That's one small step for man, one giant leap for kitchenhood

So this happened today ....

We finally have our soapstone counter tops. It might not seem huge, but it is. All of the next steps hinged on having a them installed.

Counter tops (and sink) starts the trajectory of projects...

• Stove can be hooked up.
• Backsplash can be installed.
• When the backsplash is installed, we can have the electricians come up to finish up the switches and the rest of the lighting.
• Now that we have a sink, we can install the faucet and dishwasher.
• Once the dishwasher is installed, we can add the bottom kick-plate molding and finish other moldings. We will also be able to add the front panel to the dishwasher (actually being held up by me being scared of putting the order in for the cabinet hardware).

As you can see, we picked soapstone as your choice for the counter tops as well as a farm-house sink. Why soapstone? I wanted something that had a nod to the old, was pretty sturdy, and had a bit of warmth since I generally lean toward cool finishes. And it's purdy.

It's almost laughable that I thought we might be done by Halloween. Perhaps, New Years? Should we start taking bets?

Just in case you forgot what we started out with... I leave you with this beauty.

Full Speed Ahead

 The past week we've come along way from a room with no drywall to now having a refinished floor, painted drywall, and cabinets starting to be placed in the room.

First the floors....

They came out okay and show lots of "character." We are fine with the results, but are suprised that they came out lighter than other floors in the house. A few years ago, we refinished the floors in our office and they came out more amber and matched the rest of the hardwood floors in the house. We used the same sandpaper, floor belt sander, poly - with different results. Weird.

On Friday night we started to prime the walls and ceiling after putting three coats of poly down on the floor. By Saturday afternoon, the walls and ceiling were all painted. It was the fastest completed paint job ever. I'm guessing that we had a nice breeze going though the house that helped speed up drying times and it was not our awesome paint skills that gave us quick results. We used Benjamin Moore's Bunny Gray (but mixed into ACE Hardware paint) and the lightest color on the same color swatch for the ceiling.

The dude is the official photographer around here and he apologizes for the distorted colors in the kitchen due to poor lighting as we only have one bulb in the recessed lighting. The walls do not really look like a Lisa Frank folder in real life.

A few nights ago, the dude cut some 2x4s to act as a back leg support for the cabinets and then we started to put them in place. We haven't fastened them to the wall yet (we are a bit scared making them so permanent and have measured the appliances a number of times to make sure the range and dishwasher fits perfectly). There was a slight freak out about the range dimensions - my Ikea layout and the actual measurement were two different numbers. Yeah, fun.

They (Ikea and the internet) tell you to put on the cabinet fronts at the end of the process. We defied their sage advice and decided to go for it! I started having second thought on my cabinet hardware choices after I read many reviews on the white Ramsjo cabinets that we chose. The cabinet fronts kind of read a bit pink. (Just tell me it's not that bad, please). Since we own all of the cabinet fronts, we are taking a deep breath and soldering on.

This weekend we need to continue placing cabinets and I need to order cabinet hardware. Eek!

Next post...the fun details - lighting, hardware, and inspiration.

The Plan - Layout

It took us about a year to seriously decide on a layout for the new kitchen and the looming expiration of an IKEA kitchen sale to push us to make the move. Since it's a weird shape and pretty small, after many drawings on scrap pieces of paper, we decided to stick with a very similar layout with a few minor adjustments. Yeah, not that exciting.

We kept the appliances on the right side of kitchen in basically the same spots. The stove and sink are the same locations, but the dishwasher moves over a bit to be next to the sink. The big change for that side of the room are for the cabinets that are under the window at the end of the kitchen - they are gone! and the kitchen goes to a true galley layout. With the cabinets under the window gone, we will be able to have a better view of the backyard - primary to make sure that the dog isn't eating a squirrel or a rabbit. 

You'll also notice that we are living on the edge with having no uppper cabinets flanking the stove and no microwave/fan combo (more on that below). I know, CRAZY! Depending on how it goes, we may add open shelving to that wall if we need more storage. What we are adding, are two 24" wide drawer cabinets for plates, bowls, pots, and pans.



Now for the other side of the kitchen! In the picture below, we have the fridge, a pantry, and then an upper and lower 12" wide cabinets. Our microwave will be going into the pantry to keep the counter tops free of appliances.

Due to code regulations, we have to change the swing of the door that currently goes over the mudroom steps (located near that upper/lower cabinet. It's the ivory door that you can see here) and have it swing into the room which eats up precious kitchen space. In order to make it work, we are going to switch the location of the fridge and pantry from the rendering above's layout and hopefully still be able to get a shallow depth bottom cabinet in there too. By switching the fridge and pantry, we will not need to have 7 inches on the left side of the fridge (for the filler strip) to be able to open it fully and will only need 2 inches for the pantry doors to open against that wall.

I'm depending having that single upper and lower cabinet for the coffee maker and baking supplies as well as having a home for an USB outlet above the counter top. Since the room has been gutted, we have done a lot of double and triple checking our measurements and it will be close. Fingers crossed it works!

Could I learn to love it?

The Dude wants a Poang chair. I understand that they are comfortable, but I'm just not into it.

My mind could be changed with the sheepskin cover though.

An Ikea Lunch

Here's my strategy to fit a trip to Ikea during your lunch hour (many of my time saving rules were broken today).


Parking

Bring a child or two other co-workers to qualify for family parking.

Park near the exit not entrance if you think people will give you the stink-eye by parking in family lot.

Planning

Research what item(s) you need before the trip. Go with a mission.

Decide on who will play bad cop (i.e. “Focus!” “Stay on target!”)

Store plan (Acknowledge that you can not walk around the whole store. Either choose the room vignette space or choose touring the marketplace, but not both. Also, take advantage of the short cuts.)


Food

(don't judge my food choices)

Stick to easy eating meals and ones that do not need extra preparation from kitchen staff (stay away from the cheese steaks).

Normally it's not advertised but there is a $1.99 pasta meal

Seating location. (Depends on store. You may want sit near the place to put trays away or near the exit.)


The secret of the elevator. The South Philadelphia store has two elevators - one goes to the market place, one goes to the entrance. If you are just there to eat and leave, find the elevator that goes to the entrance.


No shiny objects


Designated bad cop reminds you to stay focus

No impulse buys. You don't need weird Swedish candy, even if it is on sale.

Check out Time


Items prior to check out – Ignore

As is section – Glance in

As I learned today, only go to the Self Check out lanes. Even if the regular cash register lane looks empty, you will have someone in front of you buying a "glorpglorp" with no price tag.

Time for ice cream!


Also, beware of wacky school holidays and going back to college season.