It's only Wednesday, but wow, what a week it has been so far! The countertops were installed Monday, and the faucet, garbage disposal, and dishwasher were installed yesterday. We've also made some upper cabinet progress since the last post - let's start there.
This is the only photo I was able to get during the upper cabinet installation, but you can see that a jack was used to hold the box in place while it was secured to the wall studs with screws. Also, there is a scrap piece of 3/4" plywood between the jack and the cabinet box to distribute the upward force more evenly. Due to the tricky corner cabinet area and the fact that the top of the cabinets needed to fit snugly against the ceiling, Steven decided to attach them directly to the wall like this instead of going the French cleat route. Thanks to neighbor Craig for your help with this!
Here's a glimpse of the lovely countertops! Before the plumber came, we went ahead and covered the dishwasher's slot with some underlayment and flooring. We laid down Roberts AirGuard Premium 3-in-1 Underlayment and topped that with two Forbo Marmoleum Click tiles in sahara. There is still a lot of work to be done around the entry and stairs, which tie into the kitchen, so it will be quite awhile before we actually install the flooring in the kitchen/dining area.
Here's a view of the kitchen in it's present state :) As far as cabinet boxes go, we still need to install one over the refrigerator and another to the right of the window. The countertop material is Virginia Mist granite, and they were fabricated and installed by Ceramic Harmony, located here in Huntsville. (Their tile showrooms were gorgeous, and I can't wait to go back for choosing backsplash tile!) From what I've read, Virginia Mist really is quarried in Virginia, and we do like to support made-in-the-USA products when we can. With our Craftsman-style kitchen we wanted the look of soapstone, but the durability of granite was very appealing. Marion at Ceramic Harmony recommended this Virginia Mist in a brushed finish, and we were sold!
And lastly, a closer view of the faucet, sink, and dishwasher: Moen's Brantford kitchen faucet in a chrome finish; Blanco's Cerrana 30" apron-front sink; and Jenn-Air's Trifecta dishwasher. Obviously, I'm most excited about the dishwasher!! When we bought the house, there was a dishwasher in the old kitchen... unfortunately, it was very dated and only worked once for us. We demo-ed the old kitchen in December 2012, and I've been washing dishes in a bathtub ever since. Keeping things clean under those conditions was pretty difficult, so the grossness along with having to sit on the edge of the tub in a twisted, hunched over position for washing dishes brought out the worst in the renovation situation for me. It was hard to have a good attitude about it, but, like my Mom told me yesterday, living through that will make me all the more grateful for having a functioning kitchen sink and dishwasher. I can't even explain how happy I am that the bathtub dish washing phase is over, and I realize how fortunate we are to have these new conveniences in our home. It's over. It's done. Moving on! :)
This week, Steven is starting to cut out some shelves for the upper cabinets, and I've got varnishing to do on the interiors of the two remaining upper cabinet boxes. We are looking forward to Steven's parents coming to visit this weekend. Things have come a LONG way since their last trip, and we are excited to show them our progress in person!
Hope you're having a great week - thanks for checking in with us.
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