Almost Done

 The countertops were installed as scheduled (actually a few hours earlier... Thank you, Cutting Edge!). They are gorgeous! Brian and crew came back and installed my sink fixtures and placed the appliances. Of course, nothing ever goes without a hitch. The refrigerator opening had to be enlarged an inch at the top (not a big deal), and the microwave didn't quite fit into the opening intended for it (a bigger deal to fix).

The granite is gorgeous. It's greener than I thought it would be, but I like it really well. I've never particularly been drawn to green, so that's a bit of a surprise. The backsplash will be copper slate, with a few accents of irridescent glass tiles. I'm looking forward to seeing the personality that will bring, though I'll miss losing that lovely wallpaper border NOT!.

Brian said there were only a couple more days of work left, which is surprising as it seems there are a lot of little details to do. Bob is going redo the bar, narrowing it so that I can get a stool under the ledge. Since that was supposed to be mainly cookbook storage anyway, it will actually be better to not be quite so deep. Olivia seems to think that's her special spot.

Olivia has already made herself at home.





It's Christmas Eve and I got what I asked for (or at least the revised request): a functional sink and working appliances!

End of Week 3

The granite has been templated and Bob warned me that this would be dead time since the appliances can't be hooked up or the tile installed until after the countertops are in. Countertops are due in on the 23rd, which is really quick turnaround. I hope they make it. If I can have the appliances hooked up and a working sink, I can deal with the details being finished. 

The refrigerator, microwave and stove hood arrived Friday. I now have three refrigerators sitting in my garage. The refrigerator could have been put in then except for Brian had asked Bob to put a solid back on the refrigerator opening, which he didn't do. Brian came by Friday to clear some trash out and move the stove back in. He didn't have clearance around the outlet with the cabinets and didn't have his tools with him, so he didn't hook it up. Just having it in the kitchen does make it feel like there really is an end date someone along the line. :)

So, we aren't going to make Christmas afterall. Funny, how my expectations have reduced to just having stuff working.

Cabinets

Sink View



Refrigerator/Pantry/Bar

I came home tonight to find the cabinets mostly installed. It felt so totally surreal to actually have furniture back in there. What I have thought about for so many years has finally started to come to fruition. Hard to take it all in.

They are lovely, though I did have a few  surprises. There were a couple of cabinets that I thought I was getting that I didn't. I've figured out how to adapt around them, I think. I was relieved to hear that another turntable was supposed to go in the upper wedge-shaped cabinet. Currently, there is nothing in it, which makes for a lot of wasted, awkward-shaped space! Overall, it will take me a while to fill all that space up. I'm terribly excited about that! 

Stove side



The granite folks will be out in the morning to template the counter tops. Installation is set for 12/23. They are squeaking it in! I think that as long as my appliances are hooked up and I have a working sink, I can deal with any minor details that might overlap after Christmas.  :)

I purchased the TV and mounting bracket today that will go on the wall above the bar (see photo above). I think the only thing left to buy are the under-cabinet lights. We're getting there...





One, Two, Three, FLOOR

I was happy to come home and find that the cork was down, the canned lights were installed into the ceiling and another coat of paint applied to the walls. I also had an invoice from McCartney, so that must mean that Bob will be bringing the cabinets in tomorrow. Wow... it will look so different once furniture comes back into the room. I was tempted to do a tap dance on the expanse of floor, but I held myself back.

I stopped at Home Depot (again) to look for the under-cabinet lights and weather stripping for the doors. In the direct wire style, they only had fluorescent (ewwww!) and some halogens (which I think will get too hot). The cool-looking LED or rope lights were of the plug in variety. I guess I will ask Brian what he has in mind.

Oh, and Brian had already installed weather stripping on both doors. Oh, ye of little faith. Another return to Home Depot!

End of Week Two



Over the sink



The second week of remodeling is done. I was disappointed that the floor was not down Friday. However, I just happended to check on the status of my light fixtures and found that they had been delivered to my porch. Luckier still, they were still there when I went to get them!



Kitchen pendant light

This is the larger pendant that will go over the eating area. A smaller, matching pendant will hang over the sink. 
I found these online on lightingcatalog.com and would recommend that site. I also ordered my sink from a partner site, eFaucets.com, and the same was true here. Great selection and prices. I did bite the bullet and returned the cream colored sink with a black one and it turned out to not be nearly the hassle I was expecting.


