Order Up!

This morning brought back memories of working the line at a local Newport,RI breakfast establishment. I made pancakes for my daughter CJ for her lunch. I used the griddle burner of the new stove. Tonight we will have Chicken Devine as the first real meal in the new kitchen.

I can see the light

Really I can see the light, all the ceiling lights have been installed. The recesed lights no-longer are hanging. The island track lighting has been installed (may want to trim the track a little, but will wait). The little spotlight over the sink and all the under cabinet lighting is in. Half of the cabinet door hardware is installed.

Appliances

The stove is in place and the power has been connected. The gas person will stop by and make the final connection for the stove and run the gas line test.

The dishwasher is in place, still need electrical hookup and a plumbing adjustments.

The fridge has been moved from the living room and is now in the kitchen and will be up and running tomorrow. The counter outlets, under cabinet lighting, ceiling can linghting and island lighting will also be installed tomorrow. Then we can take all the blue plastic wrap off the dishwasher and fridge.

I asked my daughter CJ what she wanted for her first real home cooked meal and she voted for Chicken Devine instead of Pizza for friday movie night. I guess even teenagers can get tired of pizza after 10 plus weeks. Complete project photos and before and after slide show will follow later this week.

Backsplash

The installation is complete except for the grout work. The stove hood has been installed and the propane tank and line have been installed, they couldn't hook up the stove because the power outlet in not installed. Tomorrow the backsplash will be grouted and the dishwasher and sink plumbing will be installed.

Backsplash tile is finally in.

Next week should be the last week. The backsplash tile is in. I have light fixtures for the island and over the sink. The gas man should be able to install the line mid next week.

I have painted most of the dining room. I took the kitchen/hallway color and painted it above the chair rail. I painted the chair rail and window trim the same trim color as the kitchen trim. Then I painted below the chair rail a darker color. I also painted the ceiling so that the hallway transition looks much better. I will have to paint the wall between the kitchen and dining room after the contractor fixes a crack in the wall. Yes, I know I need a new light fixture.

Counters are In

The counters are in, and look great. Now the only major thing is to wait for the backsplash tiles to be in.

Counters, Finally!!

The last two weeks have been slow, we have been waiting for the counter/installers to be available. But some progress has been made. The light rails have been installed.

All the trim work and ceiling has been painted. The first coat of paint is on the small area of wall in the kitchen not covered by cabinets and tile. The backsplash tile should be in on friday, if all goes well the backsplash will be installed next monday.

The hallway area has been painted the same color as the kitchen and the hallway closet has been painted ceiling white (its only been 20+ years since the closet hase ever been painted). I am planning to run the kitchen color into the dining room, either above the chair rail or below the chair rail, then I will paint the other area a lighter color. I also plan to paint the window trim and chair rail the same color as the kitchen trim.

Today the counters are going to be installed. It should make a big difference in the look of the kitchen. The propane service person came yesterday, and will get back to me with the cost of the new service install. I think we will go with the additonal grill switch box to make summer grilling a little easier, no more opps the grill tank is empty.

Cabinet Hardware

I ordered hardware for the cabinet doors special ordered from Lowes. I need 53 pulls! I dont think I realized just how many cabinets we will have in the new kitchen. I was hopping that lowes had some longer ones that matched there every-day ones (6 inch ones were only 4.00) but even they looked the similar, the depth was different.

The are similar to the one in the photo. The ones for the bottom the tall cabinets are 13 inches and the rest are 5 3/4 inches.

The Crown

The molding is in place. WOW! I cant believe how nice it looks. What a different look with the molding. Thanks to SG's work on squaring up the room and KG for the hard work in making things look great.

I think we have a winner for the backsplash tile. I am not sure what type of stone it is, but its from the Mordern Mythology line by crossville inc. Its a 2x4 inch stone tile (the one next to the counter sample). Not sure if we will add any details (kind of like the dark rounded bullnose strip, it also comes in a 2x4 in that same color) but still thinking about it. This photo is not that great, the counter material is not rally that dark.

The counter people are comming next week to template the counter, island and desk area.

I also picked out a realy cool looking sink faucet.

Now we need to work on the paint.

The cabinets are almost all installed. Only the island needs to be fixed in place.

View from hallway area, notice NO POLE!! View from living room area.

Now if we could decide on what to use for th backsplash. I like this glass tile that has a slight coke bottle green look. My daughter likes a hand painted subway tile.

More cabinets installed

The wall of 12 inch deep cabinets have been installed.

Lots of boxes still reside in the living room.

Cabinets Arrived

The cabinets have arrived, they have taken up residence with the appliances in the living room. The base cabinets along the window wall have been installed.

