Kitchen Reveal

When we last left off, we had just finished installing most of the cabinets. These were basic in-stock cabinets, so we had to buy some organization gear to jazz them up on the inside. One thing we wanted was a place to sort recycling, so we found this pull-out system that attaches to the cabinet door:

This was a bit tricky to install, but it was definitely worth all the trouble in the end. We were also looking for a solution for our dog food. We usually keep it in a small trash can with a lid, so we bought a pull-out trash can and installed it in our pantry so that we can slide it out, open the lid, scoop out the dog food, and push the bin back into the cabinet out of sight. 

At this point, we still didn't have counters or a kitchen sink. We had to get all the base cabinets installed in order that the cabinet installers could come and template for the counter-tops. I did get to go to the stone yard and see our granite slab to make sure we liked it before they cut it, so here is what it looked like: 

While we were waiting for the counter-tops to be cut and installed, we were able to install all the cabinet hardware: 

We took a vacation the week of Memorial Day, so we were able to get away from the renovation and not having a kitchen sink for a while. Once we returned, we only had about a week to go before the counters were to be installed. I don't have any pictures of the actual installation process because I didn't want to bother the men who were installing it, but I can tell you that they did it very quickly! Here it was after they finished installing it: 

Monday, June 15, 2015

You can see here that we were still waiting for that last cabinet to arrive!

We actually got a free kitchen sink when we ordered our counters, so we chose a stainless steel under-mount sink with one extra-deep bowl. Here's a close-up of the sink: 

So now that we had kitchen counters and a sink, it was time to call a plumber and get it all hooked up! The plumber came the next day, on Tuesday June 16 2015 -- also known as the day we finally got our kitchen back!

James went back to work that day, so I had to get the dishwasher ready to be installed. I was pretty proud of myself, I drilled the hole in the side of the sink base so that the hoses could be run over to the dishwasher and back to the disposal. You have to drill the hole up high so that if it ever backs up, it (hopefully) won't leak all over the floor. 

So then once we were all set for the plumber, he came and hooked up the new faucet, the disposal, and the dishwasher. I don't have a picture of that right after it was installed, but trust me, I washed about 6 loads of dishes that first night that it was all hooked up, and I've never been so happy to wash dishes. 

Our next project was to install the under-cabinet lighting system we had bought while we were on vacation -- ok, so we couldn't truly go on vacation from the kitchen renovation :) Once it was installed, here's what that looked like: 

Monday, June 22, 2015

James hooked the lights up to the switch next to the sink, and we also installed a dimmer switch since the lights are dimmable. I also went ahead and installed a cork "backsplash" on the wall next to the fridge, and also found a mail sorter in our color: 

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Next, it was time to install our backsplash. It took us quite a while to get around to this, since we now had a fully-functional kitchen and were a bit worn out. We went with a beveled 2"x4" white subway tile, and then we added an accent stripe of mosaic tile. Here is the first section of tile installed: 

Sunday, July 19, 2015

The next Saturday, we finished tiling the rest of the way around the kitchen: 

Saturday, July 25, 2015

The next photo I have of the tile grouted was on September 5th...I'm not sure if that's when we finally finished grouting the tile, or if that's just when I got around to taking a photo (hopefully the latter), but either way here's the picture: 

Here's another picture of the sink that shows the new faucet, as well as some flowers and artwork: 

Monday, September 7, 2015

 Somewhere along the way, we installed all the trim around the bottom of the cabinets. Here's what they looked like before the trim was installed:

We had some major gaps to cover on account of leveling out the cabinets around the room. The shoe kick molding we had bought wasn't going to cover it all, so we also had to get some quarter round trim as well. Here are those same locations with the trim installed:

This also shows how we built up under the stove so that it would match the height of the counters...basically, we set the stove on a piece of 3/4" plywood and slid it into place and it's a perfect match! (You can't see it unless you're on the floor looking at it, like I was when I took this picture.)

At some point, we also get the microwave installed. We were initially going to do it ourselves, but then we decided that it was worth the money to have a professional do it, especially because they do these all the time and they could do it quickly and correctly. James later said it was the best $100 he ever spent! You can also see a small under-cabinet radio/CD player that we picked up somewhere, so that's been a really fun addition to the kitchen as well. 

We also bought a small island to put in the center of the kitchen. We found it on Wayfair.com and we love the extra storage and counter space it provides. It can also roll out of the way if we need the extra floor space, but so far we have never needed to. 

Saturday, September 12, 2015

So, that brings us pretty much up to present day. I don't have any pictures of the kitchen all clean, but here it is on Christmas Day 2015: 

As a reminder, here is where we started: 

I hope you've enjoyed reading about our journey. It was a very long project because it was mostly just the two of us working on it weekends and evenings, so it definitely wasn't easy, but I'm so glad we took the plunge and started the project! Of course we still have a few finishing touches to go (changing out the light fixture, installing crown molding on the top of the cabinets, filling in the 5 3/4" gap with some custom shelving) but we are so close, and we LOVE everything about it. Thanks for reading!