WE HAVE A KITCHEN!

As I post, we are under a tornado warning and Randy, the dogs and I are hunkered down in my craft room (the most interior spot in the basement). This seems as good a time as any to do today's post.

 

After an 11 hour day, our fabulous kitchen installers have mostly wrapped-up kitchen project 4 us. With permission, I am posting their picture! :) They may have found my request dorky, but are good sports! I wish I could include our wonderful kitchen designer, but I don't have her photo.

 

It's ironic; now that we have all of our appliances, the power has gone out!!! Here is what you have been waiting to see...

 

 

I am not quite sure why the pictures are so small. Sorry! It is the best I can do under the circumstances. Randy is holding the flashlight over my keyboard so that I can type.

 

 

I promise to post more shots tomorrow, but I should probably log-off now. I have a low battery. A tornado was spotted/touched down a few miles from here. We are all fine.

 

 



Nearly Finished!

The guys made amazing progress today and worked a very long day. The backsplash is all up in the kitchen area and we love it. It's onyx and has variegated tones of cream, saffron and mocha. Tomorrow they will grout, apply the backsplash in the butler's pantry and install the under-cabinet lighting.

 

 

 

 

It will be fun to see the countertop against the backsplash after the protective covering is removed!

 

 

 

This shows the hardware we selected. Oil-rubbed bronze knobs are on all of the cupboard doors while the drawers got bin pulls.

 

 

Tomorrow they will finish up this kitchen project 4 us. Overhead lighting and baseboards will remain and will soon be tackled. In the meantime, I will roll-up my sleeves and begin to put things back in place. How long do you think that will take? :)

 

 

 

A Working Dishwasher!!!

Although the guys came yesterday and worked, I didn't get a chance to post with the end of the school year and an evening obligation. I am thrilled to report that I have a dishwasher! We also have an inside microwave. I had to chuckle Friday when I left for school because as I backed-out, Randy was warming his breakfast out in the garage! :) Having an installed micro is much handier than having it balanced on two sawhorses! The guys also put up trim today and built the butler's  pantry. We are so pleased with the way it all looks.

 

This shows some of the trim and the microwave in its place.

 

 

Oh, dishwasher, how I missed you! I will be filling and running it as soon as I complete this post. 



 

 

Here is a sideways view of the butler's pantry. It is hard to see it well with the wall (on the left of this picture), but the cube cabinets at the top have lights and there will be tile on the wall beneath the center cabinet.

 

 

 

Tomorrow they are putting up the backsplash! Look for photos! 

 

 

 

A Sink!

We now have a sink, faucet and running water! The kitchen installers were running late yesetrday due to some circumstances beyond their control. One of the poor guys showed up with a heavily-wrapped thumb after having split it open earlier in the day. Despite the throbbing thumb and being behind on their schedule, they worked unitl nearly 10:00. They weren't able to do the dishwasher, but will report for duty again Tuesday. They will spend the week doing the reaminder of the appliances, backsplash, trim and hardware. Hopefully, at this time next weekend I will have a completely finished kitchen! :)

 

 

 

 

 

Countertops!

It was fun coming home today to see the new countertops installed! We are extremely pleased with the selection.

 

This is a close-up of our Cambria counter.

 

Our island has a curved edge which extends over the legs. I can't wait to get those cardboard coverings up to expose the wood floors.



 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow our talented kitchen installer is coming to hook-up the sink and dishwasher. I will be thrilled to have running water in the kitchen again! :)

 

 

An Updated Pantry!

The pantry was reorganized today and it turned out so nicely! I am eager for this weekend when I hope to find a few moments to put away some things. Once school is out next week, I can devote myself to the task and I can't wait!

 

This is a view looking into the (nearly emptied) pantry before the entire kitchen project 4 us began.

This is a view from the same vantage point today.

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We now have additional storage due to higher shelves, drawers and clear pull-out bins. Although not visible in the picture, there is an additional unit of narrow shelving to the right on what was previously a plain wall. It will be perfect for housing canned goods. You may notice that we are lacking baseboards. We need them everywhere. :)

 

 

Update...

Although I originally posted that there would be something to report tomorrow, I had my wires crossed and was off a few days. I will have pictures Tuesday, however, following the pantry job. This weekend I painted the pantry in preparation so we are set for the 21st. Then I will have pictures and another posting Thursday after the countertops go in. We can't wait! Even more exciting to me will be the fact that the sink will be in place so that I can wash dishes and have a dishwasher either late Thursday or Friday! I will also have a stove and an inside microwave. Currently, the new microwave is set up on sawhorses in the garage. While it's not the most handy set-up, it does the trick. :)

Extra Picture

Oops! I was just cleaning my desktop and found that I had overlooked an island picture when I last posted. This shot shows the backside of it so that you can see the beadboard and legs.

