We happily announce the arrival of...a kitchen!

It's far from done, but it is fully functional. And, oh, it's going to be soooo nice.

But I get ahead of myself.

After my last entry, we did indeed have progress. The electricians finished upgrading the wiring - we finally have enough plugs in the room, and they're even all up to code. We now have undercabinet LED lighting, and it's amazing. This isn't precisely what we ended up with, but it's close enough to give you the idea. It's a peel and stick strip of tiny, tiny lights - but what a difference they make!

Finally - good task lighting. We picked a new over the sink fixture that has an Edison type light bulb. It's not all that bright, but it's enough when you add the LED lights in. We'll be putting in a new ceiling fan with lights one of these days, too. All in all, our lighting is miles ahead of our old kitchen.

The plumbing is now up to code, too. What they had to do! Our sink was never vented.  I can't tell you all the particulars, but we gather the sink used to be on the east wall, the one with the door we closed in. At any rate, that's where they found the remnants of a connection to a vent stack. So the drain tubing goes under the floor to the vent stack and then back up to the sink and above it for (I think) overflow purposes and back down again. And then they tied the plumbing for the dishwasher back in - and it's across the room! Somehow it all seems to work - although we have yet to see how the dishwasher will drain...

And the walls are nearly done. The new chunk of wall is a thing of beauty (it's even better now, having been recoated and then sanded), as are the places the guy pulled down the buckled plaster and replaced it with sheetrock. We now have lovely smooth surfaces to tile or paint - it'll be so much easier!

So all that got done, and then the cabinets went in.  Oh, are they lovely! The color is great, the doors are a great match to what we have, we really like the hardware, the soft (or is it slow?) close doors and drawers are fantastic - what's not to like? I went to get glass for the four doors that need it. HD told us having glass put in by them would be $300, but we could probably get it for $100. Well, not quite. I didn't get tempered glass. We don't have little ones slamming doors (not that you really could with the way things close), and it's doors, not shelves, so we went with regular glass for about $30! The guy only gave me three panes the first time - and he'd even written down four - but even with the extra trip, it was certainly a substantial savings. We used blue glass knobs on those four doors for a bit of fun and to highlight our Blue Willow dishes. We felt the glass doors and the open shelving on either side of the range would help the room not feel closed in with all the stuff we're adding. It might have been fine with traditional doors, but we love what we picked. We moved a few things in but not a lot to start. With the work still to be done, we didn't feel like cleaning everything yet again. Work begets dust. Nothing to be done about it. The crews did a really good job cleaning, but you just get dust. We also weren't sure where too many things would live, and wanted to be thoughtful about it. We decided we were NOT going to fall into the trap of putting things somewhere and never again moving them somewhere else. As we emptied things out of the kitchen last month, we realized we had things in some pretty dumb places, and could so easily have moved them but just never thought about it.

After the cabinets went in, we had a fairly functional kitchen again - working stove, microwave, fridge and sink, plus the existing counters. Joe cut up an old stereo cabinet (so finished "wood" instead of rough plywood) to put on either side of the stove for temporary use (great idea). But with kitchen stuff still scattered all over, we weren't doing a lot of cooking, and mostly using plastic dishes as they're so much lighter and easier to wash.

Last weekend, we finally  started moving in again. We were able to carve out some serious cleaning time (it was pointless during all the heavy work) and got things ready to go. Things sure are in different places! We're still playing with it, and, without countertops, still not wanting to leave lots of stuff out on shelves (more dust, you know). But oh, it's so nice to have so much more room! I put new contact paper on some of the old shelves and in the drawers. I didn't do all the shelves, as the old closing hardware has to come off first. Unlike the new cabinets, the old ones have latches on the bottom shelf, so you need to cut around them. Not planning to put in the new paper only to have to replace it in a few weeks! But it's cut and ready to go.

And then came yesterday.

Nearly the last of the contract work, and certainly the last really big thing.

The countertops.

