I added and entire addition to the back of my house. I basically took your standard 1970's ranch and doubled it in size. I added a master bathroom, a utility room, and made a great room/kitchen. The whole thing cost me about $110,000. But it all started because I wanted a dishwasher. The kitchen is where I put most of my money.

My house is on a slab. I went with tile floors but that was only because it was the quickest and easiest application. I didn't put much thought into the floors and that's the biggest mistake I made. If I had to do it over again I would have the floors leveled correctly, and I'd put down Pergo. I have two dogs, so durabiltiy was the key thing. The tile isn't bad, they just did a shitty job of installing it. They didn't clean all the grout off before it dried, so it looks like crap. I would have been nice if they had done it right. Oh, well.

I didn't want stainless appliances, either. I liked the all black ones and I had already decided I wanted maple cabinets so I thought the black would look really nice. I didn't want stainless for two reasons: it seemed like the latest fad and I didn't want my kitchen to look dated in 5 years, and they just don't look good in person in the store. They look cheap. At least I though they did. So I decided to get all black appliances.

I changed my mind for two reasons: I picked out my granite counters. I had no intention of getting granite. There was no way I could afford it. I was doing all of this on credit, and there was only one credit card I could use for the kitchen stuff: Lowe's. But I could just NOT pick anything else. The difference between the granite and all the other stuff Lowe's had to offer was just too great. I saw that granite and nothing else would do.

I got Black Galaxy. It looks just like it's name. It's a deep, rich, shiny black. It has silver speckles in it that look just like stars. I have a 6 1/2 foot island and the island slab has a vein running though it. I swear it looks just like the Milky Way.

This picture doesn't do it justice:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...tchenafter.jpg

It's really not as dark as it looks in the picture. I painted the walls burgandy, and that was a lot of work. It took 8 coats, but it looks really nice with the maple cabinets. But once I picked out the black granit counters, I couldn't see getting black appliances.

The second reason I decided against all black is because all black appliances cost just as much as stainless steel ones do. All black, and all white, are considered an upgrade just like stainless. And a black refrigerator? It's nothing but this big black hole. Because my house is on a slab, the entire kitchen had to be built around the "plumbing core". That's why my kitchen sink is on a inside wall. There is no natural light at all, except that which comes from the great room. So while it's not as dark as it looks in the picture, all black appliances would have been way too much black with the counters.

So I got the stainless, and I'm really glad I did. It's very easy to take care of. And it looks really sharp with the black granite counters and the burgandy walls. Really cool.

They only thing I hate is my stove top. It's one of those new fangled glass cook tops and no matter what I do I can't get the damned thing clean.