a long awaited kitchen report

I love looking back to these two pictures taken on the day I first used my key to enter our new house. So much has changed and I sometimes forget how far we have come until I pull these out as a comparison.

The last time I posted about the kitchen was in 2013 after we had just had new counter tops installed. Oh, they are so beautiful. As much hype as granite gets these days, I feel these deserve that hype. I'm pleased with the color and the detail and - well, they are just so much better than the faux butcher block laminate that was there before.

We installed a new 5 burner gas cooktop and couldn't be more pleased with it. I had to take a photo of the first meal I cooked in more than 6 months. We were so tired of microwave meals and crock-pot meals and eating out and mooching meals off of our parents. It was so nice to even cook ramen noodles on the stove. What a blessing to have a stove!




And then Scott broke his arm in July and things slowed way down while he recovered from the surgery that pinned his arm back together. A nerve was pinched in the accident and the resulting nerve damage meant that his right wrist and hand were paralyzed, which as a right handed person, put a heavy cramp in his style!

(Luckily, as I write, he has probably 85-90% functionality back in his hand, I am constantly amazed at how miraculous our bodies are and how they are able to heal themselves.)

At least with the ovens, stove top and sink, we could now cook in the kitchen. So, months went by moving along slowly with the tile back splash (two versions before ending with the white subway tile I had envisioned from the beginning).

We've added a new dishwasher, double ovens and upper cabinets, the new sink and faucet, and then finally in February added the new floor tile. Before Scott had a chance to grout and clean it I was worried that it almost looked the same as the cement underlayment. However, now that it is all clean and finished up, I am very happy with how it turned out.

We installed some board and batten trim around the walls and new casings around all the doors, windows and openings - with a craftsmen style inspiration.

In went a new pendant over the sink and hanging light over the stairway and chandelier over the kitchen table.

Crown moldings were installed just a week ago and now all there is left to do is for me to finish caulking, puttying and painting all the trim work, touch up the original gray wall color, and stain the banister. There are the few little tiny things that have to be done here an there (a new switch plate cover, a weird shaped tile, the trim on one can light) but for the most part the kitchen project is coming to an end. We do have to spend a little time now on the family room side of the wall where we need to texture and paint and put the moldings around the opening, but we can see the light at the end of this tunnel. 

And then there are the back yard tunnel and the basement tunnel still to come, but I will just be happy for now that I'm almost out of this tunnel. At least we don't have to "live" in those other renovation projects on a day-to-day basis. If I can manage to clean my kitchen I might post some more "final" pictures of the room, the above pic was to show dad the crown and is not the best angle for showing off the whole room. Yippee!