Back to the Kitchen

After a few diversions, some pleasant, some really sad, I am back to the kitchen. In particular, putting down the cork floor.
Myself.
You see, I have this habit of thinking I can do something. Something I have never done before. "It can't be that hard", I usually think before ordering all of the supplies and preparing my family for the fact that I am going to be handy.
So far, the gathering of the supplies needed has been more work than I imagined. The difficulty started after I found the flooring I wanted. The initial contact with the company was great - the pleasant guy answered all my questions and sent me the samples I requested. The problem started when I actually wanted to order the tile. I sent the hand drawn, fairly accurate floor plan thinking I would get back an estimate on the tiles I wanted. Instead, I got an estimate that was about 50% more than I needed; based on the total dimension of the room, not just the area I needed covered (no I don't want to tile under the already installed cabinets, thank you very much!). A few more emails went back and forth with the final "you can order what you want" coming from the less than helpful salesperson. I ended up making a phone call to try and get the guy I spoke to on the phone. Yes, I know I need to order an additional 20% for mistakes, etc., I just don't want to order 2 rooms worth of tile for 1 room worth of work.
My order, finally made, is sitting in neat little piles in my living room waiting to be installed.
Tomorrow.
Yesterday I spent the day prepping the plywood base with the cement based filler that took 6 trips to 3 different supply stores to find. I pray it is the right one. I just now know that any cement based anything dries faster than you want it to and the harder it gets, the harder it is to move around the floor. My entire body is achy, so today, instead of putting the tiles down, I took the day off to recover. Other than carefully marking up the floor and quickly covering it with anything I could find to prevent things little and big from making a mess, I did nothing. Floor related that is.
Tomorrow I will be on hands and knees again - attempting to lay tiles down in a straight line.
Wish me luck.

It's All In The Details

More than a week after getting all the appliances working, we have moved on to other things. A few replacement cabinet doors arrived, now sitting still in their boxes in the garage. We will get around to putting them on, eventually. Right now we have more pressing things.

The shelves that were delivered were the wrong size. We have been informed that the correct size doesn't exist (salesperson's error) and so we have two choices - have the originals cut down and stained (for another couple of hundred dollars) or buy wood and do the whole thing ourselves. This week I will price out the wood and make a decision.

Baba san picked up the under cabinet lights, which are now installed and doing their job wonderfully. The soft blue glow illuminates what needs illuminating and eliminates the need for the overheads much of the time. I took a trip into the city and, thanks to friend and design expert Kevin, finally found and ordered the small pendant lights that will hang over the peninsula. We celebrated the purchase with cocktails at the W Hotel on Union Square and a short and thoroughly disappointing visit to the Nordstrom Rack that just opened there.

After a frustrating time with the cork manufacturer, I finally ordered the tile for the floor. If I didn't like the tile so much I would have gone elsewhere for the actual tile - where oh where are knowledgeable and helpful sales people anymore? The next three weeks will be spent painting the ceiling and walls and preparing the floor for the installation.

Tonight we will use the oven for the first time - making pizza, also for the first time. It was Ariana's idea. I just found a recipe online for the dough and have a bunch of toppings already to go. With it will be a salad from our garden, or more accurately, the lettuce plants I bought to plant in the garden that have grown so much we can actually eat them - I am so excited!!!

More on the garden and the pizza another time................manga tutti!!!!

Patience

We are enjoying our not-quite-finished kitchen immensely. The layout really works and makes things so much easier. Getting used to where things are will take some getting used to, but all in all things are working out well. We still have a bit to finish over the next few weeks.

Monday brings the plumber back to finish installing the dishwasher and the cabinet guy to touch up the surfaces on several of the doors, which arrived; minus some stain, badly stained, nicked and otherwise unacceptable. The range repair person is also coming, since it still is not turning on with any consistency. It did not work at all on Friday and Saturday, but today is working like a charm. Luckily we have the grill outside where we have made our meals.

I have been working out the design for the floor - we are going with cork. There are so many options and colors it took me awhile. Now that the counters are in and we can see how they work with the cabinets, the decisions are a bit easier. I should be able to put the order in next week.

Baba san ordered the under-cabinet lights, which should come in about 2 weeks. While a bit more expensive, he decided on LED lights - more energy efficient and we will never have to change a bulb. I have almost decided on the pendant lights - one more trip down to The Bowery should finalize that.

The only major decision left is the back splash tile. I have some ideas, but will continue to think about it. I probably won't order anything until the floor tile is down so as to see how everything works together. In the meantime, I have to paint the ceiling, trim and walls - VERY CAREFULLY, I might add.

The Counter

Ah, to have real counters again. While we were waiting, baba san got creative and laid down folded cardboard boxes and wood from the old shelves, not just to protect the cabinets but so we could use them until the real thing was installed. That happened yesterday, with three rather large men carrying in the slabs of granite. Of course, that meant I had to clean off the surprising full space of toaster, microwave, various plates, glasses, silverware, etc. that had accumulated.

After that I mostly watched as they grunted and groaned while maneuvering the giant pieces. And then, voila!! I ran my hand over the smooth surface, congratulating myself on the last minute change in stone - baba san decided we should be designing kitchens after he saw the finished work. I just want him to clean up after himself so the beautiful counters stay beautifully clear of miscellaneous objects that seem to appear every time he walks into the kitchen.

My Bert

Bertazzoni that is. A most beautiful range. Now, if only it would work. But, just like an Italian, it needs some sweet talk. Sometimes it turns on right away and others, I can hold the knob until I am frozen and only hear the "click, click, click" of the starter. I have a call into the manufacturer and I am supposed to hear from then today.

