Kitchen Update

We've been in the new house a whole week now, and parts of it are starting to resemble a real home. We even cooked out for dinner tonight, despite temperatures in the 50's. It's been raining for weeks I think, but this afternoon was upgraded to merely gray and overcast. Things are good. Messy, disorganized and full of endless to-do lists, but I recognize that these are good problems to have.

So, without further ado, I will tell the story of the kitchen's journey toward awesomeness. It is far from complete, but I am thrilled with the results so far.

To begin with, we had this:

 Step one was making Jamie come be our "contractor." Day one: Remove the upper cabinets and the bulkhead.

Day Two: Buy new cabinets that are 9" taller than the old ones.

Day Three: Fix the plumbing and electrical issues that were previously hidden in the bulkhead. What we (he) couldn't do anything about was the large waste water pipe going all the way across the the wall over the window. There was also a good deal of cursing and wrestling with pipes in the fixable sections.

Day Four: Hang the new upper cabinets. Make cut outs where needed to fit the pipe inside along the window wall.

Day Five: Return the microwave to it's old position. Fill in the space above the cabinets with 2x4's, trim and crown molding. Rebuild a smaller bulkhead over the sink, and install a "new" salvaged light fixture from our house in Lexington. Mom and Dad arrive to help install the new pantry cabinet next to the refrigerator. The carpets are cleaned upstairs and in the basement on this day also, so Mom starts her painting tasks by painting Jonah's new bunk bed.

Day Six-Eight: Install shelves, cabinet doors and new butcher block counters. Celebrate Jamie's birthday and Mother's Day. Finish packing at the old house. Paint the kids rooms and the guest room (Eliza's yellow room took four coats including primer--thanks Mom!).

 Day Nine: Move-in day. Keep telling yourself that it's going to be great...eventually. Jamie goes home.

Days 10-16: Unbury the house from boxes and packing paper...Well, the downstairs anyway. I predict  that my sewing room will probably unpacked sometime before Christmas.  Mom and Dad stayed until the morning after the move, so progress has slowed considerably since then. I did manage to get a couple of coats of polyurethane on the counter tops, so they are ready for cooking. The exception is the new top for the island, which Dad took home to work on in his shop. We saved money by using pre-cut butcher block from Ikea, but they only had it in 25-inch wide pieces--just a few inches too narrow for the island. Luckily Dad has planers and biscuit-cutters and giant clamps to join two sections perfectly together.

Day 17, today. The last cabinet door, which was out of stock last week, is now available. So, after another multi-hour trip to Ikea, and then about an hour of installing, unistalling, stripping out screws, drilling,  groaning, searching for replacement screws, and reinstalling, we have this: 

Still to do: replace the brass light fixtures over the island and table, paint the lower cabinets, replace the island counter top, order and install the tile back splash, paint the crown molding and toe-kick on the pantry cabinet, touch up the wall paint.

I think I can, I think I can...When are the Pike family remodelers coming back again? Hopefully soon!