Hi All,
First post here, been lurking for a while gathering info to get started on our kitchen project.
Quick background story: We (my gf Melissa and I) moved into our
Seattle
condo about 3 months ago. The place is great, however shortly after moving in we decided the Big Blue Kitchen just didn't jive with our taste nor with the space.
The blue was a little overwhelming, so were all the walls by the way but that was taken care of and toned down with a couple of coats of nice mellow colors. All the black granite made the kitchen appear very dark and cave-like and, in combination with the higher bar, cooking and working in the kitchen became somewhat of a lonely, depressing experience
So we ventured out on the net looking for inspiration and drew up some ideas and off to Ikea we went (a little earlier than planned to take advantage of the 20% off special with the appliances!!).
Demolition started 2 weeks ago and took only 2 days, taking off the granite was really the hardest part.
The metal frame seen in this
pic
was the reason they had the higher bar I guess, there was some plumbing and electrical to remove/rearrange so we can have everything counter-height.
Storage space for all the new cabinets and some old ones was a bit of an issue:
Melissa became very adapt at putting together new cabinets
And the new cabinets were in place after the first weekend (well, almost all anyway..).
Progress slowed a bit since as I had to go back to work so it was mostly nights and a bit last weekend and this is where we stand at the moment:
Cabinets and countertops in place:
Sink cut-out nicely done and island (peninsula, really) looking good (the gap in the middle where the bar used to be contains the wall with plumbing and electric, this will be covered by custom cut brushed stainless):
Pantry is great, all this storage!!
New induction cooktop (showroom pic), installed and works awesome!! The price in the pic is not what I paid and not even what they retail for, my whole budget is close to $10k so I had to get it considerably cheaper
One question for all you experts: The high (80") oven cabinet has provisions for a top cabinet for which we will use a 24"x15" door. Of course, the door comes with the hinge provisions on the long side whereas we would really need it to be on the shorter side.. Has anyone ever installed these to be top-opening like the newer wall cabinets they have at Ikea? We tried getting the hinges for those but they are not sold separately, so I may give it a go with regular hinges and install a scissor arm on the side to keep it open? Suggestions welcome!!
Other than that, all went pretty smooth and we are thrilled with the results so far. The back wall will carry some Grundtal racks and rails to keep with the modern steel/glass/concrete design (concrete floors).
Will post more pics as we come closer to completion (I have a full work-day scheduled for Thanksgiving tomorrow
).
Stay tuned