Today was one of those days when it turned on right away and I took the opportunity, at Ariana's request, to make some popcorn.

Delish!!!!!

Tomorrow the counter gets installed. I am patiently waiting for the phone call that will tell me the time it will arrive. I can't wait to get everything set up and get the sink installed. As much as I have enjoyed not having to do dishes and to try out the restaurants in town, I am ready to start cooking again.

Especially when I have such a lovely thing to cook on.

The Cabinets

In these many boxes that now fill half the garage are our beautiful cherry cabinets. I have spent all morning trying to match up the number of boxes with the order form and cannot do it. Either I have too much or too little. Things like the drawer dividers I know are installed in the cabinet, but other things I think should be there. Like entire cabinets. But of course, on the delivery sheet they are listed one way and on the order form, another. I will just keep my fingers crossed that when they are installed, there is not a gaping hole where one should be.

We sit patiently waiting for the inspector to show - a morning appointment has turned into an afternoon one. In the meantime, our kitchen guys are keeping busy doing other things. Matt left and will return for the inspection - John is here taping a wall and keeping an ear out for the phone. He has a baby on the way that may be on the way a little early. His partner Matt joked that if the baby comes, baba san can fill in finishing the sheet rock, given he did such a good job on the wiring.

Don't know how baba san feels about that...

It Works

After three days of pulling out old wires and putting the new ones in;


It works!!!!

Let's hope the building inspector is as thrilled with the work as we are.

We are Back and It is Gone

Good bye useless stove.

Sayonara ugly linoleum.

Hasta la vista cabinets with the nails dangerously sticking out of the sides.

Good riddance Formica counter made to look like wood.

See ya 80's chandelier.

Since we got back, baba san has been feverishly wiring the outlets, the lighting, the switches and anything else electrical. Ariana, Tess and I have been mostly staying out of his way, except when the sound of "Jennifer..." reaches my ears. Then I enter, hold whatever it is I need to hold, and disappear again as soon as I am released from my "assistant" duties.

Ariana too has joined into the fun, sweeping up the floor - very nicely I might add.

In the meantime, the contents of the yucky cabinets are now scattered in the dining and living room.
My thoughts of organizing everything within easy reach were in the end, just thoughts. While we have found a few things, most of it will stay hidden away until we unpack. We have a supply of plastic plates and cutlery and will most likely patronize our local restaurants for the duration.

3 Reasons Why We Are Redoing Our KItchen

1.
2.
3. Nuff said??

As enthusiastic cooks, we were incredibly frustrated by the poor layout of this kitchen. I have a particular peeve about appliances being right up against a wall and here we have two of them. The fridge hits you in the face when you walk into the kitchen and the stove - well, this is a particular disaster. Not only is it flanking a wall (which I'm sure was a fire hazard even with the metal plate on the side), but the microwave has been mounted too close to the stove top, which makes using the back burners a bit of a danger when you also have things on the front ones.

When one of us is cooking, the other can't be near the sink for fear of getting bumped and possibly injured by a flailing knife or pot of boiling water being moved. With the garbage under the sink, there is no room to quickly throw something out while someone else is cooking or doing the dishes. More than likely, the offending garbage will sit on a counter until the space is free. When the refrigerator door is open, no one can enter.

The cabinets are ridiculously inefficient, with shelves that are not adjustable and no room for anything. We have a big pantry in the kitchen, but with huge shelves, most things get lost and require much searching to find. The layout makes the least use out of the space, which would actually be quite sufficient for a more user friendly one.

We won't even mention the ugliness factor - you see the picture.

So, off we go to visit Nana and when we get back - it will all be gone.

The Prep Work

Packing, packing, packing - where will it end? For the past few days I have been slowing filling box after box with the contents of our kitchen, only to realize I need many more boxes to complete the task. Looking at the open cabinets, it doesn't look like that much, but as the boxes pile up, I realize what seemed like a minor task is turning into something more. Having moved in just about a year ago, there aren't so many "why do I still have this?"s - more like "oh, that's where this is".

Yesterday I took all of Ariana's artwork down - we had put them up all over the walls and the cabinets to hide the hideousness of the kitchen. She got into it and what started in the kitchen crept out into the hall down to the family room. And the living room. Everything from school work to pages ripped out of coloring books to candy wrappers made it up for all to see. The bathroom has a collection of greeting cards going back to her 3rd birthday - a mini trip down memory lane. It will all come down once we paint the downstairs, but for now the creative musings of our daughter are displayed among my mother's realistic oil paintings and the abstract work of Noi Na, the elephant from Thailand.

While we make a short visit to see Nana, the cabinets, some walls, and the mysterious stuff between the walls will be made to disappear. Our appliances will be relocated to the garage, all except the fridge, which will be relocated to the front hall. How convenient - walk in the house - grab a brewsky!! For the duration of the work, we will be trying the restaurants here in town. Even with our old electric stove that took forever to heat and never got quite hot enough, we still preferred to cook at home, so the list of places waiting for us is long. And of course, we will accept any dinner invitations issued - takers anyone??

The Project

When we first looked at our house, it was clear the kitchen was the first thing we had to change. This was back in May. After 9 months of procrastination, we are about to begin. Actually, we have already begun - the cabinets and appliances have been ordered (gulp) the contractor hired (another gulp) the permit applied for (a total bargain compared to the first two). We still need to confirm the plumber, find floor and wall tile and finalize the lighting.

Since several of you want the details, I thought I would use this space to document our progress for the next month or six.

Enjoy!!!