Kitchen Complete!

Here is the view looking towards the side yard and the garage. This was before we put the round table back in place. Also the cushions have still not been designed and ordered.

The scene has changed drastically since this picture was taken. The flowering cherry tree has bloomed and is now green. The hanging plants are now outside on the porch.

The wonderful pantry for most of the food needed in the kitchen has roll-out shelves. There is still some organization needed to make this fully functional. Above the pantry is a very handy space for cookie sheets, large platters, 9 x 13 pans and serving dishes.

Note that Dad has put up two of his smaller pictures on the brick wall separating the kitchen from the family room. The other one is opposite this one.

This is a good overall picture of the island, the sink and the stove-top areas of the kitchen. This is the view as you enter the side kitchen door.

This is a close-up view of the tile we used for the back-splash. The decorative 3" x 13" tiles have the brick tone to complement the brick wall.

Overall we are very pleased with the functionality of the kitchen upgrade. It is easy to keep clean and it is so easy to use. We use the island all the time for everyday things like using the Bosch (cookies, slicing/shredding), dehydrating (we have done spinach and celery already this spring), making sandwiches, and having a place for items that we are taking out of the refrigerator to make a salad, for instance.

Thank you Melinda, the kitchen designer, and Tony at T & J Kowalewski Contracting!

April Fool's Day?

This is a picture of today's work. The backsplash tile is in place.

Willie and Glen worked all day measuring and cutting the tile pieces to fit around 5 electrical outlets (determined by Baltimore County Code).

Ron determined that the decorative strip of tile ( 3 inch x 13 inch) had to be placed on the wall using the rule of thirds (an art thing...), which meant that the bottom 6 inch tile had to be cut smaller. Then the decorative strip had to be cut to fit around the electrical outlets, a whole 6 inch tile fit above it; but the top tile also had to be cut. So there was a lot of measuring and cutting to fit our small space of about 28 square feet.




The contractor boss, Tony, gave us homemade gifts today! I was so surprised. How darling was that? You can see another reason why we have really liked him. The bird house is for Bluebirds, with a rotating side to clean it out when it gets gross. I had wanted a new one to put in another place in our yard!! (We actually had a pair of Bluebirds in the one by Ron's orchard last year.) AND the little wooden bowl Tony carved out of a piece of wood! Very nice - plus he gave us some cinnamon apple potpourri to put into it.

Kitchen Nearing End!

This morning, Glen, the carpenter, came and unhooked the water connections and took the temporary sink out. Then about 2:30 PM, 3 Spanish speaking workers from Classic Granite and Marble came and worked for nearly 3 hours putting in the new granite. The trickiest part was the huge slab that was specially cut for the sink and window.

Picture: Here you can see the large piece with "specialty cuts" to fit the garden window. Pretty super job of cutting!!!

Al, the granite boss, who came and measured last week, said at first, that he thought he would make the slab on the sink top all one piece. Then he measured the wall that the stove top was on and said perhaps the sink piece would be too large to handle and the way the pattern was (see pattern of the granite above), the stove top side would have to be cut the other way. That was the way he left it.

However, you can see that he must have an artistic sense, because he decided that it would not look too great the other way and had his men cut the sink slab in one piece. They had a very difficult time fitting it in the space allowed. At first, it appeared that the window base was off about 1/2 inches. But they cut into the hall side wall board to allow the granite to ease a bit into that space and it turned out perfect! And the stove top slab was cut the corresponding way, so the seam is practically indistinguishable.

Picture: This shows the pattern of the granite on the stove top matches the direction of the granite of the rest of the kitchen.

Tomorrow the plumber comes and I am afraid that he will have a most difficult time. The sink is very large (19.5 x 21 x 11 in deep) and has the drain hole offset on the far right back side next to the window. The granite installers thought it might be best to put the faucet on the left side so all the water pipes and the disposal would not be squeezed into the small right back corner , but we did not think that would work, since the handle is on the right side. That would have meant that you would have to be careful when you turned the water on or you would get water all over your arm. We opted for the faucet hole where we originally thought - in the right back corner. So under the sink, in the far right corner, will have to be all the water pipes going to the faucet PLUS the drain with the disposal. Al, the granite man, said the plumber would not be happy!

Picture: Here you can see the faucet, which is just placed in the hole. And it is also a good view of the garden window. If you look closely, you can see how the one piece of granite forms the base of the window.

We heard today from Direct Buy that our tile for the back splash is in. We will probably pick that up tomorrow and let our contractor know. That will be the last large item for which he is responsible. The trim around the granite also needs to be completed.

Picture: Here you can see most of the kitchen....

The Kitchen Saga Continues

Picture: Notice the new garden window and that it is counter height...

March 10, 2008, Monday. Cabinets that went in today were the corner upper and the corner lower and the one next to that. They also had to work on the vent pipe that went along the ceiling (in the soffit in the old kitchen). It has to be tucked in the upper floor rafters.

Ron and I went to a tile place that deals with Direct Buy, called Dahtile, and they had a very nice showroom. We knew about what we wanted because we talked to a designer at Direct Buy and showed her our picture of the kitchen brick wall and our granite. She directed us to a certain color of tile. So we were able to make up our minds pretty easily. We took our piece of granite to help match. We picked out a neutral beige tile with a brick colored decorative strip.

