Final Product - Kitchen Done (well, less paint, less new fridge, less new stove...)

 

The counters were put in yesterday (Wednesday), and today I finished up "under the sink", so to speak.  We are both pleased that we used a local cabinet shop, HI-LIQUIDATION KITCHEN CABINETS AND VANITIES, here in Holiday...it is literally "just down the street" from us.  Both Mo (owner) and Feby (store manager).  ALL of the people we dealt with were wonderful, and what few issues which came up, they took care of to our satisfaction.  (For instance, Mo miscounted the number of door/drawer handles we needed, coming up one short...he ordered another one and did not charge us for the extra one!)

To say we are happy would be a understatement.  Elated, yes.  Satisfied, yes.  Are we finished?  Ummm...no, but not much left outside of putting things back.  On Tuesday February 15th the plumbers came to remove the dishwasher, etc.  Wednesday was destroy day.  Thursday/Friday was install day.  Early the next week Peter came to measure for the countertops. Yesterday they were installed.  From start to finish we were without a working kitchen for 23 days.  Glad that is over!

This area above did not have true cabinets in it before, nor a countertop.  This is going to be so much nicer.  It will be the home for the Electric Can Opener, the Crock Pot, and perhaps the Egg Cooker (Hard Boiled Eggs).  Most of the cabinets will hold can goods and other food product, but the far bottom already has the garbage can liners in it, and I expect other non-food items will follow.

The sink area is just wonderful.  Now it is time to figure out where to put plates, bowls, glassware, mixing bowls, etc.  The coffee will be right above the coffee maker (right), and I expect the teas and Greek Coffee supplies will be there too, along with coffee cups, and our casual plates and bowls.  Above the sink are some plastic storage containers, but I am not sure what else will go up there.

We use our toaster oven as our main oven (far left corner).  Can't remember when we last used our large oven which is under the stove, I think it was to cook a Turkey a number of years ago.  Marcia is our baker, I am the cook.  I need to keep her pans and baking materials in one location.  Spices and stuff like that are to the right and the left of the stove, along with Carbquik, Splenda Brown Sugar, etc.  They also have to be at a height that makes it easy for her to reach, which means no top shelves...heck, I can barely reach them!  😊

The Granite all came from one slab.  It varies in how much black and how much white is found within each cut piece.  I think that Perter, the Granite Guy, did a wonderful job matching up the counter with the corresponding backsplash.  The two installers (who work for Peter) arrived at 12:30, and were done by 3:30.  They did have to trim a few pieces, but for the most part everything was cut and ready to install when they brought it.  This small area is home to the electric fry pan, which I use nearly as much as the stove.

Another big plus is the stainless steel sink.  The faucet is a MOEN Kaden Single-handle Pull-down Sprayer.  The disposal is to the right...Marcia keeps a dish strainer in the left side for those items she does not like to run through the dishwasher.

After getting fed-up dishing all that money out for the plumber, I decided to hook up the sink stuff myself.  The sink was installed by the counter guys, but that was it...well, I did stop them from trying to install the faucet without reading directions, they did not get very far when they didn't even put the gasket in between the faucet and the granite, so I told them I was going to install it myself.  The sinks had two big holes in them, so after going to Home Depot, I installed the left drain, then the Quick Lock Mount for  the InSinkErator Disposal.  Then I installed the faucet, which was the hardest because getting under the sink enough to reach the stem to attach the nut to for locking the faucet in place was a bit hard.  Once I got it started, Marcia came and held the faucet in place as I tightened it up in place.  I thought I was going to have to buy a special tool, but Moen included a hard plastic long tool which worked great.  Next I looked at the plumbing pipes left over from when the plumbers took everything apart, just to realize that they did not take the sink drain tailpiece off the old sink (or they threw it out...who knows).   So this morning I installed the disposal, and pieced together the pipes to see how it was all going to fit.  The new sinks are much deeper, so I was able to delete a short extension.  So off the Home Depot to get the tailpipe, and a plastic cutter since they only sold them in 12" lengths and I needed around 6".  Surprisingly, everything fit together and we were in business.  Marcia ran various tests on both sinks, and there were no leaks!  We also tested the dishwasher, and other than a wash arm in the bottom drawer which had come off (due to the plumbers having to take the drawer out to get to a mounting screw), all worked well (the arm is not held on with screws or anything, it just sits on top of the mechanism which turns it).

Now, to paint what little of the walls are exposed, and organize the cabinets with what is left to put in.