The Kitchen Project

Last night, Mark and I unpacked the glasses and plates and moved them into our cabinets. When we were done with what we’d boxed up, we moved some more of the glasses that didn’t fit into the kitchen over from our china cabinet in the dining room. There was still SO much space left. We’d barely scratched the surface. We moved over some wine glasses and beer glasses so the ones we had in the dining room would be crowded.

We’ve been told not to put anything in the base cabinets until the countertop goes in, so all of the cookware is still boxed up. I have some pantry items in cabinets, but still, the kitchen seems empty. We’ll be building out the back closet with shelves for pantry items as well, so we’ll have more space than we can imagine.

We picked out our cabinet and drawer handles after several trips to Home Depot and Lowe’s. We brought a few items home and decided on this curved handle since it’s stainless and echoes the curved handles of the fridge, stove and dishwasher. We had thought to go with a steel rod, but this was a little less industrial looking.

Once we got back from Lowe’s and decided we wanted it, the debate began: drive back up to Saugus or look for them online. We were able to find them online for slightly less than the per-handle cost, including delivery, so they’re on their way from California to our house.

Our cabinets arrived from the warehouse today, and Johnny and Billy (and another helper, whose name I forgot) worked to put them in place for us. Mark and I couldn’t wait until we got home, so we dashed home at lunch time to see the progress. They started at the fridge side, and have been working counter clockwise from there. While we were there, they put in another large top cabinet to the left of the stove and were installing the cabinets that flank the stove and dishwasher, including our new trash can. When we get home tonight, everything is going to be in place. I really can’t wait.

Mark keeps scratching his head over the wall color, but I think once we get the counter top in, the color will seem perfect.

Today, I made pancakes in the electric frying pan. It’s basically my way of making sure Mark is going to be psyched for whatever the world throws at him. Something about chocolate chips, bananas, and maple syrup does the trick. I had also painted a big splotch of our winning color on the wall, and we decided to go for it. Then I called Billy, our contractor, to see what was up.

He’s coming Monday to install the cabinets. We could have the countertops measured Tuesday, and have the appliances come Wednesday. You mean…. I could cook something on Wednesday for dinner? And wash dishes? And clothes?? Far out! A quick call to Yale Appliance. They should have everything for us Wednesday, except maybe the dryer and fridge. Okay. I can live with that.

Then we were off. Up to North Reading to National Tile, where Karen, after securing an invitation to our eventual kitchen unveiling party, agreed to help us pick out tiles for our feature area, gave us more samples, and sent us on our way. Jenn called us and said their templaters could come Thursday. That works. We went to Benjamin Moore, got loads of Primer and Paint, and headed home to prime. Four to five hours later, the first coat is up on top of the primer, and we did a decent job. A few places we need to touch up, but it’s good. Another coat goes up tomorrow after breakfast (We’re going to Sound Bites, so I’m not cooking!) and then it’s off to get sink and faucet.

So, I called Jenn, our wonderful kitchen designer, to get a rough estimate for the delivery of the cabinets. If you remember, because of the ceiling issue, we were late in ordering the cabinets. I figured end of next week was possible, but since that was the 4th, all business would slow down, and we’d get them the week after.

Jenn called me back at 2:15 today to tell me that the cabinets had arrived at the warehouse, and will be delivered on Monday. We will come home Monday to a kitchen in the swing of things, moving rapidly towards completion. This means this weekend we have to do some solidifying of:

• Paint, both color and two coats
• Sink and faucet, so we can be ready when we have to do the template
• Tile, since it’ll have a 2 week delivery time
• Fan and Pendant lighting, so we can be ready when the electrician comes back

I located some photos of Cambria Windsor countertops to provide some context for our decision.

In this picture, the cabinets have a lightness comparable to honey spice, but aren’t the same tone. Honey spice has more gold. They have stainless appliances (yes), beige tiles (yes), and a hardwood floor (yes…) that is darker and redder than ours (no.) I don’t know what you’d call their choice of paint–dark mustard?–but it’s not quite what we’re looking for.

The Cambria website has a spectacular image of a much larger kitchen. Here, the cabinets are darker, but the hue is closer. The tiles are vaguely comparable to ours in shine and color. They downplayed the stainless steel by paneling their fridge, and their cabinet doors are more traditional than ours. Their paint is a very pale, neutral peach.

Hrm.

So, when we got our last round of designs, the ones we signed off on, we talked about making one of the windows narrower by a few inches to make a cabinet bigger. It all made a lot of sense. We unfortunately didn’t tell our builders. I didn’t even really think about it. So, when Jenn went out Monday to do her final measurements, she realized we were going to be off by a few inches.

Now we ponder possibilities. Make the upper cabinet 9″ wide or 12″ wide and use a smaller trim on the windows. Gone is the 15″ cabinet I thought we’d have. Like Mark’s wedding analogy earlier, something’s bound to go wrong in a job like this. There are always surprises. We’re rolling pretty well with this one. We’ll see what the best looking alternative is that gives us the most storage.

Jenn Dussault, our wonderful kitchen designer from Carole Kitchens (kitchenpeople.com), came by the house yesterday to do a final look through and measurement. With the well documented sag in the floor, we weren’t sure if we’d have a similar sag in the ceiling. If the ceiling was sagging, we’d have to install a drywall ceiling below the lowest point, just so we could get something level. This would mean we’d have to use a 36″ upper cabinet instead of the 42″ cabinets we had been planning to use.

Well, we were lucky! We have a nice level ceiling, so we’ll be getting the 42″-ers. Of course, that top shelf may require a step stool, but it will be nice to know we’ll getting all the possible space out of our room.

Okay. So everyone asks the question, “How long is it going to take?” Or “Do you have an end date?” Well, since the cabinets are going to take 4 weeks to arrive, that’ll be the week of July 4th (when nothing happens). So let’s say five weeks. We hope they’ll all be perfect, but we could have a bad door (knock on Honey Spice stained Huntington Maple), which might take a little longer to get a replacement. After the cabinets, the appliances, then counter top, then tiles, then finishes, then punch list (again, knock on wood) and then we can hope.

Let’s say first weekend of August?