Holy Moly. Although it sometimes seemed that it would never happen at all, we are happy and relieved and READY to declare this kitchen "done." Well, except for the back splash. And I think when that's up it will make the whole design look significantly different (1x3 aqua glass tiles), but since we have running water & a sink now, after more than a month without them....heck, that's enough done for us.

I can hardly believe it! The granite was installed last Wednesday, the 18th, and Myk did the plumbing & dishwasher hookup on Saturday. In the midst of a heat wave (114 degrees F on Sat.) and sick kids, I wasn't much inspired to update the blog, but the demands and queries have been coming in, so...without further ado....

Here we go!















Taken the afternoon of the granite install.

And here's the new sink, with the Danze faucet.


Another shot, taken after we were all moved back in. What a chore THAT was! After living off of a few plastic cups and paper plates during the project, it sure seemed like a lot of STUFF to put back.


A close-up of the granite on the island. Again, it is called Bianco Romano and although I think it looks a little "vanilla" against the cream walls, the aqua tiles should make it really pop. There's a lot of red flecks in it, but they're showing as mostly black in these shots, with the flash.


The granite along one counter:

For all that granite, there is only ONE seam, at the sink.

The new, very mod lighting fixture. From...guess where?:IKEA: I'm a little 50/50 on this. I like it, but it's a "statement" for sure. I don't think it's meant long for this earth, as Myk had a horrible time wrestling the hardware for this into the existing recessed can lighting, and in the end, he still wasn't thrilled with the guts of it all. For now, though...


Finally, I really, really like my stainless open shelving. It came out great, I think, and though I may love modern design, I'm not a minimalist by far, so it's great that there's space here to display some of my collected stuff. I'm sure I'll be fussing with it and changing it up for the rest of my life in this house! :P


Close-up of my "stuff" including Fiesta and Frankhoma wares from my parents.



One last shot of the new place....Before the real mess & clutter of daily life have messed it up! Still have some final touches (my counters won't really be THIS bare), but for the most part, this is it.

Compare this to what we saw when we bought the house, 4 years ago:


No more country kitchen for us. I'll be back, hopefully in less than 2 weeks, with shots of the back splash to share.

Thank you again to my wonderful & talented hubby who pulled this ALL off on his own, from the gut to the drywall to the final product. And thanks to this wonderful resource of Ikea Fans, where I was able to get inspiration and answers so many times over. We owe ya one!:D

Hello again! Exactly a month & one day after the demo of the old kitchen, and we are DONE with all elements of the cabinetry install -- except for the hardware/handles. :D:D

When last I posted, I ended with the horrible saga of the evil refrigerator nook and how the sizing and install took up an entire day. Frustrating as that area proved to be, the cabinet above the fridge was the first to be completed, with a door, strips and toe-kick fitted there mere hours later:





My very first door -- I couldn't stop staring at it! (Ignore all the smudges on the fridge, from literally shoving the darn thing into place.)

After that, things progressed pretty quickly over the last week -- each day after work, Myk installed more doors and drawer assemblies. Last weekend (5/31-6/1) saw lots of cutting of cover panels and toe-kicks.

Soon I had this to stare at, too, although the camera flash doesn't quite do it justice:


Love it! (Like my plywood counters?)

Another shot, with bottom cabinet doors visible. Also, note the decor strips in place, now hiding the undercab lighting.



Close-up of bare wall, where we still need to install the 3 stainless steel open shelves.


Late Sunday and early week brought the creation of the island. Instead of using the standard legs, Myk decided to instead create a home-made platform for the cabinetry to sit on. Another great Ikea modification...(Hearing that his daddy was building an "island," the 3-year-old inquired: "Will there be palm trees?") No palm trees, but many drawers:




Earlier this evening of June 4, I was alerted that the last screw was about to be installed on the last drawer front. I grabbed the camera to record the big moment:



And minutes later, we had this, a complete island, and a very nearly completed kitchen.



