Tiled Kitchen Cabinet Toe Kick

I had set aside $5,000 for our kitchen from a $10,000 loan I took out to gut and restore our apartment. Our kitchen cabinets were hand-built by our contractor-electrician, who pitched to me that he knew how to build them and quoted $2,000 for 5 bases, 8 drawers, and 4 doors. This was a huge deal compared to the $5,000 - $7,000 I was quoted a week before this, so I agreed.

The tile has specks of metallic browns and pretty blues that shimmer when light hits it.  However, I was not successful taking photos of the effect with my camera.

 At the time, I had not built my own furniture, and it was only a thought in my mind. I was happy to delegate this task. Until December rolled around and my cabinets were not done. Then this summer rolled around and still... they're not done. It's been over one year; time management is a problem for professionals too, it seems.

Surprisingly, the cabinets were built without a solid strip of wood to act as a toe kick. I wanted to remedy the patchwork look of the base of our cabinets, either by laying wood down and painting it a fun color or laying wood down and using leftover tile from our bathroom remodel. The tile won. =D

	1/4" plywood cut into strips (leftover from building kitchen cabinets) 6 square feet glass tile cut into strips (leftover from bathroom shower tiling, on sale $6 per square foot last year, ~$36) Pre-mixed mastic (leftover from backsplash tiling, ~$5, City Mill)
	Trowel and float (already owned) Hammer and finish nails (already owned) Circular saw (already owned)

This project cost $36 in tile.  If the glass tile was not on sale, it could have cost $90 for the same type and amount of tile.


    







Thankfully, I had already ripped 1/4" plywood for an experiment project in the kitchen.  My husband and I are deciding if it will stay or not by the end of the month.  I used the leftover ripped 1/4" plywood to cover the old "toe kick" and span the large gap in the corner, too.







This weekend, I'm prepping some black unsanded grout that I had purchased last year (and never used).  I'll lay newspaper and painter's tape down to protect our floor and float the grout over the tile, then I'll also grout our stainless steel backsplash black as well.  :)

In a few short days, I won't have to worry about leaving mopping laps on our toe kick, since it is covered in black glass tile.  =D  Me = happy mom and wife.

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