Kitchen Complete!

Before I try to show off what a gorgeous new kitchen I have, I'd like to take a timeout for a flashback to our old kitchen.

Everybody got that? That's my old 50's kitchen. Let me point out some of the period features. There's the salmon colored tile backsplash which was also used to do a tile countertop. Oh those lovely grout lines on a countertop which are basically impossible to clean. You can't miss the in-the-wall chrome faucet which towards the end of its life had been developing a tendency to spray water out across the sink due to some aging gaskets. There's the dated cabinets with oversized wood handles and a stained finish which had seen better days. I have to point out the pitiful excuse of a pantry to the left of the stove. The single unit was two feet deep so we could either cram it full and not be able to find anything or be able to find things but run out of room to store our dry goods. Of course there is the redeeming feature of the monster white enameled stove. I do miss that stove just a tiny bit.

Our kitchen has actually been usable since last Wednesday. That's when we started lining all the drawers with clear contact paper (on a friend's suggestion) to protect them from unavoidable splatters that seep in. After that, we had to do a thorough cleaning now that the contractors wouldn't be back to just mess it all up again. After all that, we got around to unpacking items so we could get our heads around where everything would go and how many organizer items to pick up. And now it's Monday night and we're finally done. I went to the trouble of busting out the fancy camera for these pictures so I hope you enjoy them.

First off, we put in this six-burner slide-in range with cast-iron continuous grates, a vitroceramic sealed cooktop surface, and, of course, electric starters. The clicking of the starters is like music to my ears. On top of that, we installed a 600CFM vent hood which should easily suck all the excess heat and smoke out of the kitchen and maybe even small animals. Behind all this, we've got a sheet of stainless steel backsplash which should wipe clean and, best of all, has no grout lines.

I picked out a 36" wide double bowl under-mount farmhouse sink and paired it with a gooseneck faucet with a pull out spout to wash down the furthest nooks and crannies.

We added a dishwasher into the kitchen where there was none before and picked up a much larger French-door, bottom freezer refrigerator unit. It has an in-the-door filtered water dispenser and more space than I know what to do with at the moment. And it makes ice -- a luxury I haven't had since probably before I left for college.

We installed a small peninsula area with bar stools for guests (or me) to grab a seat in the kitchen. It also makes a great staging area for dishes while cooking.

Our cabinet maker built us these cabinets to serve as our pantry. The shallow cabinets are perfect for storing items and not losing them into the back. The larger unit has L-shaped shelves which are also very reach friendly. Since these were custom built, we're making use of every inch of available space and it shows. Once we loaded up our pantry items, we found the shelves could probably hold three times more yet keep it all twice as accessible as our old pantry.

I made one concession to Travis in the design of the entire kitchen in the form of the beer bottle opener I bought him for his birthday last year. The bottle cap catch is a classic Shiner beer can. I do like the convenience of using it and it adds just a little bit of quirkiness.

I love the plethora of drawers in the kitchen for organizing things like all of my spices. There's a perfect pair of small drawers to which we added some dividers. Yes I do in fact alphabetize my spices. It makes me happy. Don't judge me.

Here's our wall-oven/microwave unit. I love saving the counter space by having the microwave built into the cabinets. Both units have a convection mode. The oven also has a bread proofing mode and a built in temperature probe. We had our cabinet maker build in slats in the cabinet above the oven so we could store all our cookie sheets and cutting boards. He put in these removable ones that snap into guides screwed to the bottom and back of the unit.

And the grand finale of some overall shots of the entire kitchen so you can see all the pieces together.

End to end, this took 6 weeks of construction time, something closer to 6 months if you consider planning time. I'll try to take a break from remodeling now. Famous last words.

Some windows that are easy on the eyes

Part of the kitchen remodel required us to replace the 2 existing windows. One had to be moved down about a foot while the other had to shrink in height and width to accommodate the new cabinet layout. We ordered new double-pane, argon filled, vinyl windows to replace the drafty old aluminum ones. At the same time, we ordered up replacement windows (of the same double-pane, argon-filled, white vinyl variety) for the rest of the house. They arrived last Friday and the crew came by on Saturday to make quick work of the install.

The installation was pretty interesting to watch so I thought I'd share that. Note that this only applies to replacement windows. We also had our sliding door replaced and that's a far more complex beast than doing the windows.

First you have to remove the old windows. Since we were installing replacement windows, the frame of the window would be saying in place. The hinged panels of the casement windows simply have to be cut off with a reciprocating saw. The remaining fixed pane is scored with a rolling glass cutter and gently hammered to crack it into small pieces and tossed out. The aluminum center strip is also cut off. They hammer the frame to shake off any loose glazing still left on the outside of the window but there's no need to actually remove it all. When viewed from inside the house, you can only see a 3/4 inch aluminum strip running around the perimeter of the window.

