day eighteen

Here is the update:

Vince has two kitchen designers he uses and his main guy (who supposedly doesn't miss anything/make mistakes) was out of town when we were designing our kitchen. So he used the other guy, which he does often but this guy obviously missed a few things and mess up. 

1) The cabinet for our double ovens is 30" not 33".... 
(a 33" was in the plan we approved by somehow it got changed)

2) The cabinet for below the cook top isn't a cabinet, it is only a front plate of a cabinet...

3) The upper cabinet to the right of the sink is a 36' with a 3" filler- but it really needs a 5" filler to fill the space... I am really pushing for the 36" to be replaced with a 42". I would much rather have a bigger cabinet, and an inch less next to my window (there would still be a 2" space) than a 5" filler piece!

Not happy campers around here. Vince and Roman came over, measured things and Vince at the cabinet place to find out when we can get new cabinets here. 


*update* Vince called. They have ordered everything we need. A bigger cabinet for the ovens and a cabinet for under the cook top. They don't make a 42" glass cabinet, so after a lot of back and forth (of who would pay for it) we are getting two 21" glass cabinets for that area. Thankfully Vince is paying for all of it (which he should- his kitchen guy made the mistakes, not us!). The cabinets will get here in 5-10 business days, so next Thursday at the earliest. Then a day or two to get everything installed, measure for counter tops, and then they need to be cut, which can take a week, but hopefully only a few days. Install the counter tops, and then the floor guys have to seal the floors again. So we are looking at 2-3+ more weeks without a kitchen? 

So we are at a standstill for now. 

Here is where the kitchen is at:

The wall was dry-walled and the vent piping was put in. 

These are my pretty pantries

 The too small cabinet for the double ovens

The too small upper cabinet for this space...

the bottom one goes all the way to the right and the dishwasher will go in the gap. 

Pretty new holes for the pendents- the blue ones and the one with wires. 

The sink centered under the window (it wasn't at first because all of the wrong sized cabinets messed Roman up)

The cabinet front. Doesn't really work as a place to put my pots and pans.

  The upper cabinets that go on the right next to the double ovens and to the left of the window are in front of the island.

How are we eating???

People keep asking me how we are surviving without a kitchen. Here is what we are doing. The fridge is in the garage, the laundry room has a sink and a counter top so that is where we wash the dishes/clean up and the office (across the hall from the laundry room) is our temporary kitchen. We have a card table as our work surface with basic everyday needs. Under it is our rice cooker, toaster, crock pot, George Foreman grill etc and random containers for storing extra food. The microwave is on a chair and then the changing table is our mini pantry. 


We eat cereal for breakfast. 


Sandwiches for lunch


Dinners have been random and creative- 
Grilling (chicken/hot dogs/hamburgers)
Salads
Crockpot meals
pancakes
Rice in rice cooker (side)
Couscous in microwave (side)
Pizza (3.99 for a large Monday deals at Little Cesars)
 A few wonderful dinners brought by friends/neighbors!


Not too bad, it has worked for a couple of weeks... not looking forward at how long we have to make this work!

day seventeen

Today started off looking really good and ended with really bad news. Roman was putting the cabinets in one by one, the island was placed where I want it, the holes were made for the pendant lights, all looking good. Then Dave came home after work and Roman told us the bad news. Some of the cabinets don't fit right. They are too small. The wrong ones were ordered...

He promised to call Vince (we did too) and figure this out. We went to bed that night really stressing out. It took 3-4 weeks to get the cabinets here. Can they rush us the correct ones? How much longer are we going to be without a kitchen????? AHHHHHH 

day sixteen

Today (Tuesday), the electrician put some holes in the ceiling for the pendants while we were at swim lessons. When I came home and asked how he had centered/placed them without knowing where the island goes... he had been told to put them where it made sense and he felt bad. He told me to let him know where I wanted them. 

The cabinets are starting to go in and of course there are hiccups. Roman put the two pantries in so the doors wouldn't open together (one hinged on the right and the other on the left so you can see both at the same time with the doors open), but rather side by side, both hinged on the left-one opening into the wall, which didn't make sense to me, so I had him fix that. He wasn't given the best floor plan drawing to build the kitchen off of, so there are a few other things we need to switch, but first the little wall needs to be dry-walled. 

I went over to my neighbors house, who has the same floor plan as our house and the big island in her kitchen and measured etc and finalized the placement of where I want the island to be. Then I made a island placement & lighting plan to give to Roman and the electrician so holes can be drilled for the pendent lights and the island can be placed. 

I am torn- it is hard being home with the kids when work is going on, but I also want to be able to keep an eye on things so everything is done right. Some people might think I am silly, but I know what I want and I want it done right! 

We have been in and out most days, enough time for me to check on things but also be gone so the kids don't drive me (and the workers) crazy!

day fifteen

Today the kitchen cabinets came! 

The electrician also came and worked a bunch.

The wall for the corner cooktop is being built.

Roman- the head demo/building guy... his stance while talking on the phone cracks me up. 

Basically lots of holes and wires. Very important stuff!

A little hiccup- the pantry's they ordered are 1"-2" too tall. Oops! We will see what they are going to do about that- we have been assured that they will be fixed. 

Can't wait to see more cabinets tomorrow! Maybe I will get to place where I want the island?

days eleven, twelve, thirteen & fourteen

Our GC's guys were busy demoing another job so we had to take Thursday off. Friday we met him and picked out the counter top slabs. 

White Carrara Marble for the large island

Absolute bIack granite for the counters against the walls.  I forgot to take a picture of the absolute black granite, but it is all the same- here is a picture from the internet. 

Both counter tops are going to be honed and then sealed, which will make the black one darker than in the picture above. It will look more like this:

Saturday and Sunday no one came to work on the house but we were busy checking things off of our list- 

• Cut up the family room carpet into a large rug & clean it
• Put trash in backyard left over from various projects in dumpster 
• Buy vent for over cook-top
• List old appliances on craigslist
• Cap off extra laundry room hookups in basement (they weren't done right and it SMELLED!)
• Install programmable thermostat... 

I think there were a few more little ones, but that was Saturday for us. Sunday we rested. 

day ten

The floor guys did the first of two coats of sealant on the floors today. They look the same, just shinier and more "finished"

day nine

Tuesday they sanded and sanded... 

Then that afternoon and evening (until 10pm!)

they stained the floors.

I took pictures Wednesday morning of the freshly stained floors. 

One of the big sanders they used. 

Entry

Living/Library

Dining

doorway between Dining and kitchen

Kitchen

Hall closet

Step down to basement

Walkway to entry 

Family Room

We are so in love with the stain! It is the perfect color- warm tones, cool tones, light and dark grains.. LOVE IT!

day eight

Monday they finished putting in all of the wood. Love not having to walk on sub floor anymore!

We decided on a final stain. He gave me bigger samples of the two- the two squarish ones... I asked him to make one in between... the long tall one and it was perfect! Not too dark, not too light.