour but at the same time not be too intrusive I think it would be very interesting and it plays tricks on the eye. Massive Respect Be Safe Be Kind 😀👍
Also throwing my hat in for Quartz countertops. Here in the States we were able to get "remnants" from a local countertop place. They're basically the leftovers from someone else's project and it saved us a ton remodeling two bathrooms.
Love your channel, Scott, and I salivate every episode at your range of "toys". The deep blue in that alcove looks fabulous to me. Our current house (since 2015) in Nelson Bay, NSW, AU was built as a holiday house in 1999. It's mostly off-white, but it was originally painted in bold colours. The wall colour behind the glass splashback in the kitchen is a deep red. The lounge room was painted in a bright yellow. Bathroom areas have glass walls with bold colours behind. I've seen photos and it was a bit overpowering. We find Dulux China White to be quite relaxing. If you're at all serious about cooking, make sure you have a proper range hood that vents to the outside. Too many kitchens just have a pretend range hood that vents around the back of the cabinets and back into the kitchen. We used Qasair when we renovated/extended our house in Melbourne in 1999/2000. Proper, commercial looking ducting. When we bought this house, it had metallic bench tops (brushed aluminium, perhaps). It was horrible. No matter how much we cleaned it, it never felt clean and rubbing against it gave off a metallic residue. If you use something like Caesarstone quartz and it has any joints, a less than perfect installation can result in movement at the joints. Our stone mason no longer lives in Australia.
You could pour your own concrete benchtops... you can get Sureform benchtop molds plus the benchtop mix from GRC Pro here in NZ. Or if you wanted another option you could try microcement... you can apply it over anything so can run it across the benchtop and up the wall as a splashback. It's also good for the bathrooms. You can get it in NZ (it's called microtopping) from Permacolour.
Wish I was a mind reader/body language expert when you were talking about the stainless, so I can understand what Jess was thinking 🤔. Love the work you guys have done.
Over the years we had various countertops. The best experience we have is with a ceramic worktop (the previous owners had it installed we kept it and a totally happy with their choice). No scratches, no fuss, heat resistant etc. Check them out before you decide.
Bench top: 2cm "ultra compact surface" paired with the same surface in a 4mm thick version for the backsplash. In my own home I chose "Helena" from dekton for both, but there are a few manufacturers to choose from in this material class. To make things ultra sleek have all your counter top outlets mounted on the bottom surface of your cabinets - I have a 1/2" tall outlet strip spanning 72" with an outlet every 6". Makes the installation of the back splash a breeze and, so far, everyone loves the location of the outlets. Also, check out some of the "show" kitchens using ultra compact surfaces as cabinet doors - too modern for my house but cool nonetheless.
Have you looked into diy concrete countertops? I've also recently seen panels that look like stone made with pour on epoxy that are simple to build and look like a good option for a backsplash.
2nd this! Did our benchtops for our kitchen Reno. Bunnings quote was $1600 did them all for $360 myself. Use melamine for boxing and pour them upside down!
This is a great ad for Viridian. Those guys really look like they know their stuff. And your interior designer is great, too. The colors in your house are beautiful.
Quartz countertops for the win. You have a wide variety of colors from which to choose, it is very durable, stain resistant, you don't need to seal it - ever, and uniformity of the material make seams melt away. We've had ours for 6 years and they look the same as the day they were installed. Plus, you get to have someone else do all the prep, construction and installation to include the kitchen sink. What more is there to ask for?
Even engineered stone, 93% quartz and 7% resin. We just installed it in our bus. Absolutely love it
Engineered stone is good.
Defo check on any companies compliance with health and safety when machining/ working it.
In Aust, there’s a union backed push to ban it due to a disproportionate number of workers severely affected by the dust.
We do like our engineered stone bench tops though.
just make sure the sink area is properly built to support it all. whoever did our house had joins around the sink and made the cabinet to light. Had to be reinforced with 2x4's and rattles badly when the insinkerator is running.
We had engineered stone (it's essentially a fancy version of concrete) installed in our new kitchen a year ago now, so still pretty early. I was quite skeptical and pushed for wooden benchtops but that just got too expensive. The stone has been good though, there's no finish on the surface, it's just the "natural" product polished to a high sheen. I though it would be too hard and we would be breaking glasses all the time but it's been good so far. I agree with the health and safety checks for the workers though apparently it can be dangerous for them during the manufacturing process.
One other thing, if you go with quartz/engineered stone, just make sure to ask for the plug(s) they cut for the faucet. Those can be ground at a later date to make a repair if you get a chip that will be a perfect color match.
