Ugly House Photos

Design Through the Decades - Part 14

This is Part 2 of kitchen designs in Phoenix, Arizona in the 2000s.  Part 1 showed how kitchen designs & cabinets changed in the 2000s.  Now we’ll look at special kitchen features like backsplash and counter tops.

A very trendy upgrade to Phoenix kitchens in the 2000s was a pot filler faucet right there at the range.  Want to cook spaghetti?  Put the empty pot on the burner, turn on the faucet, and fill it up.  No more heavy lifting.  Well, until you are done cooking.

Kitchen backsplashes really took off in originality in the 2000s.  Phoenix hadn’t seen backsplashes since the 1950s.  Now, homebuyers and homeowners could personalize their kitchens in the 2000s.  Here’s a Phoenix kitchen with stacked stone backsplash.

Or you could go with tumbled travertine stone pieces.  Under cabinet lighting creates nice shadows on the stone.

Glass tile is gaining a lot of popularity in the late 2000s.  Expect this trend to continue for several more years.

Here’s larger glass tile done in a subway pattern (popular in 1950s bathrooms).

Wow!  A whole wall of subway pattern glass tile.  Big cabinet door handles too.  This Phoenix home was built in 2008.

For more modern kitchen designs in the 2000s, colored glass tile creates visual impact.

Natural stone tile was also popular in the 2000s, as seen in this Peoria, AZ kitchen.

Granite slab counters were standard upgrades in Phoenix homes over a certain price range.  At $55-$60/square foot, granite isn’t cheap.  It makes more sense to install granite slab in homes priced over $400,000.  And buyers expect granite slab counters in homes priced over $500,000.

[There is new discussion about the safety of granite counters, as some reports find small traces of radon gas but not enough to cause any health threat.  Read more about this here.]

If you want the granite slab look without the high price, then consider granite tile which costs a tenth the cost of granite slab.  About $5.50-$6.00 per square foot tile.  The tiles are about 1/3 inch thick versus one inch.  However, homebuyers in the $400,000+ range will expect granite slab, not granite tile.

Concrete counters increased in popularity in the 2000s as people became more “green.”

Another kitchen with concrete counters.

Concrete counters in a modern-looking kitchen.

Quartz counters were an alternative to granite counters.  Brand names of Silestone and Cambria were added to the 2000s buyer’s lexicon.  Here’s a Phoenix home with Silestone counters.

Here’s a remodeled kitchen with Cambria quartz counters.

Counters made of recycled glass and concrete are actually expensive.  Brand names of Icestone and Vetrazzo are gaining recognition and should really take off in the late 2000s and early 2010s.  This Glendale, Arizona home has Icestone counters.