{State of the Kitchen} Tying Up Loose Ends

I've had people ask me if I'm enjoying my new kitchen and I reply "I'm starting to". There are still times when I have flashbacks to last summer & just get angry. So I'm not there yet, but it's definitely getting there! It's time to tie up loose ends and just be completely done with it.  I still have to have the walls & ceiling painted, but those people are out of my house.
Here is a tour of my kitchen:

1. Pantry Cabinet

I wanted someplace to put my microwave so it wouldn't take up space on my countertop. The shelf is reinforced to hold the weight. The 3 shelves where I store my small appliances (mixer, toaster, breadmaker, slow cooker, electric skillet) roll out. 

2. Drawer

I bought some bamboo dividers to put in the drawer to separate my knives and other utensils. 

3. Pot Cabinet

2 shelves that slide out independently of each other.

Racks on both sides hold the lids.

4.  Blind Corner Cabinet

2 shelves pull out of the cabinet.

Those 2 shelves slide over to reveal 2 more shelves.

Those 2 shelves slide out for easy access. 

Now for the other side of the kitchen:

5.  Utensil drawer

Double-decker partitions for different utensils. The top slides back to reveal the bottom.

6.  Pan cabinet

Cookie sheets, racks, and cutting boards are stored here.

7. Spice Cabinet

All of the doors have the soft close feature, except for the spice cabinet.  I like having my pantry redone (seen just behind the spice cabinet). I have plenty of space; in fact, I have a couple of cabinets with not a lot in them. Especially the lazy susan; I have very little in there because I just don't know what to put in there. 

I'm still trying to get used to having the oven under the stove instead of on the other side of the kitchen. And, I'm still trying to remember where I put some things! 

I really like the undercabinet lighting, although it is just a tad too bright. We haven't had a dimmer put on yet, so it's rare when I have all of the lights on at one time. I do love coming home and seeing my kitchen when I come up the stairs, especially when it's clean. 

As I said, I still have to have my ceiling and walls painted. One of my sisters suggested painting the open area a sage green and the area where the cabinets are the same color as the grout.  I just have to call the lady I want to do it, set it up, buy the paint, and let her get to work.  Once that's done, there will be more pictures!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 16: I Can Touch the Light!

I can touch the light!

Can you believe it? I know I can't! I thought this day would never get here.
I had a friend who tiles for a living do our backsplash. That was the 1 thing in this whole project that went off without a glitch. Ben did such an amazing job:

I decided to go ahead and tile around the window.

We did a good job picking out the tile!

I wasn't sure how to pick out the grout; we actually went with a darker grout than the designer recommended.

We thought the countertop was put in without anything going wrong, but we were mistaken. The light caught the corner of the sink just right for me to notice this:

Milky spot in the countertop

It was hard to get a good picture of the spot.

This is a better view of the spot.

It's hard to see in the pictures, but there's a "milky" spot. When I first saw it I thought maybe something they used to put in the sink got on the countertop. I used my granite cleaner but it didn't come off. I sent the pictures to the designer at Home Depot. She said she sent them on to the countertop people, but as of Wed.  evening (when I'm writing this)I haven't heard anything. (Big surprise, huh?)  Ben (my tile friend) said he thought they could just buff it out.

Monday, I plugged up my coffee maker, but it didn't come on. I plugged it into the lower receptacle, and it worked. AND, when I turned on the garbage disposal, it didn't come on. CH got it to come on by flipping the switch quickly. I emailed the contractor & the electrician came by yesterday afternoon. The electrician said that the outlet where I put the coffeemaker was bad. He said that he had some bad ones mixed in, and we got a bad one. REALLY??? He also replaced the switch for the garbage disposal, so that's all good now.

So...what's left? I sent these pictures to the designer and asked her if this is what the corners were supposed to look like:

I thought they looked unfinished. She said that they should have carried the toekick all the way to the edge. That will have to be fixed. Also, apparently there are some touch-ups that have to be done. And then they should be done. 

We have some boxes of trim, doors, and tile that need to go back. One of my sisters asked if the contractor will take those back or if we will need to. I told her I didn't want the contractor to take them; I want to make sure we get credit for bringing them back. Oh, and one thing needs to go back that just breaks my heart:

I was told the cookbook holder wouldn't fit since I have undercabinet lights. We haven't double-checked, though. I'm thinking it's a possibility that they just didn't want to mess with it.
We decided to not push the strip in the ceiling. CH said that it is textured, it just needs to be painted. Since we're planning on having the walls painted, we'll have our handyman guy paint the ceiling as well.
We've resolved ourselves to the fact that we're probably going to have to fix the seam in our floor by ourselves.