Once all the windows are removed, we install. The replacement windows were measured and manufactured to slip just inside of the aluminum frame. They're simply lifted into place and pressed flush with the outside wall.  From the insides, they're screwed to the left, top, and right frames. From the inside, they look like they're floating in the hole where the old window was with the aluminum frame still visible all around.

Caulking is added around the outside perimeter of the window. A sealing foam is put around the inside perimeter. To cover up the gap where you can still see the aluminum frame, some vinyl strips are installed and caulked for a good seal.  And by Saturday afternoon, I had some gorgeous new windows.

We're so close I can almost taste victory

Victory may seem like a strong word to describe completing our "hands-off" kitchen remodel. I admit -- it's a bit of an exaggeration but only a little bit. Putting up with the stream of strangers traipsing through my house, the interminable dust, and that feeling of helplessness that gnaws at me because I've delegated the responsibility of orchestrating this remodel to someone else -- well it's a constant battle for me. On top of that, I'm just so sick of eating takeout and foods that can be prepared in a microwave and/or toaster oven. I don't know how some people manage to eat out every night. There are just days when I want to make myself a simple bowl of pasta and end up feeling defeated that I can't. The end of this remodel means relief to me as much as anything else.

Our tile started going in at the beginning of this week. The floor tile went in on Monday and was grouted Tuesday.

Unfortunately, most of the floor is covered up right now as they started my backsplash today. The only shot I could manage was the above area that will run underneath our refrigerator. The lighter floor tile contrasts well with the dark countertops and dark cabinets. We chose a "multi-pinwheel" pattern done with 2 sizes of square tile (size and quarter size*). We felt it gave a nice semi-random look to the floor without being particularly complicated to install. Also, given the galley kitchen's limited floor space, a truly random pattern with large slabs of tile may have just looked awkward.

Our eagerly anticipated backsplash tile arrived yesterday and, thankfully, the tile guys wasted no time getting back in the house to put it up. We did this yellow checkerboard pattern with a runner of black glass tile detail to tie back into the rest of the kitchen.

Almost all of the backsplash was finished today. There's only about 5 pieces of tile around this stainless steel backsplash left to be installed. The tile guys put in some temporary screws to hold the stainless sheet in place until it set up so opted to hold off the last few pieces until tomorrow. This stainless sheet will be directly behind our cooktop. The exhaust hood will be going in right where the sheet stops. We're getting all stainless steel appliances so I wanted something to tie together the stainless theme and the backsplash. That and it's miles easier to clean than tile + grout. I'm a big fan of designing-for-utility.

Tomorrow, we should be getting the grout (Bright White). Next Monday, they'll seal everything -- floor and backsplash. Tuesday and Wednesday, they plan to trim out the electrical work and install my appliances. So it looks like by Wednesday night, I'll have my kitchen back in working condition!

*Or is it "half size". I think it's quarter size as "size" describes an area and the tiles are 1:4 ratio in terms of area. However, Travis thinks it's half size as when people describe the size of a tile, they give it as a height by width measurement like 6 by 6 or 12 by 12 or 8 by 13. Since 6 is half of 12, he argues it's a half size. Anyway, I think you get the point. But more importantly, do you really care so much about my musings that you read the asterisks post script about how to describe tile sizes or are you just blindly reading text on the page? :-)

Hot piece of ... slab?

We've been in something of a holding pattern since the last post. With the cabinets in, the countertop people came by to template and things have slowed down while they sliced up our granite. We got some paint and lights put in in the meantime but it wasn't quite worth the fanfare of a post (read "I was lazy").

We talked to our contractor at the beginning of the week and asked him to give us a heads up once an install date was scheduled as we were letting Pixie -- henceforth referred to as My Dumb Dog for reasons that will very shortly become obvious -- run loose in the house during the day. We heard from him on Tuesday that the install was scheduled for Friday. I decided My Dumb Dog would go to work with me on Friday since I haven't taken her in a while and it would be a little treat for her. Besides my office-mate has been asking after her and obviously wanted her to drop by.

Then I get a call from Travis around 11am this morning about how the countertop people had had a cancellation and were at the house right now! My only reaction was, "But My Dumb Dog is loose!" Travis reassured me that all was well as she's time and again proven to be a big weenie and had run out into the backyard. Our contractor blocked her doggie door with a board while they worked and would removed it when he left. No big deal. Except that My Dumb Dog jumps at every chance to prove how slow she really is -- she never realized she could come back into the house. So when Travis came home at night and called for her, she slooowwwly poked her head back in the doggie door and looked around until she spotted Travis and raced back inside.

Alright that's enough story-telling. Here's what our newly installed countertops look like!

The color is "Cosmic Black". Travis picked out the actual slabs and is very proud of himself for finding a lot with lots of "movement" (that's an industry term).

I'm really loving the white farmhouse sink contrasting against the countertops and cabinets. And FYI, the faucet isn't installed yet which is why it looks like it's going to fall over.

Some of the lighting we added was task lighting into the little alcoves framing the windows.

A view of the little peninsula seating area.