The first day of the remodel was dramatic, as what was once there was no more in a matter of a few short hours. The following ten days haven't been quite as much "fun." When I would come home in the evening, I there wasn't a lot of visual impact (e.g. wiring, new doors, drywall, paint in the few square feet of wall that will actually be visible.) However, the Balanced Beige  paint color looks great, too, considering the way it was chosen!


I'm hoping that next week will bring the installation of the flooring and the cabinets, the templating for the granite. It would seem that tile installation would also begin. With the deadline for completion coming up less than two weeks away, much still needs to be accomplished.

Corked!



Cork is "breathing"

 My cork has arrived! It is in my kitchen now, "breathing" or whatever it needs to do during the required 24-hour acclimation period. I'm glad that I was diligent in finding the color I wanted, because it is going to be beautiful. Perhaps by this time tomorrow, I'll have a new floor down.

I also saw that my light fixtures have been shipped. Things are coming together. This is good because I'm so over the mess, the inconvenience, the microwave popcorn. :)

Paint Colors?!?



Knock down ceiling done and canned lights

 I got a call Monday from the contractor asking me if I'd picked out paint colors yet. Seriously? Paint? Isn't paint a lot further down the process? He was at a point where he could paint the doors and trim, and actually preferred doing that before the floor went down. How was I going to pick out paint when I didn't have the tile samples, cabinets, yada yada yada? A little better communication on timelines and dependencies would be helpful (the project manager in me just can't help coming out).

Luckily, Julie was able to make suggestions and pick out some Sherwin Williams paint colors. Not that I have any big preference to SW, but there is a store close to my house and I knew that I could look at paint chips easily there. Even better, I was able to look at the colors online on their site.



Balanced Beige and Alabaster

 Out of Julie's suggestions, I  picked out Alabaster White for the trim and doors, and Balanced Beige for the wall color. Voila! I gave the color numbers to Brian and that task was done.

The cork is supposed to be in tomorrow and I learned that it needs to sit in the targeted installation location for 24 hours before it could be installed. Who'd have thunk that? The painting is to be done tomorrow/Thursday and the flooring installed Friday. I am still wa-a-a-a-y ready for this job to be done!

Gutted



No more cabinets!

 Short work was made of the demolition on the first day. The old cabinets were out in no time flat and the appliances were dismantled and moved to the garage.


While the first day dramatic changes occurred, progress has been steady but slower.

Let there be LIGHT!

I was disappointed that I wasn't going to get the glass back door that I had envisioned. It seems that my entry doors are 30" instead of the more common 32" or 36" size. Had I known that the door wasn't readily available in the smaller size, I could have ordered it, but since I was suddenly a little crunched for time, I went ahead with the simple six-panel steel door instead. The plus side was that it was not very expensive, so I could switch it out at a later date should I decide that I still really want that door.

Most of the wiring is done and the canned lights are installed. I think I will be able to perform surgery in that room when they are all turned on.

D(emolition) Day Approaches

The final design decisions are being made. Jule was able to find the cork in the color I've been looking for, and we settled on a design for the tile backsplash. I added the microwave I needed to my order at Factory Direct and decided against installing a wine refrigerator. I need to go to Home Depot or Lowe's tomorrow and pick out the two door styles. I still need to get the lights and the small TV. After that I think I will be done with the selection process.

I've been working on getting my kitched cleared out all day today (with short breaks to mow up what I hope is the last of my leaves and later, to swim). It's a good thing that I had about half of it done from when I thought I was going to be starting the last time, because I am tired of clearing out my kitchen. It's appalling how much grease was floating around the air in my unvented kitchen. Yuk!

But, clear it out, I must as the contractors are supposed to start Tuesday (November 30) on the demolition. I'm a little apprehensive as I haven't really talked to Bob (McCartney) about the details. Julie told me the 30th, but aside from emptying out the cabinets, I don't really know what to expect.

I'm also wondering what I'm going to get regarding some of the specific cabinets. We had talked at one time whether I wanted an 8" or 5" spice rollout, and did he remember that I wanted my shelves to pull out? I've also been agonizing as to whether I should send back my sink and exchange it for a black one. If I'm not careful, I'll end up deciding by not deciding.

Stress and anticipation. D-Day, D-Day's a coming!

Anticipation

It hasn't even started and I'm ready for it to be over. Luckily, since I had gone through the design process with Schloegel that part was done. I had to make a few substitutions, but had a firm idea of what I was looking for.

