Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Kitchen Remodel: The Cabinets are Here! The Cabinets are Here! (Kinda')

After weeks of waiting, hoping, making sacrifices to patron saints, and living in chaos, our kitchen cabinets were delivered on Friday.

I was hoping to have a post up before this, but things got a bit crazy between then and now. So let's step into the Wayback Machine to get a quick tour of what went down.

On Friday morning, we were asked to stop by the cabinet shop to take a look at all the pieces and parts that had been painted, varnished, sanded, and whatever other stuff that needed to be done, prior to delivery.

This will give you some idea of how many elements went into our cabinets. Between bases, doors, drawers, and counters, there were lots of wood.



To be honest, I had myself prepared to hear that the delivery would be delayed until this week and resigned myself to doing dishes in the bathtub for at least another three or four days. So, I was thrilled to hear that the delivery would take place that very day as planned.

Around 11:30, two big pickups rolled down the lane loaded up with most of the pieces. Once they got unloaded, it was time to do the installation. The first, and most critical piece, to go in was the cabinet run for the sink. If you remember, this was the section that was made four inches too long. With a bit of finagling, the reworked section went in perfectly.



The side counter went in place without incident as well.



Then came the island. The lovely, lovely, amazing island. After months of having such a tiny space for prep and plating, this is the piece that I love the most. There's so much room to spread out!


Here's a close-up of the end section where we have all our cutting boards and baking sheets. Nifty, huh?



When I saw the finished counters earlier that day at the shop, I almost swooned. Pictures don't do them jusctice. They are gorgeous.



Our installation guru then went to work screwing in all the hinges for the pull-out shelves in the island and attaching the cupboard doors. While he would have kept working until he couldn't stand, we were beat, starving as we had no lunch, and called things a day around 6 p.m.

Work got underway again around 8:30 the next morning. The hole for the sink was cut, the remaining hinges on the bottom cabinets were installed, and measurements were taken for the shelf unit that will be over the range. All that was completed by around 2:30.

The upper cabinets needed to go back to the shop, because the crew forgot to make and install the shelves. When your cupboards are about three feet high, a shelf or two might come in handy.

The next day, I loaded up the cabinets while David tackled the sink installation. The clips that came with the sink (they get mounted underneath to secure it, along with caulk) were too short. After rummaging around in his shop, he found four long bolts that did the trick. I make it sound simple, but it took quite some time to get those bolts in, plus connect all the plumbing. But by early afternoon, we had a working sink. No more doing dishes in the bathtub!

So now we are looking forward to having the upper cabinets delivered and installed tomorrow. Once that's done, there still the shelf that needs to be made for over the stove that will hold the range hood and a separate counter piece that will cover the back of the stove.

We're thinking that next week, David will take a trip to Chetumal, Mexico, with the cabinet maker's wife to order the glass bar top that will complete the island. More on that later. In the meantime, we can finish painting the walls and figure out when we want to buy and install the tile for the backsplash.

But while there's still all that to do, the difference is amazing. Remember, this is what we started with:


 
 
Stay tuned for more updates as we bring this project into the home stretch!









3 comments:

  1. really beautiful! you're going to be happy with this for years to come. Looking forward to our trip down, but doesn't seem real yet, since I am still working this week
    liz and craig

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  2. Absolutely beautifull, Yes Virgina, there is a Santa Clause.

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  3. Gorgeous - well worth waiting for. I remember the surprises we found when we remodeled the kitchen in our first house in Georgia (almost 30 years ago!). I did dishes in the bathtub and bathroom sink and cooked on a Coleman campstove and a microwave for 4 months. You will enjoy your kitchen all the more for having gone through this trauma and survived!

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