March 11, 2008, Tuesday. The carpenter, Glen, put in the stove top cabinet and the pull-out cabinet next to it (adjacent to the door to the hall). Then they also put in the 3 upper cabinets above the stove top and installed the microwave.. They also installed the side panels for the Sub Zero - for the built-in look - and the cabinet above it!

Busy day for us: I worked at Family History Room at ward building from 10-12; Dad met me there after his check up with the Urologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital and we got lunch at Baja Fresh; then I worked at the FHC in Essex from 1-4 - we have a librarian on vacation and a new couple that needed to be trained. Dad went to his art class. We met up at home and left at 6 PM to attend a Baltimore County zoning meeting. Someone on our street wanted to divide his 9 acres to 4 lots. Needless to say, the Felsteds and Glovers were not too happy. Both Dad and Connie spoke for their allotted 2 minutes against it. We got home at 11:30 PM.

March 12, 2008, Wednesday. The kitchen guy, Willie, worked on getting the wallboard all spackled and other little details.

I went to the FHC to work my normal shift. Dad stayed home and worked on painting the Family Room. We have been calling since Monday to get the Sub Zero moved from our garage to our kitchen. The company that sold it to us has NOT been returning our calls. I finally talked to a person today. She said she would look into it...

Picture: notice the rolling drawers and the wallboard used as a temporary countertop!

March 13, 2008, Thursday. Willie and Glen worked on putting the pull-out shelves in the pantry and the dividers in the part above it. Another worker put on all the knobs on the cabinets. Glen also started the crown molding. We had to run down to Home Depot to get one knob for the small cabinet next to the refrigerator. The normal knob would not fit in/on the top drawer. We also picked up a new door stop for the kitchen door, spray paint for the heat vents to match the new paint color and felt pads for all the legs of the furniture in the family room.

March 14, 2008, Friday. Another trip - this time to another tile store to make sure they did not have anything that we would like just as well and would be easier to get than ordering it. We did not see anything.

We finally heard from Kitchen Design Center - they would send some men out on Monday, March 17th from 7:30 - 9 AM. Our island could not be put in until the Sub Zero was put in place - so this has caused another delay...

Picture: The Sub Zero is huge and very heavy. It made little grooves in the pine floor, which Dad had to sand away!

March 17, 2008, Monday. Lots of work done on the kitchen today. The men came at 8 AM and moved the Sub Zero from the garage to the kitchen built-in place. They did NOT level it or install it (like I think they were supposed to do). Ron also paid them to move the old refrigerator to the basement in the food storage room. This meant that we had to clean out the old frig and refill it when it was in the basement.

Then the electrician showed up briefly - just to get the electricity to the Sub-Zero. However, we had him move two recessed lights so they would be centered to the cabinets they were supposed to be lighting. Now why didn't he think of that before? The kitchen plans were there....

The kitchen people worked on tops for the drawer/window seats; put the island cabinets in and the beadboard on the back facing the family room and some other stuff.

We made a list for more stuff for a trip to Home Depot. But mostly we worked on getting the furniture back into the family room. That included dusting and vacuuming everything! Every little crevice, crack, sides of the furniture. There was sanding dust everywhere - even though we put up plastic barriers. Oh my...

We also decided to change some picture placements. Dad wanted more of his art in the room. I have suggested that he paint a more patriotic picture which would blend in with the decor. He is thinking about it. At the moment we have the tugboat picture, the barn and silo picture in here. Two small pictures - our house and a European view - are hanging on the brick wall between the kitchen and family room. We still have Jacob in his Civil War uniform up and we are looking for a nice reproduction of the 45 star flag to put into the Peter Christian Spanish American War case.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008. The kitchen men did not come today, so that Dad could work on staining the kitchen floor. So we started out in the morning by trying to get the stuff out of the cracks inbetween the floor planks. Then I left to work at the FH Room and then go down to the FHC to work as a substitute again. Dad vacuumed the floor with the Shop Vac and the Oreck to make sure all the dust/sand was gone. Then he stained the floor. Unfortunately, once again, the first coat defined the imperfections from the original sanding. So in the evening he used the hand sander to fix those spots. Dad had a dental appointment and then he attended his art class in the afternoon.

After the FHC, I came home and crashed briefly. There was a Relief Society event at Church that I felt obliged to go to - Connie was singing and Carole Baker had a speaking part. It was a nice event. I had dinner there. Dad picked up some Roma's chicken on his way back from the art class.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008. At 8 AM, Glen, our major carpenter, came and uninstalled the temporary kitchen sink so that the granite man could make an accurate template. At 9:30 AM the granite man came and spent about 1.5 hours measuring, consulting and then making a cardboard template of the countertop sections (sink part with bump out into the window; stovetop part; top of one little cabinet next to the refrigerator; top of another little cabinet next to kitchen door). We will go down there tomorrow, Thursday, to show where on the granite slab we want all these pieces to be.