Additional views --




Notice that in the above picture, you can see that the "false fronts" are missing from the sink cabinet. We're holding off installing those until after the granite counters are installed next week. (And not a moment too soon -- a month without a sink! =:-o) Those false fronts require a bit more installation and can't be as easily removed. Still need to decide if we should remove the top drawers or not during the granite install -- don't want these babies to get scratched!

Speaking of the granite, we are going with Bianco Romano granite, which is a white-ish granite with lots of gray & cream swirls, and black and garnet flecks. Close up from our slab:


Looking forward to how it will contrast against the wood, and the lighting picking up the many mica flecks, too.

If, like me, you're thinking, wow, that is a LOT of brown all over the place, I should add that my back-splash is going to feature light aqua colored glass subway tiles from Susan Jablon. If you know me & my decor style, you know I like lots of bright colors & contrasts, so no worries -- colors are a-comin', just down the road a bit. Also, don't forget -- still have MANY door handles to template and install.

Until then, and until the counter install scheduled for next Wednesday, I leave you with this peaceful shot. Ahhhhh.....

Whew! We were looking forward to the long 3-day Memorial weekend with hopes that lots would be accomplished, and it was very productive overall. The weather here in Southern California was quite sucky -- gray, misty and downright chilly -- so it wasn't too hard to want to stay indoors anyhow. But enough chit-chat -- let's get down to it:

When last I blogged, I mentioned that next up was the cabinet for the over-the-hood microwave. This involved a quite literal Ikea hack:

It involved lots of careful measuring and sawing of both the cabinet and the back panel, but in the end, my shiny new LG microwave (and the shiny duct work) were hanging perfectly in place. This is my only brand-new appliance for the new kitchen, so let's take a moment to admire it:



Isn't it pretty? It was so shiny that I couldn't stand to touch it and muck it up with fingerprints. The microwave install actually took place toward the end of the week, so I guess it shouldn't actually count as part of the Memorial weekend work. This weekend, all of the remaining cabinetry (except for the island) was built and installed. Lots still to do: Drawers need to be built and door hinges drilled and many, many doors and drawer fronts hung & installed, etc., but hopefully the major construction part of the job is done.

Here is the first set of base cabinets installed: the large corner unit, and then the skinny second cab, next to the oven. For those unfamiliar with what our door panels will look like, check out the cover panel here.


That skinny cabinet next to the oven will hold cookie sheets, muffin pans, cooling racks and other slim baking accessories. Cool!

And here is a close-up of the 2 half lazy susans that swing out from the corner unit. More coolness! (But note: the top one had to be moved down a couple notches, to make room for a drawer that will be on top.)

I know what you're thinking now: "Is the under-cabinet lighting I spy?" Why, yes it is! And here's a better shot of one of those strips:



Which reminds me: decor strips. Another big item still on the to-do list. (The decor strips are about 1.5" wide and will hang down, hiding the lighting strips. The lights can be turned on & off individually, and there is also a master switch for all of them up in the microwave cabinet.)

Speaking of strip: Here's a shot of the filler strip piece (technical term?) to fill the gap between the corner cabinet and the adjoining cab on the other, window wall:

Also note the cut-out of the back panel to accommodate the plumbing pipe. (This is not the sink cabinet, though, which is missing about 70% of it's back panel to make room for all the plumbing.

More hacking, this time to the laminate floor. It was either think up a clever hack, or rip out LOTS of the floor to fix the fact that the cabinet legs on the last cabinet (far side of the dishwasher) were sitting on the laminate, making the whole thing very un-level. Now the little round feet sit in there perfectly.


So as of Sunday evening, May 25, this is where we had arrived, with all of the wall and base cabinets installed:






Ta-DAH! :)

But --- our happiness and feelings of accomplishments were all shot to heck, come Monday. Over there, to the right....notice that nice Sub-Zero fridge? ALL of Monday was spent over there on that fridge area . Note that the old cabinetry was still up, as were the stained wood strips (unseen) that Myk had installed when we first moved in, to give it a built-in look. That evil, evil area up above the fridge, which measures narrower at the front of the bull-nosed wall, than it does toward the back. It gave poor Myk.....a time, it did. Suffice to say that the whole thing is fixed now, but good lord. :mad: I can't really speak for my dear contractor hubby, but from where I sat, this was by far the most challenging, difficult and frustrating part of the install so far. (And that's taking into account that that first corner wall cab, mentioned in the last post, was put up and taken down something like 3 TIMES before he was satisfied with his work.)

