Washer Dryer Ikea Kitchen Cabinet Hack

Surprisingly this project was super fast to complete.  We expected it to be a huge headache so Brian kept putting it off.  Once he started it he finished in less than 45 minutes!  We were shocked it worked so smoothly.

Basically, we wanted a panel on the side that would be removable to easily access the water valves behind the washer and dryer if needed. 

Brian routered out three pockets and added these metal cleats.  Genius!

If you have any questions, let us know.

We've Really Slowed Down... But Still Finishing Up That Kitchen

So since the kitchen is totally functional and pretty amazing, we have totally slowed down.  We are close to done, but just a little left to do.

On the to do list is just:

• attach cabinet toe kicks
• add door trim and baseboards
• install crown above cabinets
• finish installing the under cabinet LED lighting strips
• finish installing power outlet on island 
• choose and install a back splash of some sort
• and soooome day we will open up the wall between the living room and kitchen to make a bar top, but no rush on that.

We finally put all the pulls on (except one, can you find it?).  The under cabinet trim pieces were put on as well.

The drawer for recycling in the island is up and running.  What a convenience!  This originally was designed to house our trash, but we like our old trash can that we operate with our foot and it has a nice location too.  This was a welcome change of plan.

Every upper cabinet has these awesome power strips under them instead of a socket in the back splash.  We bought different lengths depending on the cabinet it went under.  We did a little outlet overkill, but that's ok.  It's better to have too many than not enough where you need it.  Plus they are hidden, so why not?

Also the dishwasher is so cool with the built-in door panel attached.  So fancy.  ;)

I love having my little breakfast bar area for cooking bagels and making my daily iced caramel macchiatto!  These two items used to take up the entire counter in the last kitchen.  So, it's nice having their own area off to the side.

Thanks for following up!

The Fully Functional Kitchen Has Arrived!

So all the cabinets are in!  The sink, the faucet, the oven, the DISHWASHER.  Wow, what a magical machine...

The day the counter tops went in felt better than Christmas.  We love them.

It has been about a week now and I've never been so excited to wash a dish in my life.  Once Brian got the faucet and dishwasher functional I went on a cleaning and washing SPREE.  I was so excited to put everything away in the cabinets I couldn't be stopped for even a "we're almost done" blog post.

There still is plenty of work to do, but at least we finally can slow the pace down and relax and enjoy our practically done, new kitchen, a little.

Things left to do are:

• attach drawer/cabinet knobs and pulls (coming this week in the mail)
• install crown molding on cabinets
• install kick boards
• choose and install a back splash
• install under cabinet and island electrical plugs
• install under cabinet lighting

and eventually:

• open the wall between the living room and kitchen to create a breakfast bar

 A few friends have been over this week to check out the kitchen and they all have said it feels like a completely different house now because of the remodel.

I still can't believe it is ours and we did it all ourselves (except the floor tile and countertop).

 We have a contract to have our windows redone... in due time.  The missing cabinet in the island is out just while Brian finishes up the electrical plug install.

 The dishwasher has a matching cover panel, like the cabinets, but we can't install it until the pulls arrive.

 For a refresher on what the "before" of the whole kitchen looked like, click here.

IT'S ALMOST DONE!!!

Halfway Through Hanging the Cabinets

So Brian and his dad have been making some great progress installing the cabinets!  The majority are complete around the stove.  One more wall cabinet will go above the washing machine area.

I am really pleased with how the microwave and oven are looking.  They definitely did not look so nice in our old kitchen when mismatched cabinets surrounded them.

I am anxiously awaiting using the oven and stove top, but since the sink is still in-op we have to wait on making baked on grossness type dishes.

 Tonight the guys installed one of the two pantry cabinets.  It is a starting point for that whole wall to be covered in cabinetry.  A cabinet will be above and surrounding the refrigerator, and the washer and dryer will also be inside of one.

You have no idea how excited I am to have the washer and dryer back inside the house and functioning.  Bye Bye Fluff and Fold Laundromat!  I was literally doing laundry in these pictures and also while I'm typing this up. 

The refrigerator is hooked up to the water line too.  We have ice, people!  I've never had a refrigerator make ice for me.  What a luxury!!!

Lastly, the island cabinets will be installed. All but two cabinets have been built so it's helping clear up the explosion of Ikea boxes that have been all over our house for the past few months.

Then comes granite!!!

Exciting Kitchen Deliveries

First we had to clear a large area in our garage to make room for our cabinet delivery.

We went with Ikea cabinets so we will have to assemble them all.  I laughed that the directions for the entire kitchen install had one of their ridiculous little allan wrenches on the front.  Yeah right!

Some third party did the delivery.  They were pretty horrible.  They were really rough with our items, but at least the things that were damaged were easily exchanged.

It is quite a mountain just sitting there!  Luckily I've always enjoyed putting furniture together so I think it won't be too murderous.  I'm sure I'll never want to do it again after this project though.  Good thing I have a growing son.  ;)

Later in the week our refrigerator came.  I'm totally in love!  We got it, and our dishwasher on sale at Howard's Appliances in Long Beach.  Our sales person was Tom and he was excellent!  We got killer deals previously on our oven and microwave there.  The refrigerator was $600 less than the best price I could find online!  Maybe it was a mistake, but I jumped on that!

It was pretty awesome watching the Howard's delivery guys do their thing.  That strap they used looked way better for the refrigerator than a dolly.

For now the refrigerator is parked in the dining room (aka our make-shift kitchen) until all the demo and drywall work is done.

Our sink is coming UPS today.  We ordered a Kohler Whitehaven farmhouse sink.  And of course I didn't pay anything near that retail price.  Come on now, you know me!  Thanks so much to my anonymous friend with a killer job discount!