some near to final kitchen pictures

Just to remind you, the first three pictures are the old kitchen - all vintage 1976, even the drop-in almond range!  We added the green tile about 10 years ago. The closet pantry in the back left corner is now gone as are all the soffits above the cabinets.

The wall to the left of the fridge is now gone.

The island is now gone.

Yes, this is the same room!

The countertops and backsplash are a white Corian with colored little spreckles in it.  They countertop people even made a Corian ledge under the window and Corian molding completely around the window.  This will be so easy to clean!

Here is a picture of the sink - a bright white Corian seamless sink.  I love it!  Of course with the Moen Faucet - and my new Mikasa French Countryside cup and saucer next to the sink.  Heck yeah I had to get a whole new set of dishes - dah!

Meet the JennAir gas stove and fancy hood.  What a dream.  The Corian backsplash goes all the way up to the bottom of the hood.

Now this is more into the dining area.  I had these red drawers made to put my husband's grandfather's Noritake China in and linens, etc.  And then the Hutch his grandfather also had can now sit on top of another Corian countertop to show off the dishes in a regal manor!

We had two of these bistro tables made with the same Corian as the kitchen countertops.  Then I bought Ox-blood chairs on castors to sit up to the tables. We love hanging here reading, chatting - whatever!

The window again all encased in Corian for devine cleaning ability!

So here is a total field of view looking from the entrance into the dining room from the front room.  I should have moved the cafe tables back in place but I forgot - they will be off to the right where the mess I thought I had hidden is showing.

My gorgeous fridge.  In the last fridge, we had to make a wood shelf to put into it to make it more usable.  This one is a dream.  You can see a small pantry to the left of the fridge and a flat screen TV above the fridge!

A few throw rugs, the lights hooked up that illuminate the underside of the cabinets and a few paintings hung and a whole heck of a lot more emptying boxes of who knows what and it will be back to normal only elegantly.

floor is nearly done!

You have to pass it on when you have met the best!

     Our painter was by far the most skilled, most polite, most thorough painter I have ever seen.  Now this is coming from a gal (me) who is married to an ex-professional painter who had his own painting company for 5 years (til the bottom dropped out in the early 80's economy).  I was the painter's helper on many occasions so we have both seen good painting.
      But, we're older now and we can afford to hire the work done, so we did.  Both my husband and I stood with our mouth gaping as we watched a real pro paint our entire upstairs.  The prep work was the most impressive.  He moved furniture, taped off and cleaned until I was embarrassed.  He said, "I tell people I'm really just a glorified cleaner!"   Then he painted PERFECTLY - no runs, no drips in a few hours.  I thought we were done but NO -- He sands his primer, re-cleans, sands the first coats, re-cleans and then put on the final paint coat.  Now our job wasn't just an easy one color situation.   We love white, flat paint ceilings (it hides any errors from the sheet rockers).  So he had to cut around the entire ceiling with the wall color and I thought my husband was going to cry at the perfection of his cut line - and the ceiling looks flawless: smooth as a babies bottom!
   So here is the shameless plug for a talented painter:  Cody of "Cottonwood Craftsman" out of Salt Lake City, Utah.  If you are interested in him, send a comment and I'll give you his phone number!

quick kitchen update:

Sheetrock!  It's all mudded and sanded and ready for paint to start tomorrow!  Doesn't the room look incredibly small without anything in it!  I sure hope it finishes off easily - this is getting old!

Small but Significant Progress Towards the French Bistro Kitchen

So...  we have all the electrics done.  A lot of wires had to be moved when we removed the soffits!  And of course plugs were moved and wires fished through walls and such.  That's all done!  The plumber has OK'd everything so all he has to do is re-hook up when the cabinets are placed in.
  The drywaller is coming tomorrow to start putting the room back together.  When he has re-sheetrocked and mudded, then we can paint.
   When painting is done then we can lay the floor tiles (my beautiful black and white checkerboard squares).

