Granite!

The Granite for our first cabinets was installed today!  We are so excited!  They were out Monday to do the templets so that is a 4 day turnaround.  The guy we bought the cabinets from said 2 to 3 weeks is normal.  So here's shout out to A-1 Granite Man in Maumelle!

Here's a closeup of the granite which I am totally in love with.  We could not be happier with what we picked.  I'm totally pumped up to see the island!

The lighting is not great yet but here's the granite against our paint color.  We think it works very well!

Herbie is totally ready to get rid of the old chandlier and get our lighting in place!

Here is the baking center feature, the mixer stand.  I insisted on this. Mother had one custom built into her home in 1965.  I was totally impressed then and still think it's a must have.  Not that I use my mixer a lot but having it this convienent will definitly help.

Is that not the coolest thing?  Yes, I'm a total dork:)

We're probably on hold for the next steps.  I need to move everything from the cabinets in the peninsula out so Herbie can destroy them.  Problem is that we have some rental property issues to deal with.  We have a renter moving out of their half of the duplex so this is an opportune time to try to sell it.  So we need to work on that.  May be a month or so before we get back to the project.

Lastly, we got our barstools in.  Here's a picture of one by the cabinets.  We think it works well.

Onward we go!

First Round of Cabinets are installed!

We are so excited!  It's amazing to walk around the corner and see these cabinets.  The cabinet installers got here at 8:00 AM.  Herbie spent the day watching them and not having to work.  He really enjoyed that part.  We managed to get 3 of the dogs downstairs this morning to keep them out of the installer's way.  Misty, our 15 year old, gets to stay upstairs and follow us around.  After the installer's went to lunch, we let the dogs come upstarirs.  There was no way they were going back down again.  So we put gates up to keep them out of the kitchen and they hung out in the office with me.

So here we have the baking center

And the cabinet with the small refrigerator

The cabinet above the frig will house the satellite receiver and the TV will hang about that.

Granite people will be here Monday to measure and creat templets.

It's finally becoming a reality!

Big Day Tomorrow

I have not done a good job of keeping up with this blog.  Lots of progress. 

The pantry walls are up and the freezer has been moved.  Problem there was that the door on the freezer is not reversible.  Who knew?  We looked at new ones at Home Depot and sure enough, you have the order it to open the way you want it.  This is a major problem since our pantry is not big enough for the door to open the wrong way.  I asked Linda to measure the freezer at Mother's since it opens the right way.  Good news is that it is actually a little smaller than ours which is a plus.  So, we'll get Mother's and take ours down there for the auction.  Glad we don't have to buy a new one!

Herbie has worked on the corner where the 'baking center' will be.  The guy we bought the cabinets from calls it that because that where the cabinet with the mixer stand is.  That's also where the tambor doors will be for the appliances (I called them appliance garages).  So electricity had to be run for all the appliances and also the under and over counter lighting.  Herbie did all the electrical work which the cabinet guy said saved us about $800.  The cabinet guy wants to hire him.  He got it all done.

Then he had to sheetrock over all the holes and do the 'mudding' to smooth it all out.

And he painted.  We really didn't have to paint behind where the cabinets are going but it was just as easy to roll the whole wall when the cabinets aren't there.  You can't see the paint color well here but I love it.

Tomorrow we get the cabinets out of our garage and installed!  Ok, it's not the whole kitchen but it will mostly empty the garage.  We also ordered all the trim for the whole kitchen so that'll be there till we finish.  The baking center corner of cabinets and the cabinet by the pantry where our small refrigerator will live will be installed tomorrow.  Big day!

Slow Progress

A 10-day vacation (4 days driving) slowed us down.  The week before we left was busy and the week we got back was busier but work is progressing.  The pantry is almost finished and the other corner is cleared and ready to be prepared for cabinets.  Herbie moved the water line for the small frig/icemaker today so it's out of the way.  The plan is for the first section of cabinets to be installed next week and then the granite will be installed.  We had to move it out 2 weeks because of vacation and church projects.  Our church 50th birthday celebration is May 1 and we both have lots to do for that.
We have had a couple of electricans out for estimates.  We need a new circuit since we'll have 2 ovens.  The first estimate was over $600.  Then Herbie figured out that we might not need as much work so he called an old friend that he used to work with that does work on the side.  She came out today and agreed that the job is a lot simpler than orignially thought.  So, Herbie buys the supplies and she'll do the work for an hourly rate.  We'll save a lot of money on that project.

The cook top finally came in before we left and I'll relay a funny story about that some time.  We also ordered our bar stools.

The correct pantry door came in and is in the garage.  The garage was getting full so Herbie worked on the deck to get the material out of the garage.

 I'll post pictures soon.