It's been a while but we're almost done!
The project has come to the best conclusion thus far....I love to cook in my new kitchen, chat with my main man or friends in the dining room while cooking and overall enjoy the new look! So what if there are a few replacement parts on the way and the drawer my husband broke is on order...it is a usable beautiful space at long last. I guess we'll stay a few more years since it is like buying a new home without moving anywhere (except boxes up and downstairs).
Pictures speak louder, so quiet am I and here they are...
Transformations...take time
Contentment, satisfaction, excitement, pride, joy, and of course, relief!
Basically we have a kitchen that looks Marvelous! The only things missing are an oven, the finishing of the hard wood floors and of course all the touch up painting. The oven turned out to be damaged so the supplier was trying to find a replace because, don't you know, the version I picked has been remodelled and is now bigger (thus probably wouldn't fit). But the good news is that they had one and will be here TOMORROW to install it. 
We have the lights mostly installed in the living and dining room areas. We just want/need to tweak them a little so I haven't had the right setting to photograph them. The floors will, hopefully, be done by Memorial day. Woo hoo!!!
Time to vent
Well after a month plus, we are closer but now also far from finishing. We have hit the proverbial road block just when things were looking so promising. It seems we have a conflict of interests in the installation of appliances. The ones we thought would do it all now say they generally only install replacement of existing appliances not into new construction and the other contractor originally hadn't planned to do it for us and is now very busy with other jobs. What a shame.
It may be a while before we have more pictures but we are hoping to work out an agreeable arrangement between whatever entities can get the job done. My biggest disappointment is that I had really believed we would have a functioning, albeit incomplete, kitchen by this weekend! Boo hoo! But this is teaching me to patient and respectful so that the job still gets done well.
Stay tuned.
And now to top it all off...
We've got countertops!! Boy, do they make a nice finishing touch. Well, "almost finishing" per se, since we still have a few more things to complete...like, installing appliances, install backsplash and light bar, finish the floors and install dining/living room lighting. It is hard to capture the color at night but here's a sample photo.
But Tom was so excited he had to get into the act as well...he's playing under the counter!
It's starting to look like a kitchen
We are more than half way done with this project with only a few very important stages left to complete. The hard part has been once one step is completed we then wait before another one can begin. But at least now it looks really promising. Next, the countertop finally arrives on Wednesday! Then all those appliances can be put in the rightful places. Yah hoo!
Boxes, Boxes, and well, more boxes
The cabinets are here all the way from Germany! YEA!! Better news is that the appliances are here too, all the way from...Laurel? Anyway, it is exciting to know we have reached a big milestone with the very efficient and timely deliveries on Friday. The first truck arrived at 8:30 promptly, Rebecca from Konst arrived by 9:00 to check the cabinets in as they were brought in the house, and the appliances arrived by 9:45. We were all done by 10 am. Pretty good when the window for deliveries were 8-12.
Above is a picture of one of the cabinet delivery men...Unfortunately, I misdirected them on where to put the boxes but I'm sure it will work out in the end. We only have so much room to put things anyway. This weekend we tried to rearrange to make more working space for the installer.
It also turned out we didn't really need the mini wall to attach plumbing, electric or the cabinets. So, our man of many talents, Alex, came to the rescue on Saturday (on HIS weekend) to take it out. Now were ready for the install on Monday. In the meantime, check out our slightly crowded 'dining/kitchen' areas...
This one is too dark, this one is too yellow...
I think we have found the biggest stumbling block in our whole kitchen project...what color, tone and shade to repaint ONE wall. You'd think it wouldn't be so hard, but when you have something in mind it isn't always quick to translate (especially in colors and paint). So after several various shades and different colors we've narrowed the field. Question: How many quarts does it take to make a long term commitment to one wall? So far, 5.
Which one do you like, she asks? And yes, there really is a tonal difference between the two on the left.
