kitchen remodel

Our kitchen remodel – week #6 – It’s done!

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The kitchen is finished … mostly! The counter-depth fridge is backordered … and should arrive in a couple of weeks. The gist of this week was all the really fun stuff … getting the kitchen sink hooked up … thank you Jesus … and finishing up electrical with under-cabinet lighting. It is going to take me a couple of weeks to figure out which button turns on which light. Appliances were also delivered and installed. Who gets this excited about a warming drawer? We now have pendant lighting above the island, light fixture above breakfast table and hardware on the cabinets. After that … some paint touchup and cleanup and it was a magical moment … we have our house back!

First recipe cooked in the new oven … a couple loaves of pumpkin bread!

Jerry at Finishing Touches has a great crew of craftsmen and suppliers. I also enjoyed working with Anne Crawford, an awesome kitchen designer, who made us feel confident about our color choices and the Charley Harper art tile possibilities.

Tomorrow I will be performing some serious baking duties for our upcoming Thanksgiving feast! We have so much to be thankful for!

Our kitchen remodel – week #5

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Week #5 of our kitchen remodel has been pretty exciting. Basically, the floor was repaired, additional electrical work and so much more! My favorite part was the Kohler sink. It is beautiful! It is porcelain with black and brown speckles. Still couldn’t use the sink this week … but we are inching toward the finish line.

Oh … and then there was the granite installation. John, the granite dude, was in the driveway complaining about how difficult this particular granite was to shape. After about the third time telling me how combative the granite was I stepped back and pondered how I was going to turn him around. I didn’t want John and his crew being a bunch of grumpy bugs in my house all day. So I simply said, “But you are doing this for a very nice lady.” You should have seen his face. Changed everything! By the time he left the house about 5 o’clock he was giving me a hug goodbye.

The only negative thing I can say about the granite process is even though the granite pieces were cut they had to do some fine tuning. This created the biggest white dust cloud I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. And the wind blew most of it right over our neighbor’s house. Obviously, the next day I went to my local florist and hand delivered flowers.

Our backsplash also went up. Grout is next week. The Charley Harper art tiles are from Motawi Tile based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have some ladybug fabric based on his art and when I saw the art tiles, I thought they sure would make my kitchen a happy place.

Next week … appliances, hardware and the last of the lighting and some paint touchup … and then we are done!

Our kitchen remodel – week #4

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Our kitchen remodel week #4 was pretty exciting … Baby Ben was born … Rick had his 9th clinical trial infusion … and there was lots of paint! This week priming and sanding of cabinets, texturing of walls and then final paint on cabinets happened. Lots of dust … and that “new paint” smell. It was a long week with painters in the house … but the results are so worth it! The cabinet color is “stucco.” The kitchen island color is called “caviar.” And the color of the walls, which we don’t have much of, is called “waterfall.” It totally matches the three art tiles which will go above the range. I know … it is a little different. Trust me. But then again … this is what happens after waiting 35 years to remodel a kitchen.

Rick is still creating delicious breakfasts on the grill on the weekends. Chances are a kitchen sink is in our future. A gas range can’t be far behind.

Our kitchen remodel – week #3

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I am liking what is going on in our kitchen during week #3. It is starting to get very interesting at the Frantz house. The week started with more floating, taping and some new texturing on a few walls.

Shaker-style cabinets were also delivered. Gilbert is Finishing Touches amazing cabinet maker. Geez … even unfinished, I can already tell our kitchen is going to exceed our expectations! Gilbert and crew spent two long days working their magic. During our planning meeting a week or so back, Rick and I asked for a few subtle changes to the cabinet detail to add a tad bit of character and he delivered!

Another amazing breakfast cooked on the grill … veggie egg white omelets and sausage! We even plugged in the toaster in the living room for some toast. Felt so much like camping out during our college days cooking on our propane Kangaroo Kitchen!

The week ended on Halloween with the painters coming back in to start preparing the cabinets for paint. Our very pregnant daughter, awesome son-in-law and little Jacob drove in from Houston to check out the construction zone and trick-or-treat in the neighborhood. What a fun night!

Three guesses what happens most of next week!

Our kitchen remodel – week #2

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Gotta tell you, as kitchen remodels go, work during the second week has been kinda boring. But I realize … very necessary. Basically, we had a plumber dude come out to set the gas line for the old switcheroo from electric to gas range. The outside walls were re-insulated. Oh, and the walls and ceiling were buttoned up with sheetrock and floated. This was especially nice since I’ve been having nightmares of bugs dropping out of the ceiling holes at night.

We are moderately adjusting to not having a kitchen sink and dishwasher. My favorite part of this whole remodel adventure is Rick cooking Saturday morning breakfast on the grill. Week #2 saw perfection in cooking hash browns!

Our dog, Lulu, seems to be hanging in there with all the noise and people she deems as extra special scary.