Monday, September 3, 2012

I forgot to mention - the kitchen is done

If you'll think back to May, I posted a couple of times that we were remodeling our kitchen.  When I told my Dad that they said that it would take about five weeks to complete, he scoffed, "Take the number, multiply it by two, and then increase the unit of measurement to the next type of unit.  That's when it will actually be done."  Based on his theory instead of five weeks the kitchen should have taken 10 months.  Well, it didn't take 10 months, but it sure took more than five weeks.

The majority of the work was, indeed completed around the five week mark.  But there were a number of little things here and there that kept keeping the project from being officially completed.  For example, one of the cabinets arrived with a big gash in it.  That needed to be reordered, which added a couple weeks.  When the contractor came in for one of the last walk-throughs, he wasn't happy with the texture on the newly extended wall.  "We can do a better job than that," he said, so we had the guys come back our and re-texturize the wall.  We offered to do the accompanying painting, but twice they delivered the wrong type of paint.  Finally they sent one of their guys out (with the correct paint) and they took care of it.  We also had a couple of issues with doors that needed to be aligned a little better so they came out to fix those.  

All in all it was a good experience.  Despite the lingering minor aspects of the project that took the process in to the 2.5 months range, I was happy with our contractor.  The guys that he had come out were very polite, courteous and friendly.  Their workmanship (except the first attempt at texturizing the wall) was great and I can't believe how much I really love this kitchen.

In case you don't want to link back to my prior posts here are some "before" photos:




And without further ado, here's the after:





Not only did we get new lighting in the kitchen, but we also got new lighting in the adjacent dining room.  It's so much brighter now!  We added a pantry to the left of the fridge, had a full-sized dishwasher installed, and had lazy-susans installed in both corners.  The top cabinets came down about seven more inches so we now have much more cabinet space that we can reach without needing a step-stool.  They put in a neat travertine backsplash.  We got new granite counters that really lighten up the room as well.  All in all, it is a much better use of space and we couldn't be happier with it.  I loved our house to begin with, but the new kitchen just makes it even better.  And even though it was stressful having it worked on while we had people living with us, I'm so glad we did it when we did.  This way we will be able to enjoy it for as long as possible before we inevitably have to move again.  Hopefully the upgrade will come back a little bit to us in the selling price.  We'll see.  But what's important is that Zac and I, who love to cook and bake, have a kitchen that lets us enjoy that!

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