Floor completed

The floor is completed and looks great. NO more pink!! The cabinets are being delivered today and work on the base cabinets will begin today. Hopefully we can make the decision on the backsplash this weekend.

Floor Tile

The floor tile is going down and is about half way completed. The reset of the appliances arrived today and are sitting in the living room(aka video game room).

Plaster

Before drywall and plaster!

After drywall and plaster!

The walls and ceiling have been plastered. The patched area in the hallway between the bathroom and dining room looks great, it should not be visible after the ceiling is painted. (Thanks to CJ, my 14 year old daughter who showed me how to edit the html to add photobucket gif .images)

March SNOW

The drywall was completed last end of last week. The plastering was going to be done today but we had around 10 inches of snow last night and the town didnt plow until after 1:00 pm.

Week 5 - New coverings

The drywall of the ceiling is done, the heat duct has been moved and 2 walls have drywall inplace. Its starting to look more like a room and less like a disaster area. The kitchen are is so much brighter already, we orginally only had 3 recessed lights, now we have 8, and there will be lighting over the island area as well.

I have been looking at lighting options for the island. I think I like the idea of a 3 light pendant. I found one at Lowes, and they have may different globes to pick from.

Week - 4

The ceiling furring strips have been leveled and the wall by the window has also been squared up. The new entry door is in place and the plumbing should be done this week or early next week.

New Header In Place

The kitchen looks so much larger without the @#$* poll. All the rough electrical work has been done. We discovered that the dining room walls have a layer of drywall, then paneling, then another layer of drywall. We think that the room was a bedroom, then maybe a den then a dining room, but who knows. At some point in the future when we replace the windows in that room, we may take down all the drywall and re-do the whole room (and check the outer walls to see if the original builder's work is as bad as the kitchen walls).

Week - 3 Poll Removed

Worked continues on leveling out the floor. The poll between the kitchen and dining room has been removed and temporary walls have been put up. They will be replaced with a new header sometime tomorrow. The contractor found several more construction "flaws". See in the photo the electrical lines were running thru the center of the old header. Also one of the wall 2x4's was resting on just plywood with no support.

The electrician will be in tomorrow to replace all the old outlets and install the new recessed lighting. I still have to pick out the lighting for the island and over the sink.

The new window and outside door are in and should be installed by end of the week.

Wall - Floor Repair

The wall where the window has been repaired and leveled. The electrician will be in on wednesday of next week to do all the electircal work. The work on leveling the floor is being done today.

I received word that all the cabinets are in. They wait time was originally 6 weeks, then 4 weeks, but they finished in 2 1/2 weeks.

All appliances are in as well. I have picked up the range hood so the venting work can be done. The range, fridge and dishwasher will be delivered when the contractor is ready for them.

Week - 2 More Snow

The floor at the center of the kitchen is about an inch below the rest to the floor. This week they are going to raise the center to level it out. Also, we have noticed while doing other home improvements that the original builders of the house took some short cuts. Some were not to bad, others were well, not so good. The wall where the window is located needs some re-building, its looks like the builders took some not so up to code short cuts, Hopefully this work can be completed this week and we can get back on schedule.

Side Note:
I think that I have had enough of this snow. At this rate we will not be able to get out on the golf course until sometime in March.

Week - 1 Completed

Week 1 is done. All major destruction has occured. Next week should start with electrical, plumbing and maybe removing the stupid poll between the kitchen and dining room. Appliances have been ordered and will be scheduled for delivery as they are needed.

Day 4 - No More Pink Tile.

Day 3 - SNOW DAY

Cabinets - Update.

Cainets are now scheduled to arrive the week of Feb 9,2009.

Day 2 - More destruction

Day 2 - The Rafter Exposed.

Day 1 - Demo Begins

Kitchen - Before Photos Slide-Show

Kitchen - Cleanup

The cabinets are empty, the microwave, coffee maker, toaster are setup in the living room and all the dishes and dry food-stuff are packed away into the basement. A large pot of chili has been made and will server as dinner for several nights. We are suppose to have access to the stove for at least the rest of the week, but just in case the chili will be very yummy even if its warmed up in the microwave.

Kitchen - Before Photo

Kitchen - Remodel Begins

After 20 years of thinking about it, 1 year of really planning and 4 months of tile,cabinet,hardware shopping we are finally going to re-model our kitchen. It hard to believe that we have lived with the same 70's style, bottom of the line stock cabinets, yellow laminte counter top (not really sure what the real color was) and cheap pink/grey tiles (only thing we could afford when we bought the house) for so long. Demo starts on monday , I think that an empty kitchen will look better that what is currently there. If all goes according to plan, the whole process should be complete in 7 weeks. I will be posting pictures of the whole process.