Our Kitchen is Finished

I can't believe it. Yesterday, Grant came for the last time to complete the few details that needed to get done. He worked for four hours in the morning, and I spent the afternoon filling the hutch and emptying the last of the boxes. The end arrived just as I am getting ready to go back to school. The timing was great. Here are some shots of our brand new kitchen from several different angles.

The shelf above the island was put in yesterday. I ordered the corbels to match my cabinets, but I bought a piece of old cypress for the shelf. 

Close up

The hutch has been attached the wall.

One of My Favorite Things

Sometimes it is the little things that make life so satisfying. I am in love with the self closing glides that I got on all my drawers. I also have roll outs on the base cabinets. Even the roll outs have self closing glides. I don't know if I will get such a kick opening and closing drawers in three years, but I sure do right now.

Kitchen 99% Done

This is the view that you see if you are between the refrigerator and the sink. I know that I made the right decision about painting the door. We love how the kitchen opens to the patio, lots of light and lots of green. 

This is the view that you get if you were standing in front of the back door. See the wooden chopping block on the island, that is one of Steve's favorite purchases.

That skinny triangle that you see is not in front of the cabinet on the far left. It is actually hanging from the ceiling fan pull. It just looks like it is on the cabinet in the picture. 

Here is another view of the island. I have an old cypress board that is going to be used as a shelf above the island along the side wall of the refrigerator. That is one of the 1% that needs to be completed. 

Almost There, But Not Done Yet

The trim was completed yesterday. Everyone thought that I was crazy to paint the back door, as it still was the varnished wood. The door was in such bad shape. I am happy with the outcome. 

I am still waiting for some molding to arrive. When it does, Grant can come back and finish the last little things. Attaching the hutch to the wall is a little thing for him, but a big thing for me. Once it is secure, I can start emptying the last of the boxes. 

Crown Molding

The crown molding went in yesterday. It really pulls it all together. 

The walls have been painted. The color is called amazing gray.

More Pieces and Parts are Completed

The cup pulls went on the drawers last week. What a difference it made to be able to open and close the drawers. I spent last weekend unpacking a majority of the boxes that were stacked in the dining room. Yeah!!!! The dining room is almost back to the way it was without all the boxes and the three extra bookshelves.

Years ago my in-laws treated us to three pine bookshelves that we put in the kitchen to use as pantry space, for books, and spill over for glasses and such. Our intention was to move the bookshelves into the second bedroom when we redid the kitchen. It took a lonnnnnng time before we could redo the kitchen. Now, we have finally rid ourselves of the mis-matched bookcases that use to live in the second bedroom and have three matching sets of shelves.

I love the big bank of drawers that I have on either side of the stove, so no more pots and pans hanging over  the kitchen sink. If you don't know where something goes, you can say, "there's a drawer for that."

The window over the sink got trimmed out yesterday.

Close-up of the new window. 

Once it gets painted, it is going to look great!

Backsplash Completed

After writing the last post about the refrigerator, I looked at the blog and realized that I had never posted pictures with the backsplash complete with grout. We cooked in the kitchen yesterday for the first time. I made a batch of brownies, and Steve made a homemade pizza for dinner. We used the dishwasher for the first time, too.

Contractor Has Not Worked Since June 30th

We have really turned a corner. There was a lot of activity early last week, but I did not post any pictures because the work was all finish work that isn't flashy. We did get our new fridge on Friday. 

Here are some pictures:

Getting the fridge into the kitchen was quite a chore. The delivery men had to take the doors off to get the fridge through the front gate. Turning the corner to get down the side of the house was another chore. They were not fazed by any of the obstacles, and it really didn't take them very long for the whole process. We compromised and got water and ice on the door. It was a feature that we really didn't want. The water line has a filter which is a feature we did want.  We won't have ice in the ice maker until the wall behind the fridge gets painted and the water line is hooked up. I will not miss having to fill trays if I want ice.

Some of the work that still needs to be done includes crown molding on the cabinets, the drawer fronts with the bad finish need to be replaced (waiting on those to come in), the pulls need to be put on all the drawers (it is a major pain to open the drawers without the pulls and the pulls won't be installed until all the new drawer fronts arrive), walls and trim painted, the antique piece needs to be attached to the wall, and some other small details. All the roll outs were installed in the bottom cabinets. I love them. It makes it so easy to get to everything. 

Backsplash

The backsplash went up on Friday. It was grouted yesterday. I will get some new pics later today with the grout. I love the glass tile that I selected.

Finish work is being completed as I write. The under cabinet moulding went in yesterday. We needed that to hide the under cabinet lights. Today the drawer inserts are being cut and fitted and the roll outs in the bottom cabinets are being installed.

We have put a lot of things away in the upper cabinets. After today, I can start putting away things that go below.

Tales of the refrigerator. I can't remember if I explained the problems that the Best Buy delivery people had with the first fridge that we ordered. They were not going to remove the doors, and the refrigerator would not fit through our front door. So we ordered a smaller fridge. I got a call last week telling me that fridge is back ordered, and there is no guarantee that it will ever arrive. So on Sunday we went to a locally owned appliance store. Their delivery people are willing to take off the handles and/or doors to get the fridge into the house. On Friday we get the new fridge. We plan to sell our old one. Anyone looking for a really nice white refrigerator with a bottom freezer?

