Kitchen Remodel Extravaganza Kick-Off

Yesterday we started our kitchen remodel. I think at one point, when I started this blogging thing, I posted about before getting married, people should have to endure a remodel project to see if they should stay together/get married. I still think that, however, now, I think that they should also hire someone to do the work for them.

Much easier. Trust me.

We picked out our cabinets February 19th. We got a great deal through CMS (Cabinet Millwork Services, Inc.) out of Puyallup. Greg Halverson came to our house, measured and gave us a lay out. We had to order by the 19th because they were having a special on drawers. (Full plywood construction, heavy duty hardware, full extension and soft close, for the price of a regular drawer. EXCELLENT deal.) He said, "Amy, they'll be here in 30 days." Thirty days. I counted out on the calendar thirty days, thirty business days. I get a call on Wednesday, March 17th. It's Greg, "Amy, don't forget you have cabinets coming Monday, the 22nd!"

Um.... Hello? Excuse me? You said thirty days. Never mind that I ASSUMED it was business days, but you should have told me that up front...

Holy crap. We are going camping that weekend, and our garage is still full of appliances, motorcycles and quads and stuff.


Needless to say, the garage got cleaned out, stuff got moved around in order to make room for the cabinets. The cabinets arrived bright and early Monday morning and took up most of the garage.


Finally, FINALLY spring break arrived. Bart and Matt came over to help us tear out the old cabinets. Ed burned everything that night and we were officially off. Ron (our neighbor who is a finish carpenter) came bright and early Monday morning to begin installing the cabinets. Phil and I uncrated everything so that Ron could see what was there.

We had a slight plumbing issue... In the picture above, you can see cabinets. The base cabinet that you see on the far right against the wall is where my dishwasher goes/went. I wanted it moved to the right side of where the sink goes in order to make things easier when loading. The problem was that the dummies who made our house, (a modular home built at the factory, put on a foundation at the site.) just kind of threw the plumbing where they wanted it to go. So, we had this angled in sink pipe under the kitchen sink that would not let a dishwasher go where I wanted it to go. Sigh.

But, my talented Ed, who can do just about anything with some fertilizer, a piece of rope, and some glue, (think MacGuyver) had in mind just what to do.

So this is what the plumbing fiasco ended up looking like. The pipe now comes out of the wall at a 90 instead of 45. AND Ed had to go through a wall stud to make it look that way. However, this design will make it much easier to connect to the new sink and it looks A LOT cleaner.

Whew. Day 1 was rough. Lots of anxiety around did I choose the right cabinets? Oh no, I got a lazy Susan in this cabinet that I didn't ask for... holy cow, we spent ALL this money, is it going to look OK?

Sigh.

Needless to say, Ed and I went to dinner because I HAVE NO KITCHEN, YO! and then to Home Depot to look at/buy stuff for the fancy schmancy new cooking vent we have. I also looked at the counter top selection. I did some research yesterday and it looks like Silestone is the new-fangled way to go. I've decided that I'm doing this once. I'm going to get what I want. So, I brought home some samples. (Right now, my eye is drawn to the Mountain Mist color. Ed really likes Ebony Pearl.) It only takes two weeks to get the counter tops done and Home Depot is have some kind of special around the counter tops. It's either an edge upgrade until April 14th or a color upgrade like on the 24th. I don't know if I want to wait that long for a color upgrade. I want to get this done ASAP.

Home Depot may just be my new home away from home. I just wish it had a kitchen I could cook in.