More cabinets!

DD and I stopped by the house today to see what further progress has been made on the kitchen. Most of the cabinets are in place and the installer was working on the details. The island looks awesome! It narrows on the right end and is not a rectangular island.
The beverage area upper cabinets just didn't look quite right to me. I finally figured out that the center cabinet was supposed to be hung higher than the adjacent cabinets, so that the 5 cabinets alternate high and low. The installer only had the floor plan and no 3D drawing, so there wasn't any way for him to know how they were supposed to be hung. The two outer cabinets and the center cabinet will have non-transparent glass in the doors.
Here is the cooktop area with the eating bar adjacent to the family room. It's the section I forgot to photograph the other day. The installer found our notes about changing the hinges on some of the doors and those were all fixed when we were out there today.
This pullout spice rack is in the beverage area. I'm not sure what I'll use it for, as my plan is to store baking spices in the island and cooking spices near the cooktop. This pullout was added as a last minute change by the KD when the length of the beverage area wasn't exactly to spec. They needed a small filler and decided to put this pullout there.
These are the cabinets to the left of the cooktop - a 3 drawer stack on the right end of the run, a trash pullout next to that, a double trash pullout (for recycling), and then the sink cabinet...
We also got a peek at the master bathroom cabinets. They are the same style as the kitchen cabinets, but in maple and with a different stain. This isn't a great photo as we had to tip the cabinet backwards in order to snap the photo.

Cabinets delayed...

Well, we went to choose our carpet tonight. We are putting carpet in the master bedroom, kids' bedrooms, attic hallway, guest bedroom, and music room. We took samples of the carpets we liked out to the house to see how they looked next to the tile that will be in the adjoining hallways. We were unable to go in the house, as the tile had been laid in the mudroom and was blocked off so no one would walk on it.

We borrowed a small piece of the kitchen/entry/hallway/powder room tile so we could compare it to the carpet samples and we can use it when we're out shopping for other materials.

The kitchen cabinets and master bathroom which were supposed to be installed yesterday are now slated to go in on June 2nd. The floors need to be in and grouted and dry before the cabinets can be installed.

We found a light for over our table the other day and have chosen our towel bars, etc. for the bathrooms, so I think we are done choosing everything for the interior of the house (whew! what a relief!). I'm sure there are still a bunch of decisions as far as choosing plants and trees for the landscaping, but for the most part I'm happy to let DH decide what to plant. The only thing I really want is lilacs - as long as some lilac bushes get planted, I'll be happy.

Why does it seem...

...that every time we make a final decision about something in the house, we end up having to change it? The latest example is our kitchen/entry/hall/mudroom/powder room tile. (I posted photos of our tile choice here.) It turns out that the tile is a discontinued style and Molyneaux may not be able to find enough in the same lot for us. I found a couple of sites online that we might be able to get some from, so we have our fingers crossed while we wait for Molyneaux to let us know if they can get enough for us.

My island has also changed again (nothing major). Here is the plan that we had before the KD went out to the house and measured.
It seems that the actual aisle measurement between the island and the beverage center was narrower (by about 3") than the other aisles around the island and the KD wanted the aisle widths more consistent, as he thought we would notice and it would bother us if they weren't consistent. As a result, the 18"x24" 3 drawer stack in the above photo is now a 15"x24" 3 drawer stack, and the 36"x12" base cabinet is now 33" instead. I now only have one nice, wide 3 drawer stack (36" wide) in the kitchen and it is for my plate storage. It had better not change, as there are no upper cabinets near the sink/dishwasher and I need someplace to store my dishes.

We are headed out to the house tonight so DH can run the wires for the security system. The security company wanted $1700 to do it and we can do it for a couple of hundred. I'll get some up-to-date photos of the outside of the house. The shingles were all finished last Wednesday when we were out there, but I didn't get a photo. If we're lucky, perhaps the bricks and siding have started going up.

Kitchen design changes and granite

I met with our kitchen designer (KD) on Thursday to discuss the kitchen design. I've been reading the kitchen forum on the Garden Web a lot lately and, thanks to all the people who post there, I realized I didn't know the answers to some very important questions about our new kitchen. I also needed to let our KD know that I wanted to change the island to one level instead of the two levels that were in the design originally.

This is the original design of the kitchen. I kept most of the perimeter cabinets the same, although some of them have been changed to drawer stacks instead of regular base cabinets.
The cabinets in the island are now a bit odd in their shape! Here is a sketch I made of the new island configuration...There was a question a while ago on the Garden Web kitchen site that asked what people regretted most about their kitchen remodels. Many of the respondents said that they wished they had gone through everything in their current kitchens and decided exactly where everything would be stored in the new kitchen layout. So, to avoid regretting the same thing later, I made a list of my new cabinets and tried to figure out where everything in my current kitchen will live in the new kitchen.

I'm also really trying to keep the clutter off my counters in the new house. That means I need a way to lift the heavy stand mixer and the food processor out of the cabinets. The solution is to put appliance lifts in two of the island cabinets. The KD said that the cabinets need to have a minimum 24" depth for the appliance lifts, so there will be one 24" deep cabinet on the baking side of the island for the mixer, and another on the cooking side of the island (opposite the cooktop and oven) for the food processor. That leaves an 18"x24" deep 3-drawer stack on the baking side of the island - top drawer is for baking spices and utensils, and the middle and bottom drawers are for mixing bowls, 9x13" pans, pie pans, etc. - and a narrow 18"x12" base cabinet beside it. Beside the food processor cabinet will be a long, narrow base cabinet, 36"x12" where I'll store casserole dishes (and other as-yet-undetermined stuff).

I was having a terrible time figuring out where to store my spices. I've finally decided to store them in drawers (after seeing many photos on Garden Web of spice drawers). I changed the cabinet to the left of the cooktop to a stack of drawers so I can store cooking spices in the top drawer and pots and pans in the lower drawers. The baking spices will go in a drawer in the island. Here are some photos of spices stored in drawers:

On Friday, DH and I had an appointment to look at granite at the fabricator's that our KD uses. We have decided to go with the Verde Butterfly for the kitchen and Tsunami for the master bathroom vanities. I have never heard of Tsunami and suspect there may be another name for it. The photo we took doesn't show the depth of color very well.


Here is the Verde Butterfly... And here is the Tsunami...

This week it's time to attack all the stuff in my sewing room/craft room and get a lot of it packed up. Last week I packed up a lot of things from the kitchen and dining room that I can get along without until after we move (canning jars, a bunch of cookbooks, candles, etc.). I'm typing the contents of the boxes into my laptop as I pack the boxes, then printing out the labels, and taping the list right to the top of the box. It takes a bit longer to get the boxes packed, but will be worth it when I'm looking for something that hasn't been unpacked and there are a million boxes sitting around!

Straw mystery solved!

DH spoke with the builder yesterday. He found out that the straw was put in the basement as insulation against the cold. It is used to keep the ground from freezing so that they can dig down to install the pipes that need to go under the basement slab (oh, the joys of living in the snow and cold!). The pipes will go in (hopefully) this week and the slab will be poured when we get a warm(ish) day.

The builder also said that the stairs will be delivered in the next couple of weeks. I assume that they've been waiting for the basement slab to be poured before getting the stairs. It sure will be nice to have access to all the levels via stairs, instead of having to wish for a ladder!

We will meet with the builder on Monday to go over the exterior color choices (http://bellsrus.blogspot.com/search/label/exterior%20materials). We've picked out the colors, but the builder wants to double-check where some of the trim colors will be used.

I've decided to make some changes to the kitchen design (I'm sure our KD will be thrilled to hear that!). I decided that the kitchen island needs to be one level, not two. We like the look of the 2 level island, but I just don't think it will be functional for me. One of the items on the top of my "dream kitchen list" has always been a large island without any sinks or appliances taking up space on it. It will mainly be used for baking, so there needs to be room for rolling dough, for cookie sheets and cooling racks. I've been struggling with the decision since I first saw the 2 level island, but now I'm sure it needs to be 1 level.

I still need to get back out to Lowe's to have the sewing studio design corrected and to get the printout so I can post it. The plan was also to pick the hardware for the cabinet doors, but I may wait and do that after the cabinets are in.

Kitchen design

We haven't been out to see the house progress since last Friday, but I assume the only thing that has been done is the finishing of the garage foundation. Our builder thinks the framers will start this week, or next, so we'll head over in a couple of days to see what has been done.

I thought I would share our kitchen design with you. The kitchen sink that I wanted is iffy at the moment, as there is no easy way to center it under the 3-pane kitchen window and it will look odd if it is not centered. If we center it, we lose all kinds of space on either side of it and won't have room for the pull-out waste basket and recycling bin, so the kitchen sink is up in the air at the moment. I will probably have to go with a smaller one.


These photos are a bit skewed - the angle of the cupboards and counter are nowhere near that sharp (next photo), but it is the perspective that the photos were printed out at. The island is 2 levels and will be 2 different materials, but I haven't decided what those materials will be yet. The blue was supposed to be the Alkemi (http://bellsrus.blogspot.com/2007/08/kitchen-countertops.html), but it is more expensive than granite, so we will not be using it on the island. The lower side of the island is table height - 30" and the higher side is counter height - 36". The lower side will be for rolling out dough. The area at the far end is a beverage area - ice maker, small beverage refrigerator, wine glass storage, etc. and my second oven will be there. The door to the right leads to a walk-in pantry which will be lined with shelves.

This is the view of the kitchen from the adjoining family room, which has a fireplace and will be our dining room with a large table. On the right in the family room there will be French doors leading out to a patio area.

Progress!

My apologies for not updating the blog for so long, but nothing much has been happening with the new house. We ended up having to get bids from other builders, as the builder we were planning to use did not work out. We have now chosen a builder and signed the contract. Groundbreaking should occur within 15 days of when we signed the contract, so we have PROGRESS!

Our kitchen design is finished and I really like it. I still haven't mapped out the planned kitchen island to see if it will work for me. I want to draw the actual island top to scale and put my cookie sheets on it to make sure the width of the 2 levels of the counter will be functional.

I am also still undecided about the Alkemi. As it turns out, it would cost more than granite, and we weren't sure what color of granite or quartz would coordinate with the Alkemi. I still really like the look of it though...perhaps we can use it in a bathroom instead.

Now we get to start making lots of decisions. We'd like to get things decided as early as possible so we don't end up having to settle for something that isn't just what we want because we don't have time to research our options.

Here we go!