Espresso bar: Granite countertop.

One of the pieces IKEA didn't have when we bought the cabinets was a countertop. That's probably for the best. They told us they wouldn't do a granite one given the small size of the job. So on the morning of my birthday (after dropping off Squish at preschool and getting breakfast at Columbia Cafe) we went looking for a remnant at one of the granite countertop fabricators in town. Two weeks later it was ready for us to pick up.

The first order of business was to test fit it in our rough opening. When I gave them the measurements, I asked if they could work within 1/16" tolerances. She confirmed they could. The place was called Precision Waterjet after all.

The second piece of business was to drill the three holes we needed to run the power cables and plumbing lines. After a quick trip to use a Harbor Freight gift card I got from K's parents for Christmas and pick up a diamond hole saw, I got to work. It was a piece of cake to cut the granite. In short order, the countertop was ready to install.

Of course, backing up a bit I first made my own water dam for the hole saw. If I didn't want to pay $30 for the Milwaukee diamond saw (admittedly something I regret), I certainly wasn't going to pay $20 for a water dam. All it took was a piece of scrap wood and a couple of wood hole saws I already had: a 1-3/4" and 1-3/8". I drilled the bigger one first, then the smaller one. The bigger hole was necessary to hold the water. Hence the 'dam.'

Then I measured, taped, and marked the countertop.

Filled the dam with water…

… and started drilling.

The reason I regret not splurging on the Milwaukee saw is because the Harbor Freight one wasn't deep enough to drill through the 3cm granite. Bleh. It worked smoothly and effortlessly otherwise, but meant I had to flip over the countertop and do my best to line up the hole from the opposite side.

It worked fine. In hindsight, to avoid the complication I'd make sure to get the proper tool instead of being cheap. Especially if I had more holes to cut. After maybe half an hour, the countertop was ready to go.

I used some silicone caulk I had in the garage to cement it on top of the cabinet. The heft of it alone would have probably held it, but I wanted to make sure it was solid.

With the countertop installed, we were on the home stretch. The final piece was cutting and fitting the paneling above the base cabinet. At the same time, we were also testing some paint options.

As evidenced in the photos of the installed countertop, albeit perhaps subtly, we ended up getting a sample of black-ish (Magnolia Aspen Stone) for the trim and Mahogany True White for the walls around the espresso bar.

It's definitely a different look, the dark vs. white trim. We really like it. In fact, we went out and bought two gallons of the Aspen Stone.

Now it's time to get those panels cut and installed so we can start making our daily espressos from our new space!