Finishing Touches Starting to Appear

The hardware has been added to the doors. I selected pulls from Top Knobs in a satin nickel finish.

We added pendant lights over the sink and the island work surface. 

Running Water in the Kitchen!

Last night I christened the new kitchen sink and faucet.

The sink is not blue; I just haven't removed the film protecting it.

More Counter Pics

Here are some more pictures of my beautiful new counter.

It is a honed absolute black. Honed means that it is not highly polished, so the color is more muted. 

I just love it.

The yellow post it notes on the drawers tells me that these drawer fronts need to be replaced. 

The finish is not right. The new fronts have been ordered and should arrive soon.

The story of the faucet. Well, it was an aggravation really. The countertops could not be installed without the sink because the fabricator needed to cut the hole in the granite before bringing it to my house. I had many calls back and forth about my sink. Then there were problems with the faucet  because they did not order the faucet when they ordered my sink. So there were many more calls back and forth to find out about the faucet. It was suppose to arrive second day air on Friday, but no it was sent ground. So today when I was leaving the house, I found the UPS man delivering a package to Prytania Theater. I stopped him and asked if he had my package. I told him it was a faucet for Dufossat. I had to sign for the package, so there could be a problem if he tried to deliver and no one was home. I showed him my ID and took the package. I hope to have running water in the kitchen by the end of the day. That would be something. 

Granite is Going In and Dishwasher Disaster

The granite is gorgeous! As I write this, they are installing the sink. More pics later.

I forgot to explain our dishwasher problem. It was delivered on Tuesday of last week. When Grant went to install it last Friday, he found a huge crunch in one of the corners. I wasn't worried about Best Buy taking it back. However, it was impossible to get them to take care of this problem over the phone. I called at least four times. Then on Sunday afternoon we went in to the store to talk to them. It took about 45 minutes to clear it up. Now I know why it was impossible to deal with over the phone. We can get a new dishwasher, but not until the end of next week. 

Microwave and Upper Cabinets are Installed

 Josey Brown resting after the morning walk

I was climbing up to the attic this morning, and this was the view that I got near the top of the stairs. 

I couldn't resist adding it to the blog.

The microwave is installed and ready to use. Now we have two microwaves. 

This is a sheet of the glass backsplash. I am going to paint the walls using this palette. I like the center color of the two paint chips that you see. I bought some sample paint today to see which one that I like. 

Antique Hutch has a New Home

Here is the antique hutch that we purchased from Bush Antiques. It is pine and English--was probably painted in its first life and built in because the bottom half does not have a back. Originally, I had thought about hanging the top part (it is in two pieces), and leaving about one foot in between the two sections. Then I was going to put granite on top of the bottom section. I also thought about raising the whole thing off the ground, but I like the molding at the bottom and how it meets the floor. Now that it is actually sitting in the kitchen, I think that we will just have it attached to the wall, like the other cabinets. The top with the glass doors make the piece top heavy, and we want it to have a built in look and certainly not tip over once it is filled with all of our stuff. We will definitely change the hardware to match the other cabinets. 

The stove is not installed, but this is where it will be placed. 

We will keep the pots and pans in one of the big drawers which should be very convenient. 

Refrigerator Problems

The appliances were delivered on Tuesday. The driver of the truck said that I had bought a refrigerator that was too big to fit in the door to our house. Ouch! He didn't even take it off the truck. I went back to Best Buy to get a refund and purchase a different one. Instead of 25 cubic square feet, I am going to get the exact same fridge that is 22 cubic square feet. Unfortunately, the replacement is not in the store yet. It is a brand new model. I have to wait three weeks. We will still be using our old fridge until the new one arrives. I am crossing my fingers that the new one will actually be here in three weeks.

Lower Cabinets are in Place

Before the cabinets are installed, the electrical and plumbing must be prepared and the wall closed in.

The space  you see on the right is made for the stove. 

It has been delivered and is sitting on the outside deck ready to go.

We chose beadboard doors on the bottom cabinets, but the upper cabinets will be plain. 

This is our new island. 

This is another view of the island. 

Floor is Done - Cabinets Have Been Delivered

The floor is now grouted. I love it. 

The cabinets are in the house and ready to go. 

The wall had to be opened for the electrical changes.

We finally got rid of our 33 year old hot water heater. 

On Monday a brand new one was installed. 

Can't Wait to Get Home

We are in Florida visiting my father in law. When we return to New Orleans on Monday afternoon, we will get to see the completed tile floor. The cabinets are going to be delivered on Monday, so we may even have some of the cabinets in place when we get back. On Tuesday, the appliances will be delivered.

Such progress. I will post pictures after our return.

The Floor

About half of the floor has been put down. It looks amazing. 

As you can see, it is being put in on the diagonal. 

See What's Happening Now

Good riddance to the old floor. It was nasty.

Here is our empty kitchen and stripped floor. It looks so roomy.

No, the stove isn't working. 

We just don't have any place to put it right now.

Another shot of the kitchen, and yes the fridge is still working. 

We have to have cold milk and juice!