Ready for counter top template!

We are ready for the counter top fabricator to do the template, which happens Wednesday.  John has a few small tasks tomorrow.  My sink, the queen of the kitchen, is in her place (though not yet plumbed).  She is gorgeous.  There is much elation tonight.  Still deciding what to call her... maybe Queen Crosspatch after the fairy queen.

Here is the countertop sample next to the sink

Before

Now

Now is still pretty unfinished.  No drawers yet.  No cabinet hardware.  No counter top.  No window sill.  No faucet.  No back splash.  Floor is partially covered with ramboard, which is a kind of cardboard floor protection.  New cabinets are not painted yet.  Cabinets are empty.  We are also changing the lighting over the sink.  Still, it looks so much better to me.  I like the lines of the new upper cabinets much better.  And the lowers don't have that chopped up stuff to accommodate the dishwasher and the blind corner cabinet.    We have much better and more accessible storage, even without the blind corner.

We made the uppers on the wall with the window two inches less deep to let in more light.  They start two inches lower than the old ones, which makes them look right (more graceful)  and also make the storage more accessible to me since I am short.  That's the great thing about custom cabinets.  They can be right sized for the space.

John is a foot taller than I am and one of our challenges was making the kitchen work for a tall and a short person.  The pullout cutting boards are so I have a work surface at the correct height.  The farmhouse sink also helps me.  I often stood on my tiptoes to wash dishes and where I had to bend to use the old sink made my back hurt.

Something old, something new

As the final phase of our twenty year kitchen project comes to a conclusion, it makes me think of the advice for brides to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.  Our kitchen includes lots of new things and several pieces of vintage furniture from the twenties.  So we got old and new covered. I am dropping the borrowed and blue categories and replacing those categories with "local", "ubiquitous" and "unusual".

For local, we plan to use Pratt and Larson tile, which is locally owned and made.  When I go to Pratt and Larson's showroom, I see the tile makers on break in their covered outdoor break area.  I think building with local products used to be more common, but today most things are made outside the US so locally made  products aren't so common.  I like the idea of using something locally made.    Besides, I think the owners of Pratt and Larson are aging hippies like me.  I like that, too.

We are installing the Kohler Whitehaven 36 inch tall apron sink, which is THE ubiquitous trendy sink of today's kitchen remodels.  It's a great sink and deserves its popularity.  Not only is it pretty but it is functional with it's drain tucked in the corner giving extra room under the sink.  It is designed to be easy to install, though it is certainly heavy.  I like the idea of something in our kitchen that marks the time of our remodel.

This is my sink, still in the box, but soon to be installed!

We aren't going to have a dishwasher or a garbage disposal.  I think that covers unusual pretty well.

And I think we will actually wrap up this twenty year project in just eighteen years instead of twenty.  It's good to be early.  I better get busy on that time capsule.  I don't have nearly enough stuff for it yet.

Kitchen Progress

The uppers have their crown molding.  The plaster is fixed.  And, the lowers are in the kitchen, ready for installation.

I love the pullouts and the height of my new work surface.  Here I am pretending.  I can't wait  to put things back in the cabinets.

Glad to see some rain

I am glad it's rainy.  We need the rain.  The back yard is looking nice from the door, especially the honeysuckle, which is blooming and smelling wonderful.

Life is good

The last few weeks have been a bit intense.  I've been working lots of hours plus the kitchen project has been very active.  We've done most of the kitchen project ourselves (more John than me), but this week we had a demolition crew on Monday, plumbers on Tuesday, Pat helped John install the uppers on Wednesday and plasterers were here on Thursday and Friday.  John has been busy managing all that plus getting the upper cabinets installed and getting the doors on.

I am tired of having people besides John making banging and scraping sounds in my kitchen.  The cats are tired of it, too.  They have been locked up in one room a lot while all the workmen were here and they have cabin fever besides hating the banging  We are living without a kitchen sink.  Did I mention I've been working during all this?

And now things are back to normal.  No workers are scheduled to come and work this week except for the counter top template guy.  The uppers have their doors installed and they look good.  I'm done with work until July (big woohoo for that).  We even got caught up with most of the gardening, at least the parts I need help with.

Tomorrow John is putting up the crown molding.  Then we move the base cabinets into the kitchen for installation.

Really fun drawing tool

Fractal Drawing tool

You can do things like this

And this

Living without a kitchen sink

We are without a kitchen sink for a few weeks.    I really thought it would be pretty inconvenient, especially doing dishes.  Since we took out the sink, we've had all ten of our meals at home, cooked from scratch.  We are still composting, just as we did before.  We aren't using paper plates.

 It hasn't been so bad.  We wipe all the dishes with  paper towels before attempting to wash them, which is what we do when we camp.  I've been washing many things in the bathroom sink and the big pots and pans get washed in the basement laundry sink.  It really hasn't been so bad.

breakfast dish

after wiping with paper towel