We really like this granite place. The first place we went was very confusing - construction going on, large carts with various pieces of granite everywhere and blocking the slabs so that we could not see much. This place was clean, we could see the workers polishing the edges; they moved some slabs for us to get a better view. And we have heard very good reports of their seaming and over-all competence. The one owner that we talked to was from Turkey and was a former insurance salesman! He was the one that came out today.

After he left Dad and I went to Home Depot and got some more cherry stain. One of the pints we got was clearly not the correct color! I went and got an allergy shot. I am behind again - my last shot was due March 4th! Dinner was chicken, potatoes, carrots baked in the oven and gravy was made in the old microwave (a first for that for me). The new one is not hooked up to the electricity yet...

Picture: The corner cabinet has a cherry plywood top - Omega sent wood for the top of these cabinets; but the odd shape needed for the top of the corner one was wider than what they sent. So Dad will have to stain that one to match the rest. We will have cushions made for them.

Picture: Notice the wonderful floor that Dad did!!!

The UPDATED Kitchen, Part 2

Ron decided that the floors in the kitchen and family room needed to be resanded. They were looking scratched and worn. The dark stain makes scratches show up easily. The floors are yellow pine with variable sized planks. They are not as hard as a hardwood like oak; however, we like the look a lot and they came with the house! We figured that the best time to resand the floors was when the cabinets were out and before the new ones were put in. To save money, Ron decided he could do that part. He had done that to the kitchen and family room floors before we moved in. He thought it would not be too hard on his back. So on Tuesday, Feb 26th, after his art class, he rented a sander from Home Depot and started sanding as soon as the workers left for the day. He completed the kitchen area that night. The sander was an improvement over the other kind he used 7 years ago. But it still takes a lot of time and effort. The floor is not exactly smooth and there are areas that need a lot of attention to make sure the finish is completely off. The next day, he completed the family room and we returned the sander. Here is a before sanding and after sanding picture of the floor.

We decided to try a bit lighter stain for the floors, thinking it might look a bit more modern. After trying 4 different colors on the floor (in places where it would not show), we decided on a cherry stain. Ron put on the first coat and it revealed some areas that showed some flaws in the sanding process; so he used his hand sander to resand some areas. After vacuuming that up, he applied the first coat of the stain; let it dry 24 hours and then put the second coat. He put the first coat of a heavy-duty Verathane on Monday and the second he did today, Tuesday March 4th.

So at the moment, our entire kitchen contents are in boxes in the dining room and the living room. The family room is in the living room and entry. There is sand everywhere in the house in spite of putting up black plastic barriers. There is no place to sit and enjoy the warmth of the wood burning stove. BUT once this project gets done, we will get back to our cozy little house in the woods.

Today, March 4th, the contractor and a helper came and worked on making a hole for the window. This involved removing more dry wall in the kitchen back wall, moving a vent pipe, taking off the siding on the back of the house where the new window will be and reframing the area where the new window will be. A VERY BIG PROJECT. They covered the hole they made with plywood and will return tomorrow with more helpers to put in the window. He told me it will take 3 men to put it in place. BUT it is a beautiful window and I am very excited to see it getting in. It has started to rain here and hopefully the rain will be over for the installation tomorrow!

Dinner tonight: Appleby's Chinese Chicken Salad - Takeout...

To be continued.

The UPDATED Kitchen

On September 14, 2007, we joined a company called Direct Buy with the idea that we would save a lot of money on remodeling the kitchen - a project we have talked about since buying the Wilson Road house. We set up an appointment with their kitchen designer. This is how the kitchen looked before the project - notice we had lost a drawer front last week!!

I had pretty much decided how the kitchen design HAD to be in order to get as much organization as possible and thought perhaps we could squeeze a 27" Sub Zero refrigerator in the space between the hallway and brick wall. That would have left the U shape with all countertop - including the stove top. I told Melinda my ideas and she dutifully drew up my plan AND also proposed a totally different plan. After studying it for a while, it was obvious her plan was much better and opened up the kitchen as well as giving us more space to work.

On December 7, 2007, we signed the final contract for kitchen cabinets and paid for them. They were scheduled to arrive around the end of January or the first of February. We also ordered the appliances to take advantage of paying for them BEFORE the new Governor O'Malley taxes started January 1st. They would be delivered after we returned in January.

We then took a break for the Christmas visits and resolved to come home in January and work on all the other details.

It took us a week so to get back into the rhythm of things at home and when the appliances arrived Jan 15th, we realized we needed to get moving. We visited various kitchen and home improvement stores to finalize ideas about countertop, faucetts, and all the other little details. We got the name of a window person who worked with Direct Buy and ordered a new "garden window" to replace the old, dilapidated one. We would have preferred a bow window, but our kitchen is just not large enough to have one of those AND have cupboards above the countertop. So we compromised and ordered a larger sized garden window, which will be 46 inches tall - from the countertop to the top. The granite countertop will go into the base of the window. Our kitchen could not start until the window was in our hands. It took about 4 weeks for it to arrive.

So on Monday, February 25th, (wonderful Birthday present for me!!) the workers came, started the project by taking out all the cabinets. They have been very courteous workers, letting us know exactly what they were doing every step of the way, asking about things, etc.