The cabinets will be done before Feb. 14th.  They are red oak (a lighter color) in the kitchen but the dining room will have one wall with large drawers in a red cherrywood color underneath a counter (a white Corian countertop like the kitchen) and then my beautiful Early Federal Hutch (with double S shaped glass in front - picture to the left) can sit on top of the Corian counter and ontop of the similarly stained drawers underneath.   This color will give the dining area a slightly different look.  Remember, the dining area will have the ox-blood red chairs with bistro tables. 

The other end of this room is a work room/library also with red oak cabinets. So the contrast of the redder cherry or mahogany color in between the lighter oak will break the room up nicely, yet tie them together.


Included pictures are a sneak peak of my JennAir range, and the hood (we had to hang it to get the hole made for the vent outside).  The hood came immediately back down for the dry-waller tomorrow!

Almost have plans for new kitchen finalized - French Bistro!

     No cork floor - way too expensive and it sun fades!  So, I'm back to the black and white checkerboard floor that I've wanted all along anyway.  I'm going the "french bistro" look with cafe chairs and tables rather than a large dining table.  I think cafe tables are more cozy than seats at an island or a large table.  We hang out in the kitchen (like nearly every family does) but I want to sit relaxed like in a wonderful cafe or bar!  Right now we will be making the cafe table tops out of the white Corian also - little round 24" or 36" tables, and have at least two of them!  For fancy dinners we can throw a white linen table cloth over them and pull them closer.

      My cafe chairs, as shown above, will arrive the 27th.
      The wood in the kitchen will be red oak and the dining area will be mahogany.  Then, of course the white Corian counter tops and I think I'll go with white ceramic brick tiles for back splash and the tiling under the stainless steel fume hood. 
      Then hubby and I got a great idea - we have a door going out to the garage right in the middle of the kitchen.  I wish we could move it!  We've tried everything and every way to move it but it involves just way more than we want to get into.  So then we thought why not change the door, maybe make it out of oak to match the cupboards (but trying to match hinges and door jams is a big pain) or...  paint it with blackboard paint and use it like a menu/message board!  I think it would be so fun to put a cute menu in colored chalks on the door, notes to each other, shopping lists, etc.   Am I crazy or is that not a fun idea?  (Ok we need to think that one through thoroughly but I still like the idea). 

  I haven't told the hubby yet that I will need new dishes - something bright and colorful.  Oh yeah!

I HAVE NO KITCHEN

By the end of Sunday, Dec 12th, my kitchen looked liked picture #1 above.  We sold the kitchen to someone who will put it in rental property (?)  Ok, it is going to a new life - recycled and all so I am proud of that - but EVERYTHING went.

I have no sink, no range, no microwave, no fridge, no dishwasher, no cabinets and

no countertop.

We made $300 on the deal however! and the new owners did all the work - SWEET.

After I came home from work Monday, the kitchen looked like Picture #2.

We are removing the soffit, the tile, one small wall and the old pantry/closet.  Yuck - dust and insulation everywhere!

But it is all progress

I have a new JennAir gas range (36") stainless steel, in my front room and the exhaust hood is coming today (also Stainless Steel).  We haven't finalized all the design yet but there will no longer be a pennisula and the new pantry will be built in next to the fridge.  The countertops will be white Corian. The back splash will be tiled but probably pencil tile made of white marble, gray glass and beige marble to pull all the colors together.  The kitchen cabinets will be red oak and the dining room will be mahogony to match an anitque hutch I have - so I guess I'll need a new dining table and chairs to match the hutch. 

I'm looking at cork flooring - we'll see how that goes.

Anyway I'll keep updating pictures if I can find my camera and my computer... that's the part of remodeling that drives me nuts:  WHERE IS EVERYTHING?

But again, thanks Murray District for not letting me retire - all this money you could have saved is now going to a good cause:  ME!