Building the kitchen.

We started this whole house "project" with a new kitchen as the cornerstone of everything. Steph and I love to cook so despite the fact that our bathroom doesn't have molding or baseboard, we are still using our basement and future bathroom as a pantry, and we don't have deck rail up, we knew that as long as the kitchen was done, we would be happy. In case you forgot, this is what our kitchen looked like when we bought the house:


We had a dream, and it is finally coming together…

After weeks of meticulously planning every last detail of a kitchen that was going into an addition that was not built yet, months of waiting for drywall, insulation, electricity, etc, and using a utility sink as a kitchen sink for too long to be proud of, it was time to begin work… We started with the "easy" stuff - no problem here….


This is going to be where our beautiful double-oven will go. We just hope it fits…


Next, we had to start to work on the top layer of cabinets. Steph's dad had a spacer to ensure that the height of the cabinets was uniform. This thing must have been 30 years old (unfortunately no picture :( but envision a Gandalf-esque staff with a piece of carpet on the top), but it worked!


Always have to start with the corners.


After we were all done with the top, we had to start working on the bottom - this is always fun when your floors aren't 100% level. We had to cut this cabinet from 3/4" to nothing to be sure the countertop would be level.


The view from our kitchen table. Its starting to come together…


Don't mind all the wires hanging down. Our electrician forgot to factor in that we were installing a floor when he measured for under-cabinet lighting so everthing is about 2 inches short. Oh well - whats a little more spackle.


We were seriously concerned that everything wouldn't fit, but in the end we were able to squeeze it all together (after shaving a few cabinets and using a whole stack of shims)


After all the cabinets were installed, the next decision was the granite - and it was a big one. We were going back and forth between black granite (either honed or polished) and a more "traditional" granite look. We spent a couple hours in the granite warehouse going over different options and ultimately settled on "Steel Gray." The 2 weeks it took to get delivered was very nerve-wracking. All we had done was look at it in a huge room with other slabs - we had no idea if it would fit in our kitchen. There was no turning back now…..