Tons of Stuff

The drawers and doors and handles are on the cabinets. Sweet! It all looks so good together and I'm completely excited and happy with how it all looks with the counters and the paint.
I'm a little worried about a couple drawers being not exactly flush with the others, but Alan thinks it's not noticeable. Am I starting to get totally obsessed with perfection? I think they can be adjusted, so I'll ask. Here they are:

The pulls look TOTALLY cool, and even though they weren't my very first pick (see this post) I like these a lot! (They're a little dusty in this picture - I forgot to clean them first.)

The pot rack is up on the wall beside our bookshelf in the kitchen corner. Alan and I had a bit of a heart attack this morning when we were holding it up to the wall (to see how high we wanted it mounted). We lost communication with each other and forgot how it all held together, and one of the very heavy iron braces when crashing down onto our NEW COUNTERTOP!! OMG I thought it was all over. BUT we couldn't find any cracks (which is what I full expected after hearing the crash) or even marks or scratches (what I was willing to settle for in that split second). Tonight when I looked again and ran my hand over the surface, I felt a tiny little pitted spot, but it could easily be from the manufacturing end of things. What a relief... It will be really nice to get at our often-used cookware.

The trim around the kitchen window is up. Get this - the window is not level, and the right side is a full 1/2" lower than the left side. Because the countertops are level, thank goodness, it meant that the trim around the window had to be whittled down a bit so that it would fit on the backsplash. Not sure if anyone but me will notice - maybe it will turn out to be one of those nice little oddities, like an eccentric relative you think of fondly.

Tough to get a good picture of it in the sun.

And lastly, the heater guys came and put stuff in the wall (ducts and holes and even a plenum, whatever that is). We have to hire a roofer to put a hole in the roof which is apparently difficult to do with our Mediterranean red tiles - I think it sounds like a big job mostly because no one really wants to do it.

I'm In Love

Yes, the cabinets are as pretty as my fantasy. I just love that warm honey color.

We decided not to go with cabinets up to the ceiling because 1) the kitchen is small, and I think that would make it feel smaller, and 2) that slanted ceiling and beam made it difficult, if not impossible. What you're seeing above is the space for the range with microwave above. The cabinet pulls shipped today, so we'll be seeing those installed soon perhaps.

I am excited about having a pantry with doors. The space above it will be for cookie sheets and trays and such. Not sure what can go above the fridge. It's small, but it should be pretty accessible because the refrigerator will be set back, allowing easier access.

Don't the sage walls look good with the cabinets?

I had a request for another post from my fan, so here you are Beth - thanks for your faithful reading! It's going to slow down I think in the next few weeks as the more boring things get done - carpet & heater removal, new heater closet framing, baseboard installation. But I'll record every minute, don't you worry!

Out of the Wild

Day 4 cabinet installation and almost done. The uppers are up, the refrigerator/pantry unit is up and even though I just watched Into the Wild which made me wonder if we shouldn't give all our money to Oxfam and run out to the Alaskan wilds, it is thrilling in very different and un-wild way. Perhaps we are going Into the Mild....

However, I really am thrilled, and today the countertop guys will come to template.

You can see the outlet holes above both sides of the cabinets where speakers will go - that was Alan's creative bit!

Above wire: I just love how EXACT everyone was: either the electrician put the hole for the undercabinet lighting exactly where the cabinet bottom would be, or the cabinet guys got the cabinet exactly over the hole, or our contractor's measurements made sure they both did it right.

Over The Top

Day 3 of cabinetry gave us all the lower cabinets installed with adjustments made for the kitchen being 106" at the window end and 108" at the pass through end, as well as adjustments for the floor dropping a couple inches from one side to another.

They also installed the sub-top so that countertops can be templated on Wednesday, including the bar - which now gives more form to the space, and I am starting to get the idea of what it will look like.

I commented on how great it looked and they pointed out how they go way over what's necessary to make sure everything is well secured and screwed down. Cam said he could even stand on the counter - he is a big man and I hope he won't have to, but I did feel well assured. Especially after reading (on Gardenweb again) others' experiences with their contractors and shoddy work. One person's contractor disappeared for a bit and she called him daily to no avail. Turned out he was in JAIL!

Today the upper cabinets get installed. Here are photos from yesterday's work with sub-top and everything screwed down.

Yep, it's level.

Cabinet Install Begins!

Cam and Richard began cabinet installation yesterday and I found them mulling over the problem of the room being not quite square. "Not a problem," said Cam, as usual. So glad they see the challenge and are working out ways to solve, rather than ignore, it. They also used a glue gun to add extra reinforcement to all the side and back panels (adding to what the factory already did).

They said they'll be done Tuesday, which gets us almost back on the original schedule (delayed because of various small repair jobs and slow drying drywall/mud during our foggy stretch). Dare I hope it will be done in early May??

Merrilat - Classic - Maple - Portrait

2 corner lazy susans above on either side of the window/sink

The range will go in the middle

Very wide deep drawers on the peninula/bar!

Richard spent much of the day with a chisel and hammer removing the decades-old tile (2 different versions) that had been glued to the subfloor. Nasty work.

Cabinet, Countertop & Floor Samples

Here's some photographs we took of samples we had. Again, color looks different than other webshots due to lighting & camera.


Cabinet - maple in toffee color


Caesarstone Verde


Plyboo vertical bamboo, carbonized (but we'll be getting another brand (Greenwood) so it may look a little different.

Hurry Up and Wait

Tonight we signed off on the layout plans (our 5th round) with our contractor, and made the first payment on the cabinets so he can order them and get this process finally started! Woohoo! So exciting.

It will take 4 weeks before they arrive, so we have that much time left to get the kitchen ready for demolition, and make more decisions. Maybe during that time we'll even get a few meals cooked and into the freezer to help us survive the 8-12 weeks of being without a kitchen!

Here are some of the drawings. Our footprint is the same, but everything will be spiffier!
Here's the top view and then each side, from the peninsula around the sink all the way to the pantry.

From kitchen plans...