An Island and Planning Center!

Today the island was built as well as the remainder of the planning center. The countertop will have a curved (half-moon) shape on the back which will rest upon the turned legs so that it appears more as a piece of furniture.

 

 

 

 

 

The planning center's middle cabinet is lined with saffron beadboard, which is not really visible in the picture. We are eager to see the countertops in place!

 

 

 





 

Although the appliances were delivered today, all but the refrigerator sit in the garage. Here is the refrigerator in the new "white ice" line. It's a highly polished white with sleek stainless handles and trim. Note how the center lines of the cabinets do not line-up with the refrigerator doors and, of course, there is no way to avoid that. That's going to bother me a bit...

 

 

 

 

 

Our talented kitchen designer provided us a calendar with everything mapped out and, to date, it has been quite accurate. Everything has happened when we expected.  As anticipated, the kitchen is at a standstill until Monday, the 20th. The kitchen guys return that day to finish trim work and then we are hopeful that the countertops come a few days later. In the meantime, we have another ten days of no stove, microwave or dishwasher! We admit to being weary from going downstairs for pantry items, upstairs for kitchen tools and digging through boxes everywhere. I am tired of washing dishes in a pan in the guest bath and rinsing produce in the bathroom sink. The other day, Randy asked why we had a potato sitting on the bathroom counter. Doesn't everyone? :) The kitchen table remains in the great room and we still have cereal boxes, bread, dogfood and other daily staples on the hearth! I think it will all be worth it, though! 

More cabinets!

 

The base cabinets are now in place, so everything is ready for the countertop to be templated tomorrow.  They also began the wall cabinetry for the planning center. It is very exciting to see the kitchen take shape each day!  

 

I am eager to see the new appliance in here tomorrow and even more eager to use them. In preparation we have shoved put a lot of the freezer contents in the downstairs freezer. Tomorrow morning, in the midst of all the other usual craziness, we will transfer the refrigerator contents into all the coolers we have borrowed.

The planning center gets cabinets with glass fronts (centered) flanked by solid fronts.

 

 

The island is beginning to shape-up. The intent is for it to appear as a piece of furniture. Although not visible in the picture below, there are two turned legs which will go on the backside of it.

 

 

The butler's pantry will have its upper cabinets coming down and resting upon the countertop.

 

 

 

 



More Progress!

After another long day, the kitchen installers made more progress. They have made it from the back wall, across the side and over to the refrigerator with the upper cabinets and now some of the base ones are going in, too. Next they will tackle the butler's pantry, island and planning center.

We are now without even a microwave, so cooking has become more challenging. My parents kindly provided another meal to us this evening. After my mother cooked a delicious dinner (complete with dessert), my dad delivered it to us. So as it turns out, there is at least one advantage to not being able to cook! :)

 

In two days the new appliances come, but the dishwasher will not be functional until the sink and countertops come in a few weeks.

 

Once again, the cabinets look more yellow than they really are in person. You may notice that there is a crack in the corner cabinet's glass. It was shipped that way, so our installer has already ordered a replacement. Please note that the refrigerator in the photo will be replaced Thursday.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow!

I came home from school to see the wonderful progress that the installers made today! Wow! :)

 

They plan to work tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday to finish with the cabinetry. The countertop people are also scheduled to come in Thursday to measure and then it will take about two weeks for our countertops to be cut. Cross your fingers for an installation on or about May 23rd!!

 

Our new floors were all carefully covered with collapsed cardboard boxes in an effort to protect them. I appreciated our installers taking that extra step.

 

Randy and I spent the weekend working on the kitchen project. He filled 60 screw holes in the pantry while I painted. I did the area of the kitchen where the cabinets go so that we would not have to cut-in afterward. It literally took us months to finally figure-out the right color for the walls. We considered every imaginable color, both dark and light. Our walls looked like a patchwork quilt as we tested possibilities. Eliminations were made as we observed the colors in both day and night. It's our "Goldilocks" process. First our paint was too dark, then too light. Finally, we got it just right. Although difficult to determine in the pictures, the walls are two shades lighter than the cabinets (same color family).

 

The first picture below shows a more accurate color representation. The other two make the cabinets appear much more yellow that they really are. It must be the light. The glass in the stacked cabinets and corner cabinet is seeded for an old-world feel.

I will post again tomorrow night after another day of their efforts!