Scott, the blue looks great in there. The whole room is coming together very nicely, and I'm real happy that you and Jess are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Great content duder.
I wasn't sure about the blue, but now that it's on the wall, I'm digging it.
When I remodeled my home in LA, I decided against stainless countertops for the same reasons you did. My wife then wanted me to do concrete countertops, but that required additional support & zero movement to prevent cracking. I ended up going with cherry butcher block, finished with pure tung oil from Real Milk Paint. The butcher block was inexpensive compared to many other options, and easy to work with by myself.
Applying the pure tung oil finish was tedious, but definitely worth it. I thinned the first coats of pure tung with natural orange oil solvent, so the finish penetrated & remained 100% natural food grade. We use cutting boards, but could prep food directly on them if we wanted to. If/when the tops eventually get scratched they're infinitely & easily renewed simply by re-applying tung oil. One caveat about cherry is that it darkens over time with exposure to direct sunlight. So, if you have one section that will receive much more sun than others, cherry may not be the best choice of wood.
Wow those colours pop, and some how calm amazing choice.
granit for the countertop. first you have a plenty of choices.. like really a lot..
secondly, it's just gorgeous
thridly nothing more practical, you can cut on it, you can put hot pan on it, you can do everything on it, it will never break. nothing is more durable than granit. it will literally last you your whole life if you want to
and finaly it's just gorgeous.
i'm a woodworker in switzerland and i installed a lot of kitchens, i have work very often with granit.i have now my own comapny and i work with my italian family who work the granit.
We always have granit in my family for more than 25 years in our kitchens and we even do the flooring of our house with granit it never move break or anything, it's like it's new.
the best i can suggest you is granit. you can also choose other stone it will be good to, like quartz or ceramic. bit the quartz will be less durable and more fragile. and the ceramic is a lot like granit but way more expensive.
so the best quality/price is clearly the granit and by far.
if you want i can happily help you about this !
Greetings from switzerland and sorry for bad english
I love the B roll in your videos. It always relaxes me and makes me want to visit New Zealand.
Being an American Italian with an Italian immigrate father, that Italian line is perfect. Except he would never hire someone to help him. To proud. Love your videos Scott
Hi Scotty, my names Quinney and I come from Chch but lived in London for the last 20 years, we are just doing up our bungalow after a series of flats and with our kitchen we’re going with a 40mm Oak block worktop and on the island quartz. It’s a good mix and the oak stays looking good for years if you use the Polix oil, and putting things on the wood like glasses or plates is quiet as a posed to the hard quartz. The timber adds warmth and style, perfect for a carpenter! Good luck and hope it goes well. Regards Quinney
Shout out to the boys at Viridian for a mint job on the windows. Love the blue splash back, looks neat.
one man renovation team here, working on a 100 year old 400sqm home. what i wanted to say was as a furniture maker i looked at all the granite, concrete type benchtops and the cost. have decided i will be making a wooden bench top and covering in either two pot poly or epoxy. for me a lot cheaper and i like the look of wood. if it is damaged just sand it out and refinish.
Words can not describe how much I love these videos. I literally look forward to these every week now. Hopefully it will inspire me to make my own someday. Thanks for another great one Scott and Jess!
Feature wall looks great, nice choice.
House is taking shape 👍
Love the blue wall!!! Love it even more that you guys love it too!!!! Thanks for posting!
0:05 Nice foreshadowing - talked about going blue at the beginning of the video and literally did it towards the end of the video.
Love the colours you have chosen.. very bold! So good you asked for help with the double glazing. Can’t wait to see it all fit into place.. coming along well.😎
Thanks. I have watched a lot of your videos over several years, but really found this one really enjoyable & upbeat.
Love the blue wall looks amazing. Custom concrete bench tops would look good.
I actually look forward to these Exciting Episodes each week! Thanks so much for the content, looking forward to the kitchen.
That blue color looks amazing on that setup. Just showed it to my wife to keep in mind to copy.
You could think about building a form for the bench tops, fill it with concrete & aggregate and then learn all about concrete polishing discs. Lovely little project for a builder
My brother poured a benchtop out of concrete with crushed/broken glass mixed into it. You can even press tiles or draining ribs into it while you're at it. He poured it in place from memory but I have seen James May of all people make one too and then lift it and flip it into place wirh the help of some friends.
Concrete countertop. Plenty of DIY videos to use and you can do a cheap trial run by making a potting station for the garden etc
That accent wall is so cute!!
Starting the cabinets,I’m getting excited. I think the blue works really well Scott. Thanks for the latest exciting episode.
I second the blues cabinets.
Thank you Scotty and Jess
Hi Scott. Great progress. We made a large island unit with a stainless steel top and used a a contact adhesive that can withstand a few hundred degrees (centigrade). After 3 years there has been no delamination with the mdf subsurface. We do a lot of cooking and just love the stainless surface.
I really enjoy watching experts work, be it glaziers, carpenters etc ..
Just to be different, why not use your skills for the counter tops , and use the timber scraps you have in your shed
Reuse & recycle is a tremendous way to recycle your home and reusing the remu as a counter top feature is very cost effective and tells the story of the home.
Another option is modern concrete bench tops - I made one for fun for my bar in the shed , threw in some dark colour , used white stone exposed the aggregate, polished used a hard floor wax recommended by where I bought the polishing discs, and voila- cheap & looks great.
Windows look awesome, especially the ones that are where the kitchen is going. That Blue color also speaks to me. You are getting there. Looking forward to when it's finished.
Love that color! Awesome choice!
The interior window trim looks great as does the blue nook space. Well done.
Yes the concrete bech tops are quite smart. Good content for this video, good to see it all knitting together, good colour, looks great.
The blue colour really works - very good for them to hook you up
It's so great when you own your space and you can paint, buld, customaize the way you like and want to. When you rent and contract is strict - no holles, no nails/screws for picture frames, no this no that. I understand the landlord.
We bought our own space and we had so much ideas to impress ourselves in our apartment that apartment went too small for all ideas. Then we limited our ideas and now it's getting close to end. Still things to do, but due a lot of work, time is limit. But we gettin there.
👍 the blue wall, especially the matching baseboard. 👍
I would strongly recommend Quartz countertops. I recently bought my first home and the Kitchen has white marble-esque Quartz countertops and they look basically brand new after 20 years of use! A lot of friends have thought our kitchen was remodeled 5 years ago instead of 20 because of how well the materials are holding up, along with the overall design being thoughtfully laid out.
Daughter and son-in-law doing that right now. Wish we had used it when we did our kitchen 5 years ago
I have a bathroom shower that has some type of quartz material that is seamlessly “welded” together forming one piece with no sharp corners anywhere. It is very durable and easy to keep clean.
I’ve got marble/quartz in mine. Super easy to clean and doubles as a cutting surface.
Nice. That blue/green is almost exactly he same as that I used to paint our bathroom. Its really nice.
Can’t wait for the kitchen start!
You guys are the best! Keep up the great spirit❤
Interesting video. Thank you for sharing your journey. Have a great week.
Its coming along nicely.
Getting exited to see it all come together guys looking great! You have come so far, well done👍 just keep swimming
love that inset area where the tv is. Great color!
Knowing when to let someone else do the work is hard. I need to do that more myself 👌 Stainless steel looks really good when it's first installed, but unless you are going with a brushed surface, it is a nightmare to maintain. Don't ask me how I know. PS. For counter surface, we used slate from a snooker table. Bought an old beat up table for $CDN500, spent another $CDN1000 having it cut to fit. It is so dense it is nearly stain proof without sealant and you can put a pot/pan directly off high heat onto it and it just shrugs and ask what? Ours is a deep grey/green matt colour and we love it.
You have a workshop and a nice table saw. Im always a fan of butcher bock tops. Easy to refinish and durable.
Love that blue ocean, looks great !
I have to say the double glazing and insulation you are doing (I call it deep reno) really works so well we just moved from a very nice but original 1960 built house in Auckland to a deeply reno'd 1960 built house in rural BOP the difference is astounding (our BOP house is professionally done 10yrs ago but insulated and double glazed (using new aluminium units) this made it quieter, different level warmer, and much more manageable. Only possible negative is less light through the double glazing but hard to say if that's worse or just different if that makes sense. From the outside the 2 houses look like they were identical for design style inside livability is just transformed.
oh my days Scott the way you've framed the windows on the interior is absolutely stunning I love it
Brilliant color selection for the wall. Keep 'em coming!
Great move getting an interior designer in each to their own. You can't be a jack of all trades, something I still struggle with because I always want to have a go at it. The colour choice, navy blue, looks good - not sure about green velvet curtains - wasn't that a 70s thing. That is the best place for the TV in my opinion. Anyway, progress is being made even though it is through charitable means it will hopefully get you to completion this year.
Thanks so much for another great episode! Concert counter top is my suggestion. Easy to work with. Durable, versatile (can be colored in a lot of different ways), heat resistant. You could even cast the sink so it’s totally seamless
What are Concert counters? I can't see it on the internet. Maybe you mean concrete.
