The Sink is In and the Countertops are Ready for Templates

When we bought our sink we decided we wanted a 33" Kohler Whitehaven Farm sink.  It did come in a 36" or a 30" but we decided the 33" was just right.  Unfortunately the sink cabinets Ikea sold were only 36" or 30".  So obviously went for the larger cabinet to accomidate our sink, but knew we'd have to get crafty to make it work.  Brian's dad, Dennis, made this awesome steel frame to hold the 100+ lb pound cast iron sink in place perfectly without relying on the cabinet itself for support.

I did the gorgeous spray paint job to keep rust away. ;)

We used an Ikea side cover panel as the trim piece the apron of the sink goes against.  It worked out perfectly with 18" doors.  Slightly bigger doors would have been nicer but the doors offered by Ikea also didn't accommodate the sink in any other configuration.  We are very happy with it.

 

Next Brian and his dad had to really get creative with our washer/dryer cabinet.  The cabinets Ikea makes are not deep enough to house our machines so we had to come up with a plan.  The kitchen designer gave us some ideas and panels but the logistics were up to the guys.

Brian and Dennis made this cool base for the machines to hold the cabinet up at the proper height as well as keep it stable so the machines could rest on the ground instead of INSIDE the cabinet on a base or on flimsy cabinet legs. Again, the gorgeous paint job is by yours truly.

Once all the cabinets were installed the plywood for the counter tops was put in.  (We still have one upper cabinet to hang above the dishwasher area, but we will put that up while we are waiting on the counters to be cut.)

Tomorrow morning the countertop templates will be made and hopefully the counters will be in in less than a week!  We are so extremely excited.  Once they are in, we can install the faucet for the sink and have a fully functional kitchen again.

We are nearing the finishline.  It's been a lot of long nights and hard work and money, but it's all paying off now.

Now for your viewing pleasure, some Before and Afters:

 (Please excuse the missing pantry door.  The one we have is damaged and we are waiting for delivery of the new one.)

Thanks for checking out the progress!

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!!!

yes...Yes...YES!!!! Paint, Tile, and some Cabinets

Finally all the mudding and sanding has been completed.  That has definitely been the most boring, messy, long part of the the kitchen remodel so far.  So first thing's first; time for some paint.

Brian painted the ceiling and I primed and painted the walls.  I skipped over the areas that cabinets will be against so, no, I am not just a horrible painter. 

I chose a color called "Delicate Mist" by Behr paints.  I was going for a really washed out turqouise blue green color.  It seems that most of the time when I'm looking at it on the walls now it just looks like a grayish blue.  It's not what I wanted but it still looks good.  We will just roll with it for now.

 
The next day the tile guys came and started their install.  This is the only outside contractor we have hired for anything so we were nervous about them possibly not putting as much heart into our project.  Fortunately they were really great and did a gorgeous job!

They did about half the room and came back two days later and finished laying the tile.  Then on the third day they wrapped up the install by grouting.

The tile we chose is Italian porcelain called Woodland Black.  The grout is a dark matching gray called Storm.  I was a little hesitant picking a floor so dark but since everything else is white or almost white I figured it would look like a nice contrast.

We absolutely love it!

 

We gave the tile and grout plenty of time to dry and then started installing some cabinets over the weekend.  I built the cabinets and Brian and his dad did the hanging.  There was a little bit of a hold up figuring out exactly what we wanted to do with the crown molding.  I would like no gap between the cabinets and the ceiling so we had to finalize measurements and choose an exact molding.

It's beyond exciting to see the cabinets going in!  All of our hard work and patience is starting to really pay off.

Here's a little reminder of what the "before" looked like:

The Drywall in the Kitchen is Up! (most of it)

Ok, so here's a quick update on what's been happening with our kitchen.  The drywall has gone up and has been mudded and sanded everywhere except for the sink wall.  Insulation was put in too.  Even the can lights are all installed and the ceiling was also mudded and sanded.

We wanted to keep the sink intack as long as possible so we could still wash some dishes but we finally took that hideous beast out of there the other day.  See ya never, ugly yellow sink.

We are figuring out who will install our floor tile at the moment.  While that's being decided on we will finish up drywalling the sink area, then primer and paint everything.

The majority of the old floor tiles have been removed, but there are still quite a few to go.  Once the new floor is in, cabinets can start moving in!!!

If anyone has an experienced tile guy they feel strongly about referring us to, please let us know.

We settled on the this cool wood design gray tile.  It should end up looking really good and wasn't much more than the stone style tile we first were considering.

 

Thanks for checking in!

No More Slab holes in the the Kitchen

So the Grand Canyon in our kitchen...

...has been filled.  The giganitc drain pipe is neatly in the wall now, along with its friends, hot and cold.  The electrical has been run and the old pipes were insulated properly so the cement was poured.  Now the only thing sticking out of the ground is our electricity for the island.  Exciting!
 

Before

After

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Before

After

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Before

After

Last Cabinet Standing

Last night Brian took out all the lower cabinets.... except for the sink.

All the Pipes are OUT and the Island Electrical is IN!

So over this past week Brian capped the hot and cold water pipes that were still sticking out of the ground from where the washing machine used to be.

 It is really exciting seeing no more pipes or barriers sticking up in the middle of the room!

Island Electrical
Today Brian did some more jack hammering to add an electrical box for our island.  He was worried this would be a lot of extra work but he powered through it just in one afternoon.  He also ran the conduit for the electrical and placed the box.

Fancy!