T-25 days until work officially begins on remodeling our kitchen. Given that we have been in our house 9 years, my wife can hardly wait. While we have talked about it for years, the funds to actually proceed with the project as well as my urge to do it came to reality about six months ago when I made an innocent little comment. Something about “if we are going to spend X amount of money on the house, I’d put into the kitchen before I spent it on flagstone steps and landscaping.” That of course led to the question of how much will our kitchen cost? Well, four months and about a dozen designs later (yes it took that long to figure out my own kitchen) we finally had a plan and idea that we both love, and it fits into the price range we could afford. About mid December the cabinet order was placed, and on January the 4th, the cabinets went into production. Since that time, my wife has done holiday baking, birthday cakes and treats for our two young sons, and we entertained her family for Christmas, (as a fitting send off, my brother-in-law cooked a fabulous Prime Rib in our old and aging Hot Point oven) and at every step she was imagining where things would be in the new space.
While she is excited to get started and more importantly finished so she can start using her new double ovens, I am the one who is stressed. Where will we store things, how am I going to get all the painting and touch up finished after the drywall is installed, where will we eat breakfast, is the cabinet order right, how will we keep our 3 year old from driving his trains on the exposed electrical wires? Anything can be a train track to him. While the big items are decided (cabinets obviously, hardware and counters) we still need to pick a faucet and paint color for the kitchen. The only thing holding us back now is she is hosting a baby shower for a friend on the 5th of February, so the house can’t be in disarray. However as soon as people are gone, everything begins getting boxed up and packed away. So as Valentines Day approaches (yes the contractor begins demolition on February 14th) and couples are planning their romantic dates, nothing will say “I love you” to my wife more than seeing our old kitchen torn out.
Check back to see how we are progressing on the project, and as I offer my thoughts not only as a kitchen designer, but a customer as well.
Go to the photos...
- Andrew
