Wednesday

 

We took these pictures while the workers were on lunch break.

Everything is progressing nicely. They had to make one small adjustment on the side of the kitchen above. They called me in to explain that they were moving all the cabinets down one inch and putting a spacer next to the near wall to make up the difference. They needed to do this to prevent there being a gap in the tile floor at the other end. The range will be centered. I asked what was the downside. "None," said the carpenter. I said, "It looks like a no-brainer then." He said that they always mention a deviation from the drawings ahead of time in case there are issues later. You can tell they have experience.

The cabinets rest upon a separate frame that makes up the toe kick, which is made of marine-grade wood in case there is ever a leak or water damage.

Almost the entire kitchen will be made up of drawers, which are easier to get into and easier to reach to the back.

There will be doors under the sink, of course. 

The garbage/recycle compartment is to the right of the sink (previous picture above). There will be a plastic insert in a wooden tray for each, one for garbage and one for recyclables (above).

The microwave drawer goes top right with a drawer beneath. To the right of the stove is a pull-out for oils, spices, etc (shown in the picture above). To the left of the stove is a tray, cutting board, cookie rack cabinet. To the left of that are more drawers.

John is looking for a place for his cereal to go.

This is the pull out pantry waiting to be installed.

And below are the end of the day pictures. They are coming back tomorrow to finish up, tweaking the gaps, putting on the crown molding, and finishing the laundry room.

Our cabinets are flat panel, meaning there is no trim or crevices to dust or clean. The pulls will be polished chrome tab pulls that stick out over the top of each drawer and at the bottom of each upper cabinet.

John is checking out the pull-out pantry.

And the pull-out oil and spice rack.

In the picture above, you can see the routed insert for the under-counter LED strip. It will be embedded in the crevice.

The installers asked us how much we wanted the crown molding to hang over the upper cabinets. We could do it flush with the cabinets or 1/8, 1/4, or 1/2 inch. Of course, the two of us had opposing opinions. In the picture above, the crown molding is not attached yet, so it's askew. Also, the countertop will continue for a foot beyond the bottom cabinets in the picture above, making the upper cabinet not look so forlorn hanging out there.

We asked the installer what would Angela do (WWAD)? He laughed. So we called her and face-timed the decision.

Her response is that to make it flush is very difficult, and any deviation will make it look like you tried and failed. She suggested at least 1/4 inch overhang. The picture above is about 1/8 of an inch. 

This is 1/4 an inch.

This picture shows 1/2 inch overhang. (Ignore the overhang on the right end; that will be the same as the overhang on the front once we decide.) 

Which do you like, 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2 inch?

Angela said the overhang will mimic the overhangs in the living room, as you see above. I am so glad we have her. She has saved us so many times!

I pulled out a drawer pull to see how it looked. It can be installed over the top or it can be routed in.

We were going to wait to see how they work with the countertop before deciding how to install them.

The upper drawers were our main concern because of the overlap of the countertop. But I think they allowed enough room to get a good grip. We'll see.

Laundry room without the trim work or doors installed.

The owner's son brought by the primed trim pieces for the door and baseboards for me to paint. (We opted to do all of the painting except the cabinets.) I really appreciate him doing that. It will be so much easier painting them at waist height without having to cut in. I can touch up any nicks once they are installed.

I set up a painting apparatus so that I could paint at waist height.

It's been an eventful day.