It’s nearly time to destroy our kitchen. And the closer we get, the more nervous I get. I am not looking forward to being without a kitchen for a few weeks.
So, the last time I talked about the kitchen, we had just finalized our cabinets and counter tops. We are very happy with our choices and now I just hope it looks as good in reality as it does in my head.
I scanned our plans and thought you might be interested in seeing them:
Our range will be different, more on that in a minute. Other than that, this side of the kitchen is unchanged, save for the microwave above the range. We have a fan over the range now and our microwave on the counter top so we thought we would gain a little counter top space and put it above the range. The doors above the microwave will be smaller than we have now (to make room for the microwave), but we’re willing to make that sacrifice.
Now for the sink side. The two cabinets on either side of the arch will be glass doors – but not any glass doors. I didn’t want something clear because that would mean I would have to keep “nice, show” dishes in there and it would always have to look nice and in essence, that space would be reduced to display only and … no thanks. So we decided to go with a more opaque glass. Only after Kevin and I started thinking about it and realized that the glass we picked out is a bit more “white-ish” than we would have liked did we change our minds, so now we’re dealing with trying to get something different.
The glass doors? Freaking expensive. Especially if you opted to put any sort of lead pane work in, which we didn’t. But we thought it would be a cool addition to our kitchen, so we swallowed the price and moved on.
The two small cabinets above the sink? Will be new. There are no cabinets there now, just an arch, so I’m looking forward to having a bit more space to store junk, er, useful kitchen items is what I actually meant to say.
*ahem*
And see that oblong drawer directly in front of the sink? (Which will be an under-the-counter sink so I can just wipe food directly into the sink and not worry about it getting caught under a lip, like a standard sink). It’s a wedge drawer. Meaning that it opens out at a slant and that’s where we’ll keep our dish brush, sink stopper and sponges. This way, we won’t have to clutter the counter top. LOVE that feature.
On the far right you see two containers: that’s where our trash bin will go. We will no longer have our trash sitting out for every one to see and sniff when they come over. And though it’s not on the plans, the end of the cabinet (where the trash bins are), will be closed off and we’re putting a bookcase there, complete with fancy spindles. (I think that’s what you call them). I plan on keeping my cookbooks there. This will also free up more cabinet space since that’s where I have them stored now.
When Kevin and I met for our weekly lunch date last Wednesday, we went to a builder’s store and picked out our new range, dishwasher, microwave and fridge. (HIGHLY recommend Metro Builder’s. They were phenomenal to us!!)
We weren’t initially planning on buying a fridge, but when Kevin pointed out that our fridge was 18 years old and that he had had to replace a component on the motor five years ago (I totally forgot he had done that) AND that if we bought the fridge as part of a “package” deal we’d actually get it cheaper than if we bought it separately, we decided it was in our best interest to go ahead and throw in a fridge. I mean, we’d have to replace it soon anyway, we might as well do it now. (We’re planning on donating our fridge to a woman’s shelter or some other charity that could really use it). We got all four pieces at a really good price, better than if we had bought them through Lowe’s, so we left feeling pretty proud of ourselves, actually.
Brace yourself – we bought black appliances. I KNOW! Stainless steel is so popular right now. And I think Kevin really had his heart set on stainless steel but I’ll be honest folks, I’m NOT a big fan of stainless steel. First of all, it looks cold to me, which sounds stupid because black doesn’t feel cold? But I don’t know, I’m just not that impressed with them. But the biggest thing for me, the real clincher on the deal, are the fingerprints.
We currently have a black and stainless steel water cooler. And the fingerprints on that thing? Drive me bonkers!! And they won’t come off!! And if every appliance in our kitchen looked like that, I’d cut myself. I simply can’t stand that. And there is no way I’m going to spend my time cleaning those things off every time I see a fingerprint – i.e. every time someone freaking touches it. In fact, the salesman at the store told us that they hired a woman to come in, every day, and clean their stainless steel appliances so they looked spotless for customers.
Now granted, it’s a store, and lots of people are touching them, but still, fingerprints that won’t come off. UGH!
When Kevin heard that, he waffled on the stainless steel. I gave him three reasons we should go with the black.
One, it will be a lovely contrast against our honey-spice cabinets.
Two, we have black specks in our counter tops and that will coordinate nicely.
Three, they are WAY CHEAPER than stainless steel. Hence the reason we got all four pieces for almost less than what it would have cost to buy ONE stainless steel fridge. And every appliance is Kitchen Aid, which I’m told is a good brand. (See? I know nothing about this stuff).
I still think Kevin is a bit disappointed that we didn’t go with the stainless steel, but he’ll get over it. I honestly think black will look better anyway and … since when do I give in to fads? Which is what I think stainless steel is right now. And honestly, I think black will work better for our lifestyle and our kitchen.
Oh, and the range? Won’t have the controls in the back, like traditional range. No, the controls will be on the front. I’m insanely excited about this range. I get so disgusted with the one we have now, because with the controls on the back, they get all greasy and are hard to clean. We’re hoping the controls don’t get so greasy and messed up if they’re in the front. It also has a warming drawer.
Our cabinets are supposed to be delivered February 16th. That’s like … SOON. I’m a bit freaked out by that because when the cabinets come, then suddenly this will all seem REAL. We have to take our tile floor up. Our new cabinets will be a tad bigger than our current cabinet configuration, which means the tile floor will have to go. So, Kevin is going to rent a machine (I have no idea what it’s called – some tile remover machine thing), and he will remove the tiles while the boys and I follow behind him and clean up the mess. We’ll be walking on backer boards for quite some time as our new tile floor (that we may, or may not hire someone to do, we’re still discussing that part) won’t go in until the very last.
We’re also waiting on our back splash. And we’re holding off on that because we haven’t decided what we want yet. I’d rather just paint and then put that in later so I can see how the whole thing is going to look before deciding.
I still can’t believe this is all coming together. We’ve been talking about doing this for so long that it was sort of reduced to a “one-of-those-days” dreams. You know?
It looks like that faraway day? Is here.
Now.
Stay tuned. This is going to get interesting. And messy.
Write From Karen 