EXTREME MAKEOVER: KITCHEN EDITION: The Pictures

Pull out Trash and Recycling Bins in a cabinet drawer next to the oven.

Susan in the corner cabinet being Lazy

Oven and Microwave

Area where we USED to have additional cabinets. Flooring will be redone and area will be repainted and we'll see what we'll put there.

It's a DISHWASHER!!

Sink Area. Shop Light above sink will be taken down when the ceiling fan is installed.

Corner Cabinets by sink--note curved arrangement to maximize usable space

Refrigerator and Pantry Cabinet

EXTREME MAKEOVER, KITCHEN EDITION: Day Six- (Posted one day late) Installation Complete!

Yup. The Sears contractors have done their part. As of yesterday (Monday 5/19), all cabinets (with doors and handles and supercool touches like Lazy Susans--Why pick on poor Susan, anyway? why is SHE the lazy one?, pull-out drawers, and hanging trash/recycling bins); the countertops; the sinks; and the installation of the appliances (we have a DISHWASHER! HOORAY!), are done.

We began moving "stuff" back in but it will be a while before everything finds its place.

There is quite a bit of work yet to be done by other contractors:

Replace flooring
Install tile backsplash
Paint kitchen
Fix ceiling fan bracket and install ceiling fan
Duct work from oven/microwave up through the roof (Yes, thank you very much, Our Fair City)
Install wood railing on dividing wall between kitchen & family room

But for now, we have a usable kitchen again, and it looks wonderful, and that makes us tremendously happy. I am pleased with the quality of the workmanship and with the crew of workers that we had. They really did a good job and went the extra mile to get it done.

Pictures to follow when my camera batteries recharge and I remember to put the MEMORY CARD BACK IN THE CAMERA and I have a chance to upload them.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, KITCHEN EDITION: Day Five--Cabinets & Countertops

Cabinet doors are going in, countertops are being installed and oven is in place.

Dear Hubby finished the Practical exam and passed, but needs to re-take some of the Oral exam--he'll test again next Friday.

I enjoyed going to the health club for a workout this morning--free session with a personal trainer who gave me some good exercises. Now I just have to keep on going in there at least a few times a week. We'll see how it goes. I really do need to discipline myself to exercise in order to have more energy and be more physically fit and active.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, KITCHEN EDITION: Day Four--Cabinetry

I like the cabinetry so far.

Dear Hubby took his practical exam tonight and almost but not quite finished the project he had to do for it. He'll go back at 11 tomorrow morning to finish it up.

EXTREME MAKEOVER: KITCHEN EDITION--Day Three: More Electricity

Day Three (Wednesday) they mostly worked more on the electrical and took out some of the sheetrock on the walls. They also discovered that they didn't have all the proper required permits! They had to go quickly over to the City office and straighten it out.

Dear Hubby took the Oral part of his final FAA exam on Wednesday and passed. Now only the Practical portion is left!

EXTREME MAKEOVER: KITCHEN EDITION, Day Two: Powerful stuff, so watch that plug, it's potent--Electricity, Electricity

(yeah, that's an old Schoolhouse Rock song)

Mostly electrical work on day 2. Wiring will be much better than it was before!

EXTREME MAKEOVER, KITCHEN EDITION: Day 1: This Is Why We Had Mother's Day Dinner Tonight and Not Yesterday

. . . because by this afternoon, our kitchen looked like this!

Amazing what one guy can do in four hours.

It was a good day. Mark and I greeted the worker at 7:40 am and he immediately began tearing, ripping, banging. Must be fun work for a guy.

By about noon he had the room completely demolished and Mark and I were off to see SPEED RACER (fun movie, not much of a story but pure action and eye candy--as our paper's movie reviewer says, definitely a whole bunch of colors NOT found in nature.)

M-Day Belated Dinner was at Red Robin. Enjoyed it!

We don't know when we'll get a sink with running water back in the kitchen, so for the meanwhile we're still making do. Little Man loves the echo in the empty kitchen!

EXTREME MAKEOVER: KITCHEN EDITION: The Prelude

So we have made a very big investment, most definitely stimulating the economy, and are having our 48-year-old (older than we are!) ugly mishshmosh of a kitchen completely re-done. It should be a very interesting as well as challenging few weeks!

The preparation has been done in the past few days. We cleared out all the cabinets. It's truly amazing how much STUFF accumulates that we didn't even know was there. Who would have known we had probably at least SIXTY coffee mugs! Not to mention all the Princess House crystal (souvenirs of my year as a State Representative in Job's Daughters, where several co-officers were selling it.) And let's not talk about all the appliances in the Appliance Graveyard, like the pasta maker and pasta roller--bought with good intentions but rarely used. Quite a pile to be going to the Salvation Army soon.

I've actually enjoyed being able to sort through and play "Clean Sweep". It's something that should be done every now and then--you find unexpected treasures and find other things that other people will enjoy just as much as you once did.

The garage is completely FILLED with our cabinets and counters, we've laid in the paper goods and pre-prepared food, found a temporary space for the important appliances (phone, microwave, toaster, COFFEE POT AND COFFEE GRINDER!), and at 7 AM tomorrow all the fun begins!

Here are some of the BEFORE pictures!