@@viviennehayes2856 yes of course.
Autocorrect…. 😊
I am amazed at the window "hammering" without any glass shattering whatsover!
You’d be surprised what glass can take
I've just done this myself - out of 10 fixed windows that needed hammering out, I broke 1 and cracked 1. I didn't have the carpet on my bit of wood, so maybe that was the difference.
The house is starting to take shape.... loving it!
I started doing mine around the same time you did. Just working fine weekends - finally got the last one in last weekend. It's a big job!
That blue looks awesome.
I like the bees. Lovely macro work there, always good B (bee?) roll in NZ.
Corian, if you can get it in your area, is a very durable stain resistant countertop that you can actually cut with your woodworking saw. Any joints you need blend perfectly when using their glue. It can be sanded and polished dry. It's not as cold and hard as rock and may have enough forgiveness to resist breaking dishes. Probably shouldn't put a hot skillet directly on it. It's made of 2/3 minerals and 1/3 acrylic.
10mm mild steel benchtop coated with flame metal spray, copper, anti-rust alloys there's a selection of materials to choose from. A quick search and 3 in the south island seem to offer the service.
The house in coming along really nicely. It will be a gem once all done. 👏
I used large 1.2 x 1.2 porselein tiles on my kitchen tops with silicon for grout. It looks amazing and is easy to clean.
Looking forward to the next one!
I painted my living room deep sea blue. Looks amazing
I recommend a tinted glass splash back, (green tint). Lit from the top with recessed LED strip is very clean looking and easy to clean. Maybe give you that little bit of a reflection and makes the room look bigger.
Yes this is the way. Clear glass is too bright
Smashing it guys ... looks amazing🎉 . Me and my wife went for oak worktops I wasn't convinced but we have them now and I would only say go with a quartz or material that need minimum work to look brand new for as long as possible ... we are 4 years and a lovely daughter down the line and a more durable worktop would have been better
I have tempered glass as a splash back. Best I’ve had so far, in the past I have had stainless steel ( gets scratches and watermarks, tiles (the grout will get dirty”, high gloss paint (becomes nasty and or dull after a while. Glass is definitely the way to go so easy to clean and just looks great.
Completely agree. Kitchen Reno earlier this year and went from tile to glass for splash backs. Best change, looks great as a single flat surface and so easy to keep clean.
Wow, Looking great!
I get excited to see spring in New Zealand because that means fall is coming where I live.
The only problem with that idea is in BC lower mainland it means a lot of rain. Weirdly, we would have been drowned by now, but it is sunny. :) We need rain in BC, Canada.
Talking about splash backs: coloured glass with a distorted texture is far superior, hands down.
G,day Scott Brown Carpentry with Jess from Sydney Australia. Modern kitchens are the hub of the home and smart use of LED light can give that special touch.🙂🇭🇲
Paint on the walls! That always does the transformation from construction to what ever the next phase will be.
Timber slab benchtop. everyone will love it and comment on it.
I think a concrete benchtop would look the goods with all those colours it's just a nice plane canvas that won't take away from the beautiful timber look of the cabinets. you could even do a polished exposed finish
Manufactured stone bench top with a glass back splash is our choice, the stone is really hard wearing and does not stain like marble. You can have the back of the glass painted any colour to suit your decor and it's easy to keep clean.
I renovated our Kitchen and used hi gloss black wall tile, and they reflected like a mirror and looked awesome. i used a tinted grout with black oxide that was just a little lighter.
When we did our countertops we found a 2 foot by 4 foot porcelain tile. Put them on double layer of 1/2 inch ply with backer. Looks like stone but tougher. Can take really hot pans and skillets. Only end up with 2 seams.
Great color on the feature wall 👌
Microcement counter tops! They look amazing!
XD You're going to love that Ocean View Blue, we did the same colour for our Living area, it turned out beautiful!
Building standards are so different in different places. I also just replaced a bunch of old single pane windows. But would never have occurred to me to just put more panes in the same frame. We had to get all new frames that could accomodate triple pane sealed units, with Argon between all the panes. This is what any modern window is here.
You wouldnt be able to fit triple glaze windows in old style window frames I wouldnt think. All the triple glazed stuff I encountered in europe was in proper thick frames.
@@nutsandgum Oh, definitely needs new frames. Not just because of the space for 3 panes, but because of how you have to seal them up to keep the argon in.
