Remodel: Weeks 3 & 4

Hmmm, I'm not sure how I missed Week 3, but will include photos now; I'm even behind on Week 4! Because of that, this post is a bit photo heavy, but with little commentary, it should be easy to skim through :)

Great progress has happened over those two weeks, and it's now been quiet since mid-week while we await the countertop fabrication. I received word last night that it will be installed today though I don't know what time to expect.

We left the ceiling fan/light in place so it's covered to protect from the ceiling spray treatment.

Walls have been mudded and textured - nasty stuff, made my eyes burn, smelled awful and added humidity.It took awhile to dry as our weather was also quite wet during this process.

The additional pantry area mudded and textured.

That "Escher" issue fixed as best as possible - not perfect, but certainly not as noticeable.

Paint! We have paint. I chose a color by Behr: "Perfect Taupe". I was concerned it may be too gray and too dark, but took my chances, and am happy I did!

More paint.

And more paint. Some areas of course were not painted as they'd just be covered up with the cabinetry anyway, so why paint?

Oh be still my heart! The first part of the base counters went in. The oak side cabinetry, and oh my, how I love it. And look at all that storage space!

From a slightly different angle.

Cabinetry for the kitchen proper awaiting install, safely wrapped and protected.

And more hanging out in the garage.

It's getting installed! Be still my heart x 2! Oh yes, I'm loving it!

The refrigerator surround and base cabinets on either side. I won't say how expensive custom cabinetry is, especially that skinny little cabinet at the end along with it's upper not yet installed in this photo. The lower one will house my baking sheets, etc. The upper? Probably canned cat food, but who knows!

Refrigerator surround and cabinet above sans doors.

Cabinetry to right of refrigerator surround.

Head-on view of skinny cabinet. This lower & upper cabinet was an afterthought as there was just over a 12" space that was crying for something to help balance that side of the wall.

The cabinetry and drawers between where the sink will be on the left and the range on the right.

Cabinet and drawers to the right of the range.

The oak bank of cabinets! I am so pleased with them, and so happy I went with oak there and white in the kitchen proper. My goof? Not moving the ceiling light, and I'm fed up with added costs (always with a remodel) so it's staying where it is since the ceiling has already been done. The empty space at the right (~36") and behind the refrigerator (which is the old one and not staying) was intentionally left that way as our oak China cabinet will be along the wall where the fridge is, and it is large so would not have left room for cabinetry to extend to the wall. My thinking is that should we ever get rid of the China cabinet and/or move, the 36" space could easily house a small desk or it would not take much to put in a small desk/work area in that corner. I know some folks like to have such a workspace in their kitchen/dining area.

All I can do is smile :) That's the space for the range and range hood. The entirety of the wall-space between the upper and lower cabinetry will be tiled.

The rest, where the dishwasher will fit there at the left end, the sink directly below the window. At the very left end is yet another really skinny cabinet area, seriously skinny.

The opposing wall next to the refrigerator cabinet is a shelf for the microwave. Are you asking where the electrical outlet is? Yeah, about that. Well, the electrician had a really good (?) explanation, at least to him but maybe not so much to me though it could make sense. As often is the case, the cord on a microwave is on the back, so he has found it better to run the cord UP through a hole in the cabinet above to an outlet placed at the back of the cabinet, otherwise it prevents being able to push the microwave fully back on the shelf. I suppose he could have gone to the one below, but that would lessen the available outlet for anything on the counter, and the upper one is a separate circuit for the microwave. So, OK then.

The crown molding has been added, and it looks great. And the Perfect Taupe paint color? I love how looks against both the oak and the white cabinetry. It's a very good 'modern' neutral in my pseudo-country kitchen.

Close up of crown molding.

Crown molding added here too, and the area is cleaned up.

Crown molding adds so much to the look, so impressive.

We know in an old tract house, and one that's been through two major earthquakes, that due to settling and imperfect construction walls aren't always true, as evidenced by this image. Nice gap on the right. I'll have to find out if there's a plan to 'disguise' it. There was an even larger one on the oak side where it met the wall by the new door, and it was disguised completely.

And that ends what has been done over the past two weeks. Today is the countertop, and after that should be the backsplash tile and then the floor tile. The big hang-up is still the delinquent sink - no updates as to its arrival as yet. To accommodate it, the countertop will now have to be cut in place. Not ideal but doable. Contractors and their subs have schedules so it wasn't possible to delay the counter fabrication, which would also have affected the tile man, and the finishing man and the appliance installation. We'll have a 95% finished kitchen that will be mostly usable, just no sink and no water; and that could be well into April.