Update Your Kitchen One Piece at a Time

Disclosure: I received products for review purposes. All experiences and opinions are my own. Yours may differ.

When we moved to Kansas City and purchased our house, it was a foreclosure. That was the only way we could afford such a big house that backs onto a little lake. Without the lake this house would have been a no-go for me because I don’t love the floor plan, the kitchen was missing appliances and the ones it did have were out-dated and some were in rough shape.

When we first moved in the kitchen was missing the refrigerator and the dishwasher. We had an important decision to make. Were we going to buy white appliance and match the existing appliances? Or were we going to slowly transition the house to stainless steel? We decided to begin transitioning to stainless steel, knowing it would take years to complete this process because we couldn’t afford to just go buy 4 appliances, a new sink and new faucet in one shot.

After speaking with Moen about this plan to affordably transition my kitchen piece by piece they were interested in helping me with my project while simultaneously getting some advertising on Making of a Mom. I headed to the Moen site to pick out a sink and a faucet. Because you know I loved my old sink (even though it was ugly and very badly scratched and stained) I wanted a stainless steel sink but basically the same as my old white one. I was so happy the day these two big boxes arrived!

 

I picked out a Moen Stainless Steel 22 gauge drop in sink that was the exact same dimensions as my old sink (so I thought… wait for it!) Since have the potential to get very fancy and very expensive very fast but we wanted simple, sleek and similar to our old sink. This beautiful sink retails for $166 on the Moen site.

Now my husband and I are usually “payers” instead of “doers” but we figured we could probably get the installation of a new sink figured out pretty easily. We started with a pep talk phone call to my husband’s Dad who is very handy and can do any home improvement project. Feeling confident we removed our old sink from the counter without any incident. It was a great feeling to feel like we were almost on the road to modern sinkville.

Once we got the counter all cleaned up and the grout removed we got the new sink ready for placement. My husband tried to “drop it in” after all it is a drop-in sink, but it didn’t drop very well. It turns out our old sink had rounded corners and relied on it’s weight to keep it in the counter. The new sink had straight edges underneath that were meant for screws to be notched into them to screw the sink in place because it is light and isn’t grouted into place. This is where things got tricky.

As I said, we are “payers” so we were a little nervous to go full-fledged in and start cutting our counters. We called over a very hand friend to make sure our solution was what he would also do. He was so nice and took the time to help us cut our counters a little wider to accommodate the new shape. After about an hour or so things were set, our friend went on his way and it was time to make this sink fit and get the new faucet attached!

This sink is super easy to clean and keep looking wonderful. The tag on the sink said I could clean it with any dish soap I normally use and a non-abrasive cloth. I have found that the sink does a pretty good job at looking clean on its own but if I have people coming over I just spray it down with water and dry it with a soft towel. I make sure that after I do the dishes every day and the sink is cleaned off, no food or crumbs left behind so that it can stay looking brand new. There are also special cleaners you can buy for stainless steel sinks. If you live in an area with hard water, I definitely recommend looking into that. I have been in that situation in a previously house and I couldn’t just wipe it down with a towel. So different areas will lead to different cleaning techniques.

Now that we had completed half the project it was time for the installation of the Haysfield with Motionsense faucet and a pull down sprayer.

This incredible faucet offers a nice modern design, as well as some very modern conveniences such as motion sensors for a no touch faucet. There are two different sensors on this faucet. On the top you wave your hand to turn the water on indefinitely. When you want the water off you wave your over it again and it turns off. If you have messy hands and just need a quick wash, the bottom sensor is placed where you would just start washing your hands and the water will continue as long as your hands are there. Once you are finished and you move your hands, the water shuts off by itself. It is VERY nice! You can also use the normal handle to turn the water on and off and adjust the temperature.

This might lead you to the question:

What temperature is the water coming out of the faucet when it is turn on by motion sense?

Good question! When you install the faucet, it is plugged into a box where you can control what temperature you want the motionsense water set at. We have it set at room temperature. This means if I need cold water for filling water bottles, or hot water for doing dishes then I would use the handle to turn the faucet on the traditional way and get the correct temperature water.

Are you thinking it is complicated to install the Haysfield with Motionsense faucet? Well it isn’t! The Moan site is very helpful offering video step-by-step tutorials on how to install it. The faucet also comes with step-by-step instructions you can read. My husband was able to install the faucet in about 20 minutes and it worked perfectly. No hassle at all here!

This beautiful and advanced faucet does retail for $660 on the Moen site but I saw it for significantly less at my local home improvement store. You can also purchase the Haysfield Faucet without the motion sense. When compared to other kitchen improvement projects this one is definitely an affordable change.

I love that the combination of my new stainless steel sink and stainless steel faucet have greatly improved the look of my kitchen. For less than $1000 my kitchen looks brand new and revitalized! This was one simple way to continue updating my kitchen without breaking the bank. Of course, I still have to convert my microwave and oven over to stainless steel, but I’m happy taking things one piece at a time and perhaps that will be next years project.

Are you interested in the Motionsense faucet? Are you trying to transition your appliances to a different finish? I’d love to hear about your kitchen projects!