Kitchen Project. Day 28.

It has been four (4) complete weeks since we began this project.  Since we started on a Thursday, that also means four weekends without a kitchen.

We have eaten many various and sundry things out of the crockpot, including canned chicken and dumplings "enhanced" with canned mixed vegetables, canned soups, pot roasts, and bratwurst and beans.  I have learned to allow for over an hour to heat up soup.

We sometimes reheat leftovers in the toaster oven (not a bad system for the right type of leftovers).  We've also used the toaster oven to make quite a few chicken patties, as well as sliced potatoes with butter and salt wrapped in foil (the old camping dish), which isn't half bad.

We dug out our griddle from the sun porch where it had been packed away, and we've enjoyed fried eggs.  Let me tell you, it's a kick eating fried eggs out of your lap in an upstairs bedroom.

Now we have the dubious pleasure of waiting on the counter-tops.  It takes a week for the counters to be fabricated, once the company comes out and measures for them.  What nobody seemed to know before yesterday is:  it takes a long time to get into the counter-top company's queue for being measured.  We are ready to be measured, but I don't think we are in the queue for measurement.

So.

At this point we will have counters a week after we get measured, but it could be as long as five weeks before they measure us (even longer if were aren't even in the queue yet).  After the counters are installed, we still need to have the backsplash installed, the finish electrical (I think that means switches and switch plates), and faucets and such.

In the meantime, they still have painting they can do.

They may be able to install some appliances.  Maybe... the ones that don't depend on finish electrical being done, and the ones that are not in any way connected to the sink, which will arrive when the counter-tops arrive.  That definitely counts out the dishwasher, and maybe the refrigerator.  Fortunately, our old refrigerator is in the basement.  Our new appliances are in the garage.

I hesitate to show pictures because I asked for a lot of advice, and I didn't take everybody's.  I also hesitate because my camera's light meter is out of whack, and I really struggle to get a picture with decent lighting, especially after the sun starts to set, which is what happens by the time the workers leave.  My flash is broken, too.

But, in all fairness, some of you have been waiting to see this, so I am going to give you an idea, but please realize that these pictures are darker than reality, and they fail to show details that I wish you could see.

 

Here you see, from left to right, the space for the refrigerator, the space for the dishwasher, the corner sink cabinet, and the space for the oven and microwave.

At the left you see, again, the space for the oven and microwave.  

Front and center, Piper inspects the new digs.
Along the wall is our new buffet counter area, 

from which I hope to serve holiday dinners someday.

Here is my new pantry, across the doorway from the buffet,

and I am very excited to start filling it.

The door-style of the upper doors is incorrect and will be changed.

They will be square.

I did use two finishes, a controversial move.  The carpenters call them my red cabinets and my black cabinets.  They are more accurately reddish brown and blackish brown, or, as the company names them, briarwood and chocolate.

So there you have it.