But no one here would just add a second pane, that's a really foreign idea (and really, sounds like just moving from 60s windows to 80s windows, still 4 decades out of date.)
You know you're a Makita man when you have a blue feature wall in your house. Love it!
House is looking good guys!!
Ahh starting to look so beautiful there Scott!
The house is also coming along nicely
Starting to look great😊
Inverted cast concrete tops are great neutral and very hard wearing. I did my own 40mm thick and even cast out basin into one.
Wow! Starting to come together!
Giant butchers block made from different strips of local timber is always a good option for kitchen benchtops. They gain character as they age and you can always resurface them later if they get damaged too much.
Kia mate ururoa Scotty keep up the great work 👏🏽 fighting through the renos like a hammerhead shark 🦈
When my wife and I remodeled our kitchen we went with Quartz. Mainly because of the ease of maintenance. They have been in since 2004 and look as good as when they were installed.
Looking forward to seeing Ray again. I’ve missed his witty quips!
Benchtops, have you considered tile? I'm not talking about the yellow ones you used to have but modern large 600x600 floor tiles. Most robust thing you could imagine. No need for coasters anymore! Nothing else compares. No staining, no marking, no bubbling, no burn marks. Will outlast the kitchen. The only negative if you consider it a negative is grout lines. That's why you use bigger tiles and epoxy grout so it doesn't stain.
Really, really love the alcove/feature wall.
The colour is perfect.
I always wanted to paint a feature wall the blackest Black, light absorbing black.
On your alcove possibly a black strip would break up the solid colour but at the same time not be too intrusive
I think it would be very interesting and it plays tricks on the eye.
Massive Respect
Be Safe
Be Kind
😀👍
Big fan of quartz! Highly recommend!
Also throwing my hat in for Quartz countertops. Here in the States we were able to get "remnants" from a local countertop place. They're basically the leftovers from someone else's project and it saved us a ton remodeling two bathrooms.
Love your channel, Scott, and I salivate every episode at your range of "toys". The deep blue in that alcove looks fabulous to me. Our current house (since 2015) in Nelson Bay, NSW, AU was built as a holiday house in 1999. It's mostly off-white, but it was originally painted in bold colours. The wall colour behind the glass splashback in the kitchen is a deep red. The lounge room was painted in a bright yellow. Bathroom areas have glass walls with bold colours behind. I've seen photos and it was a bit overpowering. We find Dulux China White to be quite relaxing.
If you're at all serious about cooking, make sure you have a proper range hood that vents to the outside. Too many kitchens just have a pretend range hood that vents around the back of the cabinets and back into the kitchen. We used Qasair when we renovated/extended our house in Melbourne in 1999/2000. Proper, commercial looking ducting.
When we bought this house, it had metallic bench tops (brushed aluminium, perhaps). It was horrible. No matter how much we cleaned it, it never felt clean and rubbing against it gave off a metallic residue. If you use something like Caesarstone quartz and it has any joints, a less than perfect installation can result in movement at the joints. Our stone mason no longer lives in Australia.
You could pour your own concrete benchtops... you can get Sureform benchtop molds plus the benchtop mix from GRC Pro here in NZ. Or if you wanted another option you could try microcement... you can apply it over anything so can run it across the benchtop and up the wall as a splashback. It's also good for the bathrooms. You can get it in NZ (it's called microtopping) from Permacolour.
Really like the blue colour 👍
Wish I was a mind reader/body language expert when you were talking about the stainless, so I can understand what Jess was thinking 🤔. Love the work you guys have done.
Great input Jess.
Over the years we had various countertops. The best experience we have is with a ceramic worktop (the previous owners had it installed we kept it and a totally happy with their choice). No scratches, no fuss, heat resistant etc. Check them out before you decide.
Bench top: 2cm "ultra compact surface" paired with the same surface in a 4mm thick version for the backsplash. In my own home I chose "Helena" from dekton for both, but there are a few manufacturers to choose from in this material class. To make things ultra sleek have all your counter top outlets mounted on the bottom surface of your cabinets - I have a 1/2" tall outlet strip spanning 72" with an outlet every 6". Makes the installation of the back splash a breeze and, so far, everyone loves the location of the outlets. Also, check out some of the "show" kitchens using ultra compact surfaces as cabinet doors - too modern for my house but cool nonetheless.
Have you looked into diy concrete countertops? I've also recently seen panels that look like stone made with pour on epoxy that are simple to build and look like a good option for a backsplash.
2nd this! Did our benchtops for our kitchen Reno. Bunnings quote was $1600 did them all for $360 myself.
Use melamine for boxing and pour them upside down!