Kitchen - Day 3 (7/27)

Today: Once again, I continue to be amazed at the speed at which things are moving along. Speed by itself is nice, but only if you are getting quality work and attention to detail, and watching these guys work and seeing the results I am convinced we are getting that. The hardwood floor is complete everywhere but in the laundry room, and it looks absolutely fantastic. This isn't a surprise, because the neighbors have this exact flooring in this exact color, and we loved it when they did it, so we chose the same floor. Drywall work continues, but is a somewhat slow process to do properly as it takes several coats and rounds of sanding to make it look nice. Electrical work continued throughout the day, as there is a lot of not very glamorous effort that goes into making everything is set up properly for future steps (like appliances and under cabinet lighting).

By far the biggest leap forward is the installation of the cabinet bases and the assembly of some of the clusters of uppers. The base units are all in, and now that we can see them in place, we are thrilled that we chose (at the last minute) to change the door styles from a plainer one to the one shown here. I couldn't love them more. The uppers are a fascinating thing to watch go together. There will be a very plain crown molding detail around the tops of the cabinets, and that molding will be slightly offset and resting on a three inch filler strip. The result of this arrangement is that the contractor won't be able to get a nail gun in between the ceiling and the final molding pieces. To get everything lined up properly, and not have to nail at an angle and hope for a good result, the uppers are being assembled on the floor in clusters, complete with the molding, and then will be installed in bunches. That can't be an easy way to do it, and the contractor says he has never done it like that before, but it seems to be working ok. I just hope they can lift these things and get them on the walls.

As for the quality of the KraftMaid cabinets themselves, I think we will be pleased. After the workers left today, it was fun to play with the self-closing drawers and other features and compare them to what we had before. Fun fun fun.

Tomorrow: Day 4 should see the completion of the drywall, the hanging of the upper cabinets, and the flooring of the laundry room. Additional electrical odds and ends are still on the docket I believe, and some other minor things. The Contractor says that tomorrow should see the end of the major tasks. Which is not to say that we are anywhere near done, in terms of time, or all the little things remaining to be done. Appliances are to be delivered and installed on day 5 (which includes plumbing and gas line work), countertops are to be templated on day 6. A range hood still needs to be installed. Countertops need to be fabricated, which will take an estimated two weeks. The sink, and its related plumbing (which includes the dishwasher drain line), cannot be completed until the under mount sink can be installed in the finished countertops.

This means that in fairly short order we will have a somewhat functional kitchen in terms of being able to refrigerate, cook, microwave, and restock the finished pantry. But we will be without countertops until mid-August, and therefore no running water in the kitchen. We will make do.