Not quite "turn key"

I am absolutely in love with how my kitchen looks. I knew it would be beautiful, and it certainly is!

It turned to to be as beautiful as I thought it would.

I'm extremely happy with how it looks

{State of the Kitchen} Part 15: The Light is Brighter

We're a couple of steps closer to being finished!

We have countertops! And crown molding!!! Monday, I was given a 2:00-4:00 window for the countertop installation, so I left work a little early to make sure I would be home when the countertop people arrived. When 4:00 came and went, I called the office at 4:10 to find out what was going on and was told that their first job of the day ran over. I told the woman that it would have been nice if someone had called me since I left work early and my last 2 groups of students missed Speech Therapy that day. Of course she said she apologized and that they would be at the house after 6:00. And they were. 7:30 is after 6:00, right? They finished up around 10:00...about an hour after my bedtime. I was honestly about to cry. If they didn't make it on Monday, it was going to throw the plumber (who came yesterday) off schedule.

After having the missing trim on the floor for a week, it was installed on Tuesday! CG2 installed the trim and the crown molding.

How the kitchen looked Tues. night.

He also made a frame for the microwave, moved the upper pullout down, and installed the remaining one. He drilled a hole in the shelf for the microwave cord as well. 

I was able to gain a little more storage with the additional pullout...perfect for my really small appliances!

The plumber was at my house waiting for me when I got home yesterday. He hooked up the sink, disposal, and dishwasher.

It's a real, honest to goodness sink & faucet!

Oh, but that wasn't without something going wrong. A clamp was missing from the disposal so he had to buy another one.  We looked around for it but couldn't find it.  I guess that's par for the course, because we're also missing the panel for the dishwasher:

Will they, or won't they find a panel?

I asked CG2 about it, and he said it had to be around somewhere, but it's nowhere to be found. I told him it was there when the project started, and said I wondered if something happened to it during demo. Just more sloppy management. 

My friend will get started on the backsplash on Saturday, and then we'll have someone come in and paint the walls and ceiling. And then we'll have our house back...finally!

Wed. night's photo: We bought a dimmer switch for the undercabinet lighting to achieve the "ambience" I' was expecting; we  CH hasn't put it in yet.

The sink is IN!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 14: Same Ol' Same Ol'

Yep, this is what my kitchen still looks like. The missing piece arrived at my house on Friday, and I promptly texted the contractor to let him know. He said he would check with CG2 to see if he could come out one day next week (which is this week) to finish up. It is now 8:41 on Wednesday night, and I haven't had a text or a cabinet guy.
I called the countertop people on Tuesday to find out when they would be ready to make my appointment. The lady said that I was the next person on their list to call (isn't that a coincidence...yeah, like that's likely), and she made my appointment for Monday afternoon. I texted the contractor to let him know, because they have to come out and remove the temporary sink so the real sink can be installed. It's now 8:43 on Wed. night and I haven't received a text or call.
I forwarded the same text to the contractor (so he would have it again) as well as the Home Depot store manager. Yep, 8:44 pm on Wed. and no response.
I emailed the owner of the contract company, the manager at Home Depot, and the Kitchen Designer (who probably isn't working today) and included a screenshot of the texts from last Friday through today. Which means they are seeing 3 texts: 2 from me & 1 from the contractor saying he would get back with me.
I have a huge concern that the countertop people are going to show up on Monday to install my countertops and won't be able to because of the contract company. Then there's the concern about the strip in the ceiling (which I'm pretty sure we're going to have to fix on our own) and the piece of dishwasher that's missing.
Something has gone very right lately in the way of construction, but it has nothing to do with the kitchen. Last week I posted a picture of the wall that had finally given way and fallen.

The wall that finally gave way. It was cracked when we bought the house, so we knew it was just a matter of time.

I got in touch with a brick mason we know, and he came over fairly quickly to look at it and give us a quote. I had the quote that night, and CH & I discussed whether we wanted another wall put up, or if we just wanted the brick repaired. We decided to go ahead with the wall.

A footer was poured around the wall.

