Fridge Cabinet

Kitchen Tile Closeup

Finished Kitchen

Tiled backsplash has been finished and porcelain handles added.

Ready for a party of 17 for Easter dinner

The family room looks pretty bare right now, as seen from the kitchen. I've been committed to create a built-in entertainment unit in the corner with storage cabinets extending off to the left.

The dishwasher has a couple of great features -- the buttons are all hidden in the top edge of the door where little fingers won't find them, and there is no exposed heating element to melt your plastics if they fall through the basket. Stainless steel interior and nylon baskets that won't rust. (The basket in our last machine was rusting to pieces. Never again.)

Appliances

Connie is very pleased with her new dual-fuel, dual oven range. The top burners are gas, and the two ovens are electric. The small upper oven will get the most use -- preheats in a couple of minutes! Great for sating spontaneous cookie cravings.

Furnished

The sectional couch follows the contour of the carpet edge. Designing the carpet/hardwood layout around the size and shape of a piece of furniture may not have been the best idea, but that's what we did.

Eighth Saturday - Occupancy!

The carpet is down (sorry, no exciting pictures of that milestone) and the kitchen is fully functional, so we moved back in. The tile backsplash is still a week or two out -- there's a waiting list -- but we can live without it a little longer.

Fireplace

The fireplace still lacks the brown marble tiles we picked out (from Costco of all places!) which will be installed at the same time as the kitchen backsplash. The mantle is another job I have to do myself over the next few weeks (when I get my garage shop back). I'm afraid this is the only shot that shows the new carpet.

Dining Room

Although we still need another coat of finish on the floors, we'll be putting the dining furniture back in by the end of the day (with heavy felt pads on table and chair legs!)

One more day should do it.

We're now into the final details and will have the fridge in place in a few minutes.

Counter-to-ceiling Cabinet

The counter-to-ceiling cabinet had to be hung a couple of inches above the base cabinet to allow a space in which to later slip the counter top. Tom returned another day to cover the gap with molding. The edge-banding hadn't been finished yet in this picture.

Island

The island is almost complete. I just have to stain the edge banding on the counter top and follow with three coats of polyurethane. The cabinets themselves were finished with satin lacquer.

Cabinets Installed

Most of the cabinet installation was done today. There was some rework needed on the refrigerator stall, and that will be done on Wednesday.

The counter-top guy just left with the measurements -- he'll be back tomorrow to put the tops on. We opted for oak-banded formica.

Crown Molding

We really liked the creative use of offset crown molding to add interest to the kitchen "skyline." With the ceiling now 12 inches higher than it used to be, we now will have significantly more cupboard space (although we will have to keep a step stool close by to reach some of it.)