The wood for the cabinets is cherry, with more brown tones than red tones in the finish. The counter tops will be granite in verde butterfly. The hardware is simple and in a bronze-y finish. It's funny that it never occurred to me to go with anything but a brushed nickel finish on the hardware because the hardware in my current kitchen is bronze-y.

Julie finally found me a cork in the color I had originally picked out. For whatever reason, we were having problems finding the brand that I was going to use with Schloegel, but Julie's supplier came through at last with the new samples.
The tile is copper slate with some glass tile accents.

I had purchased a stove and refrigerator three years ago in anticipation of remodeling. Unfortunately, the refrigerator I bought then is HUGE and didn't work well in the design so I am buying a counter-depth one. Since I've found that I don't care for the side-by-side anyway, it wasn't terribly hard to twist my arm for a new one, but so much for my master plan of spreading the costs out a bit. Ah well... I've got the new refrigerator, stove hood and microwave on order.

I purchased the sink online and I kind of wish that I'd gotten a black one instead of the color I did get. I thought from the photo that it was silver, but turned out to be more of a cream. It's pretty, but I wonder if it will stain, but sending it back will be such a pain (though not impossible, I guess). I'm still debating that and it will probably turn into a decision made defacto. The faucet and soap dispenser are the same ones that I originally chose, but I did find it online for quite a lot less than what it would have been at Fergusons. The disposal and airswitch is purchased.
I still need to pick out the light fixtures, but I think I am almost done with those kinds of items. With my short attention span it's no surprise that I'm already tired of the project!

Work was supposed to have started right after Thanksgiving, but when the contractor was here Monday, they said it would be "shortly after" Thanksgiving. This is already starting to make me nervous. I have told them that I really expected them to be done by Christmas. They didn't seem to think that would be a problem, but I am starting to have my doubts.

Get Ready, Get Set.... Get Ready, Get Set....

Before - Stove view

For years I've been convinced that the only thing that was keeping me from being the Next Iron Chef was my 1980's kitchen: no countertop space, no gas range, ugly linoleum flooring. Yes, especially the ugly linoleum. In order to do any job right, one had to have the correct tools and my ugly, inefficient kitchen was not up to snuff.
However, inertia is a powerful thing and kept me immobile for quite a while. Then, it was the economy. Then, it was fear, as my last forays into the remodeling world had been very scary. But, after hours of deprogramming from HGTV remodeling shows, I finally felt ready to make some forward progress.

I went to talk to the folks at Portfolio, a design center just around the corner from my house. That experience set me back. (Details here). When the young designer told me that my cabinets alone (no installation, no hardware, no countertop, no nothing but shelves and drawers) was going to cost $28k, I was back to Square One, since I had gone in with a budget of $25k for the whole remodel. (OK...yes, it was low, but I wanted to test the waters. I sunk like a stone).

Before - Baker's table and pot rack

A couple of years later, I finally got the courage to start again. I had started working out with a group called Team EMG, who was co-owned by Ben Schloegel. One night, our class was held in his dad's design studio, Schloegel Design Remodeling. I think highly of Ben, so I thought I'd give them a whirl.

Donna came up with a great design and was fabulous about helping me pick out materials. We had all the materials nailed down, and I was all set to sign on the dotted line to have a new kitchen by Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, when we got to contract time, her budget and mine weren't coinciding very well. Dang! It was a very disappointed chicky that had to tell the extended family who were coming to KC for Turkey Day, that they would not be cooking in my new gourmet kitchen.

I stewed on it for a few weeks. I wanted to do a little more research and find out if their number was really what it cost. If so, I would just need to save a little longer. If not, maybe a different company was in my future.

A couple of friends had recommended McCartney Cabinets. My only hesitation with them was that while they said they LOVED the cabinets, one of my friends was not very impressed with the subs that did the work. That aside, I gave Bob a call.

Before - Dining Room Entry

When Bob told me that he did all custom cabinetry, my hopes plummeted again. Custom = expensive in my mind. He challenged me by telling me that he was competitve with the box cabinets and when he provided his bid, he truly was. One visit to his showroom was all the convincing I needed, as his work was incredible. And, the design options they had avialable within their four walls was amazing.

So, I have signed this time and sadly, neither of us felt that we wanted to take the risk of having it done by Thanksgiving (it MIGHT have been possible, but it was iffy), so my family will still have to deal with the bad linoleum one more holiday. I should be enjoying my new granite countertops, cherry cabinetry and cork flooring by Christmas, tho!

A few false starts, but we are well on our way to ...GO!