Kitchen is Done (Phase I)

Okay, let's start this off with the "before"...

And Now... the appliances are in and hooked up, the floor is down, and the island is in place. The Kitchen is as done as it's getting before we move in!

So let's cover what we 'did'...

1. Removed, painted and rearranged cabinets
2. Added lighted "display boxes" above cabinets
3. Added under-cabinet lighting
4. Added walk-in pantry
5. All new appliances, including microwave & dishwasher that didn't exist before
6. Added electric, vent & plumbing for microwave & dishwasher.
7. Re-sheathed walls & added new underlay for floors
8. Stripped bare and repainted all walls
9. New jumbo-size sink
10. Granite counters
11. Added island with teak top
12. New floor
13. Other stuff I'm probably forgetting

Some finishing work remains like the backsplash, some last bits of trim, etc. It's nothing that prevents us using the kitchen, and since I got 3 weeks to paint most of the rest of the house and refinish the floors... the kitchen's "done enough".


A few notes that folks have asked me about:

• The island is 6' x 3'. The 'bins' you see have tip-out doors (not yet installed) for trash & recycling. Since the island will be our 'kitchen table' and primary day-to-day eating space, and since we have PLENTY of cabinet space in the kitchen + a walk-in-pantry, we decided to emphasize 'seating' space, thus the fairly 'open' design.
• The photos (to my eye) at least, make the kitchen area look smaller than it is. The space along each side of the island to the cabinets is 39" and there's a 44" gap from the end to the stove.
• The microwave is a special "low profile" version on purpose. The cabinet above it is a bit taller than you'd put over a stove these days - our cabinets are ~45 years old - and it was designed for a 'hood' rather than a microwave. The low-profile microwave ensures plenty of space above the stove so you're not trying to cook "underhanded"... and just incidentally happens to come out even with the lower edge of the cabinets versus protruding below them. Yeah, we won't be cooking any turkeys in it... But the reality is we use the microwave for heating up tea, bowls of soup, leftovers and other fairly "flat" things that fit just fine in it.
• We're treating this large open space as a 'great room' so the big open "not kitchen" area will be our family room with couches, tv, etc.