This guy is a very hard worker and wants to make sure he does things correctly. What a breath of fresh air after what we've been through with the kitchen!

Cement block wall to support the brick wall.

I think it looks great, and he said he wasn't quite done yet. He's coming back this morning to finish up and clean up.

The brick doesn't match exactly, but the house brick is no longer made. The brick on the wall that fell didn't match exactly, either, which makes me think it was added after the house was built.

It looks much better than the original wall!

This guy has pride in his work, and is extremely professional. Like a said...a breath of fresh air!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 13: A Light...Definitely a Light!

I can feel the finish line!

It's almost done...it's really almost done! The utility cabinet, last wall cabinet, and wine cubby were put in on Monday, along with (most of) the trim. I say "most of" because apparently someone didn't measure correctly, or enough pieces weren't ordered. As has been par for the course, something didn't go right.

There are still a few concerns.

A piece of trim is missing (in the red circle), so they'll have to come back again. I'm still wondering if they're going to finish fixing the strip in the ceiling (see the arrows).  You can see in the pictures that the boxes laying around are dwindling, so it feels like we're about to have our house back.

The utility cabinet with small appliances.

The utility cabinet has 3 drawers, but he only put in 2. CH is thinking that the shelf can go up a couple of notches, then the top drawer can be moved up a little, leaving some room for the 3rd drawer to be installed. I don't know why he didn't consult with CH (who worked from home that day so they could finish up) before he put the top drawer in, but he didn't.

The wine cubby!

Another view. I'm not sure where the missing piece to the dishwasher is, but I hope they find it, or replace it. (See the purple arrow!)

The electrician is coming this afternoon to put in the pendant lights, undercabinet lights, and finish the outlets.

The contractor told me that he spoke with the countertop people. They said that the hold up was because I had to decide whether to make the granite behind the range all 1 piece, or have 1 piece behind the range and a piece on either side. I told the lady that I wanted 3 pieces since she said I was asking for a disaster if I had it all 1 piece. She said that it could break easily before they installed it, so I told her 3 pieces. Then, the designer emailed me about the situation, and I told her I wanted 3 pieces. THEN, a couple of days later, someone from Home Depot called and asked me the same thing. So, no. It wasn't my fault...it was poor communication on HD's part. Anyway, they're supposed to call Friday to make an appointment for installation.
The never-ending kitchen reno looks like it's coming to an end. FINALLY.
Oh, but wait. This happened over the weekend:

When we bought the house, there was a crack in the wall, so we knew we'd eventually have to have it replaced. Over the past few months, we knew it was about to come down. Last week, I had someone give us an estimate on taking it down and rebuilding it. And then, over the weekend, the wall tumbled down.  The guy came yesterday and took the rest of it down. Now the rebuilding begins! The joys of an older home!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 12: Whole Lot of Nuttin'

What a mess.

A whole lot of nuttin' went on in the house this past week since nothing could be done until the last wall cabinet came in. It's in and will be delivered this afternoon. As of Wed. night, I haven't received a call from the countertop people to schedule installation. I was really hoping everything (except the backsplash) would be done by the end of next week, but now I'm not very hopeful.
The pictures above show what we're living in. The doors on the left side are the rough ones; we're not sure why they're still in our kitchen. The boxes on the right are the trim and crown molding. There are a couple of drawers that were replaced hanging out there, too.
I have to admit: last Friday I was pretty down about having everything that belongs in my kitchen strewn around my house. I'm not a big fan of clutter, and right now my house is one big clutter fest.  When I took everything out of the cabinets, I just put them in totes and boxes, thinking it was just going to be a few weeks before I'd be able to put them back in the cabinets. Yet, here we are, 8 weeks later, and I still have stuff in totes all around the house.
I decided to go ahead and do what I could...which wasn't much. I put some pans and cutting boards in my pan cabinet.

I put some things in the pan cabinet.

I also bought a couple of things to organize a couple of drawers:

Top drawer of pantry; I'm debating about ordering another set of these for the drawer.

Slide out utensil organizer: I can't put anything in it because the countertop isn't in.

I felt a little better after taking Saturday to clean the house a bit and reorganize some of the totes. Not as good as I'll feel when it's all done, but...!!!!

I've used the oven a few times, and last night we took the plunge & used the dishwasher for the first time. After the washing machine debacle, I was a bit wary of using the dishwasher, but I knew it needed to be done.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer!