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!

Yippee for stairs! (and other fun stuff)

It is so exciting to finally have stairs in the house! The front door is temporarily closed off and the entrance is from the basement now. The cement slabs have been poured for both the basement and the garage. The front porch has not yet been done.

Our master bathroom tub has arrived. It is a Kohler Sojourn Bubblemassage air tub.
The master bathroom and laundry room areas are finally framed correctly, to match the plans from the kitchen designer. Here are the half walls for our master bathroom shower. There will be glass above each half wall and a glass door across the opening.
Here is a shot from the master bathroom, looking down at the awning that was built off the back of the garage as shelter in the patio area.
The stairs only went as high as the second floor today, so DD still couldn't get up to her bedroom, and we took her picture standing one floor down in the master bedroom window area. In her bedroom this whole triangular window area will be a large window seat.
It was good to be able to stand in my sewing studio again. This is looking toward the larger section of the room...

And this is looking toward the narrower section of the room...
The newly poured garage floor...
So, everyone deserted me tonight - DH and DS had tickets to the Pens game and DD and her friend Ashley went to the high school musical (DH and I are going on Friday night so I didn't want to go tonight). I spent the evening at Lowes getting some details written down about the sewing studio counters and looking at vanities for the kids' bathroom. I think this is the vanity we'll go with (only in a 48" width). It is the Crestview Warm Sienna finish vanity from the Cross Creek collection by Kraftmaid. The counter is King's Gold granite with an undermount sink.
I think we'll also get the matching mirror/medicine cabinet...

Tomorrow I meet with the kitchen designer to go over the changes I want to make to the island. On Saturday morning we meet with the builder and the electrician and the architect (and who knows who else) to walk through the house before the electrician gets started.

Things are moving a bit...

DH met the builder and the project manager out at the property on Monday. I guess the grass has gotten so tall they could barely walk through it and the builder said he'll be mowing it down first thing. We're hoping they get started with the excavation in the next couple of weeks. We HAVE to get the house under cover before bad weather sets in, and we're running out of time.

The meeting with the kitchen designer went well. He used some lower cupboards with pull-out shelves, instead of the deep drawers I wanted to use (I misunderstood what he was describing), but I emailed him and explained what I wanted and he said it was no problem and that the cost would be the same, even with the different cabinets.

I saw the actual alkemi counter sample and it was very cool. I'm not positive that's what we'll put on the island, but it's a good possibility.

The only thing from the kitchen design that I'm questioning right now is the center island. The designer made it a 2-level counter (with different counter materials on each section) and I've been envisioning a plain, flat island with no appliances of any kind so that I would have plenty of room to spread out cookie sheets and cooling racks, etc. all around me while I work. I really need to think about how this 2-level island would work for me. Other than that, the kitchen design looks like it will work great!

Excavate, excavate, excavate - maybe if I say it often enough, it will actually happen?? :-D

Kitchen Design is ready!

We have an appointment tomorrow to look at the kitchen design that our designer came up with. I can't wait to see it!

Our designer also has a sample of the Lapis Alkemi countertop for us to look at. Alkemi wouldn't send a sample to me, but they agreed to send one to our designer and it has arrived, so we'll be able to take a look at it tomorrow and see if Alkemi is really something we want to try to use on the island counter.

Yeah! A Kitchen Designer!

Well, I think we've found our kitchen designer. We stopped by a kitchen place on our way to look at some more appliances and both fell in love with this guy. His name is Mark and he used to be a chef, so he knows what needs to be done to make a kitchen functional as well as beautiful.

He gave us a quick run-down of where he'd put the appliances, and why, and it all made sense. He can put a cooktop vent right in the ceiling over the cooktop (between the ceiling joists) which will keep the view from being blocked by a large vent. He kept the center island free from any appliances or sinks which is what I wanted and he did it before I even told him that's what I wanted. He also gave us some great ideas for the floors in the kitchen and adjoining rooms. He suggested deep cabinet drawers to store the dishes in (as we won't have any space for upper cabinets due to the wall of windows in the kitchen) and the deep drawers are what I wanted to use. He loves cooking gadgets and lots of light in kitchens, so we are right in sync with one another.

I'm excited - I think he'll come up with an awesome design for us! He'll also work with us on designs for the bathrooms.

We also looked at appliances. DH agrees with my choice of the LG refrigerator - he liked it better than all the others we looked at. We also looked at some dishwashers and other appliances, but didn't really make any decisions.

Kitchen Designer

Well, DH made an appointment with a kitchen designer for next Thursday. We have been looking for someone who would be able to do more than ask us what kind of cabinets we want and where we want them. We're looking for some guidance and inspiration.

Now I have to figure out which appliances I want before we go to the appointment. I know which refrigerator I want, but I haven't decided on any of the other appliances. We'll probably just have a countertop microwave and place it in a cubby in the end of the island, or perhaps near the ovens.

So, that means I need to decide on the dishwasher, and whether I want a cooktop and double ovens or a range with an extra oven. I do a lot of baking, especially several times a year when we bake dozens and dozens of cookies to label with our church info and hand them out at local youth days and light-up nights. We also have a couple of church bake sales a year that I do a lot of baking for. I therefore would like electric ovens, which bake more evenly than gas ovens.

I've always had electric stoves, but am considering going with a gas cooktop and double electric ovens. The other option is to get a dual fuel range with gas burners and electric ovens, but those are very expensive. I'm sooo confused about what to get! Maybe having a deadline of next Thursday is a good thing - I'm going to have to really research this week and decide what I want to get.

I've also considered the induction cooktops because they heat very quickly and are energy efficient. I would need to get new pots and pans because mine aren't magnetic-based. My main concern with this option is that I wouldn't be able to use my canner and I've only been able to find aluminum canners and those won't work with the induction cooktop.

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!