But...whew. We've come this far. Too soon to say "the home stretch," yet, but we're getting there....chugging along. Oh, and note those levels sitting up there in that last pic. Yeah, baby -- they're ALL level. ;)

We picked out our granite this week, and gave our fabricator the date of June 11 to come out and template the counters & island...so now we have a deadline, which for me anyway, is always a good thing to have. 2 weeks from Wednesday...wish us luck.
Back (I hope) soon with more progress shots...Maybe even with some door fronts installed, next time!

Tomorrow is Friday already, and another week has gone by. Could it possibly already be nearly 2 weeks since the demo? (Check out that nice painted wall, after all the new drywall and sanding. Pity that most of it won't even be seen when it's all done, between the cabs and the glass backsplash.)

On Tuesday, after much measuring and leveling and leveling and measuring, Myk hung the first rail, and then the first cabinet --- the tall corner unit. (See the other post in the blog for the planning picture.) He seemed a bit dubious about the effectiveness and/or security of his screws into the studs and drywall, but here it hangs:



A little lonely, but otherwise, looking good....

Cut to today (Thursday)...he hung the next, shorter cabinet next to it on the right. Again, see the planning pic for how we intend to stack the cabinets for the subsequent cabs on this wall. He had the second cabinet clamped and screwed into the rail, when, when lo! As he'd feared, the rail for the corner cab came loose on the opposite wall, pulled by the force of the 2nd cab. (At least I think that's what he said?) Something about the physics and pull of the perfect 90-degree angle in that corner.

This rail was the area of failure (picture taken before it happened). [/IMG]

Anyway, the rail has been fixed, with different screws that he feels much more confident with. The bottoms edges of the 2 cabs are not quite flush -- about 1/16" off. Tricky, because we're not hanging 2 of the same height cabs next to each other to start off. Myk, being the uber-perfectionist that he is, plans to loosen the cabinet and re-adjust so that it will be totally flush. Actually, that's not really being an uber-perfectionist. If I knew how to do it, I'd do the same.

I tried to do a bit of research here on the site tonight, but frankly -- there is SO much info on installations, I'm a bit overwhelmed. Also, since I'm such a visual learner, if there aren't accompanying pictures -- forget it. I have no idea!

Hopefully this weekend will be productive, but Saturday is already booking up -- we need to take a trip down to our Ikea in San Diego to buy some decor strip and check out the under-cabinet lighting options before we get futher along. We'll also take a side trip to the nearby town of Mira Mar, to check out some slabs of our intended granite -- white/gray Bianco Romano.

It's a little intimidating and disheartening to read some other blogs here of kitchens getting slammed up quick (or seems like it, from here)--- but we're taking our time, and after all, during the week the kitchen work has to be squeezed in amongst the other duties -- namely, a full-time job with a nearly 2.5 hour round-trip commute for my beloved contractor. =:-o

We'll get there.... Next step, after micro-adjustment of the second cab to be flush, is to cut the rail, and then severely cut up and generally mangle the 3rd cabinet -- as that one will be the cab above the hood microwave and has to accomodate the vent pipe (the hole for which is now covered w/ the blue tape.)

Updates on our progress from the past week.

Last Saturday the demo was completed in a few hours. The removal of the ceramic tile backsplash pretty much trashed the wall behind (and research on the web confirmed there's no way to do it in a "nice" way & preserve the wall). So Sunday was devoted to purchasing, cutting & installing new drywall in a strip along the perimeter, and this week has seen lots of mudding the gaps, sanding, sanding, and more mudding, sanding and finally the texture coat.

As I type this, the primer coat is going up and hope to paint sometime tomorrow. Sunday is Mother's Day...no work. But hopefully the coming week will be just as productive (but less tortuous -- no more sanding!) than this past week.

No cabinets, sink/dishwasher wall:


Bare oven wall:


Interior of wall w/ drywall removed:


New smooth drywall:


The Plastic Wall, to cut down on sanding dust in the family room. It helped, but still LOTS of dust everywhere.


Hope to have some cabinets up there soon. Heck, even just having 1 up will be pretty darn exciting. :)

Countdown to the demo, planned for Saturday. I should really be downstairs boxing up the contents of the current cabinets, but here I am again, browsing the info at IkeaFans. :rolleyes:

Below is the plan for the new kitchen cabs. Like I said before -- no big changes here overall, from the current layout --we're not reinventing the wheel here by far. The cabs will now be stacked, and there will be a small-ish (3x4) island. The island will be a work station, with no overhang on the counters for barstools. (See my other pic for how close the dining table/chairs will be, anyway.)



Note that on the far right of the oven wall, I'm leaving the wall free of cabs for some open shelving. Dh mentioned before what the Ikea-based solution to this would be -- Lack? -- but I can't remember now what the exact plan is. Oh, and the big white "closet" looking area next to the 'fridge is our pantry -- which actually IS a lot like a closet. That will stay the same -- perhaps with a brushed or stainless knob to replace the current lovely gold one!

So I thought I'd be a good (new) citizen and finally post some pictures. I've got some pictures of what our current kitchen looks like (and this will also give a fairly good idea of my overall love-of-bold-colors style):



Close Up, with tile counters and their grotty grout:



Note that since these pics were taken, we've replaced the white oven with a new LG stainless one, to match the existing SS dishwasher and Sub-Zero fridge. (The Sub-Zero was free -- a gift from my FIL, who installs & repairs high-end appliances -- guess someone didn't want this after all, and it was a "second.") We've bought a matching LG hood microwave, which will stay in the box until it's ready to be installed in the brand-new kitchen.

Finally, a couple of more recent and happy shots....the arrival of our kitchen, on April 16:

(I was hoping it would come in a bright blue & yellow Ikea truck, but alas, it was just a generic moving truck...):P

Here it sits in the garage...looking so innocent & trouble-free....!


Just a couple more thoughts -- the paint color on the back wall will not stay, once the current cabs come down. For counters, I'm thinking of a lighter-colored granite (which is a whole other post unto itself), with a greenish or aqua glass tile backslash (subway tiles). So not sure of the paint color yet, but it will probably stay in the warm family -- just not QUITE as warm as the current bright orange (which is also mirrored on the facing wall, on the other side of the family room.)

I'll try to post the new kitchen specs from the Ikea software soon. Keeping things mighty similar overall, except that the cabs on the oven wall will be stacked nearly to the ceiling, and we are doing a 3'x4' island in the center of what is currently a too-big space between the sink & fridge (aka, "the dance floor").

Would love to hear any thoughts and/or comments from those who've come before us!

Our kitchen arrived a week ago, on Wednesday, April 16. Pretty darn quick, considering that we placed the order on the previous Friday at the San Diego Ikea, about an hour south of us. We had a great experience -- I had read some scary things here on what to expect, and was so relieved when it all went so smoothly, thanks to our 2 Ikeans, Mark the Giant and Fernando.

This past Friday, my husband moved all 1900 lbs. of Nexus goodness off the pallets and onto our driveway, the better to inventory each and every single item off the order sheet. And then he put all 1900+ pounds of Ikea BACK into the garage, this time in the order in which he'll do the install. (Have I mentioned that hubby is an engineer and a tad on the, uh, over-organized side?) :D

Amazingly, every single piece that was supposed to be there was accounted for and checked off the list by me, the lovely assistant.

We're on our way. We've had other things booked for the last couple of weeks, but come that first weekend of May -- watch out! The demo is slated to start.....:s: