Now We're Cooking With Gas

If you've been following our blog you are well aware of the many problems we've encountered renovating our kitchen. First, the kitchen cabinet company shipped the wrong sink base cabinet, which delayed the installation of all our kitchen cabinets for three weeks (see Delivery Day). Then the company we hired to install our countertop and tile floor and backsplash botched the countertop fabrication and then refused to finish the job (see Counterop Catastrophe). Well, I'm happy to say that after months of eating microwaved frozen dinners our kitchen is 90% done. (It will be a few months before my father can visit to help us complete the remaining 10%, but I couldn't wait that long to show off our new kitchen.)

Here's what we've accomplished over these challenging months:

• Stripped kitchen of existing cabinets and appliances. Pulled up linoleum tile floor and plywood subfloor. (see Cooking Up A New Kitchen)
• New electrical wiring and outlets installed (see Our New Home)
• Plaster walls repaired after electrical work (see If These Walls Could Talk)
• Hot and cold water pipes and waste drain moved from center of kitchen wall to corner
• Patched approximately 2 foot by 2 1/2 foot hole in kitchen floor where dumbwaiter had been located
• Converted pantry into space for refrigerator with custom bookshelf on top
• Walls and ceiling primed and painted
• Kitchen cabinets installed
• Quartz countertop and undermount sink installed
• Tile floor installed
• Ceiling fan light and undercabinet lighting installed
• Removed existing base and shoe molding. Primed, painted and installed new base and shoe molding.
• Window and door moldings patched, primed and painted
• New refrigerator, range and microwave installed

The only thing left to complete is the backsplash. The tile guy we hired only completed half a wall before walking off the job. I purchased a manual tile cutter in hopes of finishing the job. In the process I discovered some pieces could only be cut using a wet saw, which was too heavy for me to lug home from Home Depot by myself. In addition, I learned that the wall along the hallway is not level and needs to be smoothed out by someone with more experience working with plaster than I have before the tiles can be applied. (That's where my father comes in.)

But that's just cosmetic work. What really matters is that the sink is finally connected, which means we no longer have to wash our dishes in the bathroom sink. And all of our appliances are hooked up, so we're finally able to enjoy home-cooked meals.

The following pictures illustrate the kitchen transformation:

Kitchen Before
(Note: The before pictures don't capture the excessive levels of

grime that covered the cabinets, appliances and window.)

Kitchen After