Kitchen Renovation - Day 17 - Cabinet Install

The cabinets.... are installed!  And I don't think we could be any more excited and thrilled with the way they look.

Most everything went in easy, and we put the stove in, so when the granite company comes tomorrow to create their template, they can measure accurately.

The first opening is for the dishwasher, the large boxed out opening is for the fridge.  We need a little plumbing work done before we can move those over.  At the very end you'll see what I keep calling our pantry cabinet.  Apparently to Lowe's it's a utility cabinet, and doesn't come with shelves??!  (And yes, the door is still blue, I can't wait to paint it even though we'll probably be tearing out that wall in the next few months anyway... but that's a can of worms we'll get to later.)

Doesn't the stove look happier there then in the dining room? :)

We even got some of the detail work done today.  For the baseboard, we actually ended up using some of the filler board we ordered, rather than the actual baseboard, since the baseboard that was sent was red oak, and our cabinets are hickory.  See the color and grain difference? 

Here's the filler boards acting as our baseboard:

We think it looks good, and goes well with the clean lines in the rest of the kitchen, but we'll take a look at some quarter round to put on top, to see if that'll be better.  Also, those panels are going to be installed on the back side of the peninsula.  They're basically decorative accents.  I had left early the day we "closed" on the kitchen (i.e. handed over the $$), and B got suckered into buying them without me there to put my foot down.  I'm glad he did as I think it'll really make a difference once we get them hung (we didn't have the right length nails today, oops.)

Also, we've got to show off the mini crown molding, as one of B's dad's least favorite thing is ceiling trim, and with all the corners this was a doosey for him, but he did an awesome job.

Sure adds a finished, high end look, right?  (Ignore the unpainted drywall.  I know its not finished or high end looking, but I'll take care of it eventually.)

We have an order in for some new shelves for the corner cabinets, as they were ratty and crunched around the edges, and will be returning the excess filler board and incorrect baseboard.  Also, we plan to order the shelves for my "pantry", but we're really mad we have to pay for them, so we'll see what happens there.

The granite template is getting done tomorrow, and the next few days will be spent finally priming and eventually getting the drawer and door pulls/handles installed.  I don't think I can feel comfortable with a paint color until the granite is in, so we'll hold off on that.  We'll also try and get organized, since we can use the upper cabinets, and parts of the lower ones now, and it'll be nice to get life somewhat back to normal.

Kitchen Renovation - Day 15

Christmas was good to me ;P

Not *all* the cabinets are in, but the bottom ones are, which is fantastic and I'm able to visualize how everything is going to look so much more now.  And, lots of other stuff got done today too, so that's awesome.  Cause I mean, I used a vacation day for today - and I treat vacation days like magic beans, they are used as sparingly as possible. (Although, after my experience today, there may be many more 3 day weekends in my future - so nice.  We'll see.)

Anyway, let's get started.  Everyone got to work early (and yes, I helped, but I mean, I had to document everything in photographs too!)

 

And the cabinet manufacturer was really helpful, stapling the instructions to the inside of the sink base, with the Spanish instructions face up... figures... (good thing we didn't need any stupid instructions)
 

Anyway, M got comfortable, and seems to love the new tiles:

In the end, we got the bottom cabinets installed (we'll take care of everything else on Sunday).  So here's a look at what we've got so far:

                                    

Also, we got the sconce replaced, which I forgot to take before pictures of, but trust me, this one is better (and matches our other new lighting fixtures that I'll share another time).

Once the cabinets were installed, I took an interesting trip to Lowe's with a friend who has been helping us out a TON, which I'll share more details on another time.  But, after our trip we were able to get the trim up on the recessed cans, which makes a huge difference.

We are completely loving the fact that just having the bottom cabinets installed, and the top cabinets out of their boxes and organized, we're able to actually walk around our house.

And yes, that's the new chandelier, but we'll hold off on a close up.  The wires haven't been adjusted since we need to decided the height we want - so we'll wait until we've got the table back in place.  (And we're going to have quite a few days between when they measure for the granite on Monday, and when it's actually installed, so let's face it, I keep saying I'll talk about things later, so I have some stuff to fill up that time.)

Tomorrow we're off to choose our granite slab, and hopefully I'll be a good blogger and remember my camera so I can share how cool (or not) that experience is.

THE CABINETS ARE HERE!!

Which is totally awesome. And I'm really happy, even though I can barely walk around my own house. I have no idea how all of it is meant to actually fit in the kitchen!  But it's late, and we just got home from a friend's birthday celebration, so that's all folks.

I'll post some details tomorrow.