They took under two weeks to make, and we got to go and pick what pieces we wanted from particular places on the slab. Since it's natural stone, the markings vary, and we wanted to showcase the more beautiful ones. Soapstone is lovely, lovely stuff - or at least we think so. The installation was not without drama. The company made us a 10x10" trivet. We thought, OK, a piece we can take places to show folks what we're talking about.  Well, no. Sorry. That small piece weighs over 11 pounds! It's the heaviest stone out there, at least being used in homes - heavier even than granite or marble. And yet it's fairly soft. Odd, but there it is.


The guys removed the old countertop and sink in short order, but we were all a bit surprised at the poor condition of the wood supporting it. They had to do a bit of unexpected repair work. And I shoved a big piece of insulation in that gap on the far left! Then they really had to work to get the two big pieces in the house. They picked them up out of the cradle in the truck with these nifty gripper things, and moved them down the ramp to a wheeled cart. But the stone is so slick (and it was really humid) that the grippers didn't grip, and both pieces slipped and hit the ramp. The first one was no biggie - a tiny ding on the bottom of the back edge. No problem. They wheeled it up the hill in our neighbors' yard instead of taking it up the steps in ours, and then lifted the cart and all up the steps and wheeled it through the house. They had to come in the front - there was no way to maneuver the slab around the corners from the back door into the kitchen. They lifted it into place, cut out the sink opening (below) and that was pretty much that.

The second slab, though, was not so fortunate. When it slipped, a corner broke off. I didn't see it happen, but I can just bet someone said something naughty. They went to work right then and there and glued the slivers back on, using epoxy to fill in the gaps, and sanding it all down. Then then asked it if was ok. Well, it's not totally perfect, but we decided to go with it anyway. I won't tell you where it is - see if you can find it when you visit. By the time we add tile, I doubt anyone will ever notice. So in the second piece went. They were done by about noon. It's just so pretty - and tactile. It's smooth and cool and somehow almost soft to the touch. It will take more careful care than formica - large cutting boards are on our shopping list - but we'll take some scars and stains as just being part of living.


Soapstone is cool in another way. You can leave it as it is now, or you can oil it. You don't have to - it doesn't need any kind of sealing (and it's totally impervious to heat) - but oiling it makes it change color, like this (it's only wet here - and see the reflection of the LED bulbs?). Time and use will do the same. For now, we think  we'll leave it and see how it ages naturally, but we may change our minds. The graining shows even more when it's darker! Fortunately, it's not an either/or one time thing. If we oiled it now, eventually the stone would lighten and we'd either do it again, or let it stay lighter. Conversely, we can oil at a later date.


The plumbing place emailed me to ask if they could possibly come Monday instead of Friday.  The 4.5" of rain over the previous day or so had flooded out basements of some of their clients, and they were working hard to replace and repair stuff. I said OK, as we could certainly manage without a sink, but also said we'd sure love it if they could make it. Happily, they did! The new sink and faucet complete the major contracting work. And since the dishwasher is now safely anchored in place, we can now use it without tying up the sink for two hours! Anyone in the market for an 18" portable one? It works just fine - but wouldn't fit under the counters.

The carpenter has some finishing work - install quarter round under the cabinets, rehang the spice cabinet and some trim - those kind of things, but then they're done.

And then we get going.

We have the paint we need for the cabinets. Joe will get some of the doors down this weekend, and then I'll clean and paint them. Then, of course we'll do the actual cabinets, changing out the hardware and painting the hinges. Next, I think, is tile and then painting. It's all coming together so well. Every time something new goes in, we're validated in our choices. When getting the glass, I noticed the paint area had sample color palettes. Not just paint chips, but suggested combos in various color families. I picked some up, and had one jump out at me right away. Without telling Joe, I had him look. Yes, you guessed it. We picked the same one! But you'll have to wait and see what it is.

In the meantime, we'll enjoy our lovely, not-yet-finished room.