Kitchen Remodel, Day One

 November 2, 2020

It's been a year in the making and now it's finally happening!  

How many meetings did I "enjoy" with the cabinetry people?  How many times did we change the layout?  I wanted so badly to remove one (seriously, people, only ONE) window and how many times did we change that layout?  Spoiler alert, the window stays, unchanged!  Tried HARD to win that argument, failed.  Moved the hutch to the pantry necessitating moving the pantry to what was supposed to be "empty wall".  

Let's back up.  Here is the kitchen we moved into:

Yes, I am aware; it looks like a very nice kitchen.  

• WHO puts hardwood in a kitchen?  Turns out several of my friends have done so.  Well, not me, that's for certain.  We had been in the house maybe two weeks when the freezer dropped ice cubes and the water hose to the icemaker developed a slow leak.  Know what water does to hardwood?  Yes, and the former owners had refinished the floors as soon as they moved out, so they were LIKE NEW.  Well, not when our fridge was done.  That Viking Professional built in fridge (which I thought was the cat's meow) didn't last two months!  Thank heaven the former owners were willing to purchase a one year home warranty service (should I have suspected there might be a reason for that?).  Well, the warranty company was not willing to replace with a like model so they gave us a generous $$$ toward our new one necessitating some adjustment to the hole as the built in was 3 feet taller than the new one.  Good neighbors to the rescue.
• The dishwasher and microwave were both on their last dying legs and have been replaced.
• My dishes are too big for the cupboard.  Dishes are not abnormally large, inside of cupboard is abnormally short by an inch!  
• The cooktop was an ENORMOUS affair with only four burners but included a griddle (I have a pan) and a grill (also have that).  It was HUGE and all the knobs were exactly at belly level which means anytime I brushed up against one of them going one way or another, they would turn on.  Made me crazy.  New cooktop is a five burner and knobs are on top where they belong.
• I notice the upper cupboard in the middle is losing the inset facia board.  Yes, it's falling out!  My neighbor, an amazing woodworker, takes the door off and repairs it.
• I flip a drawer or door close and IT SLAMS!  Now this is a custom home.  Who fails to install soft close doors and drawers?  Gary to the rescue, he purchases about 100 inserts to fix the doors but the drawer inserts are prohibitively expensive and Shon wants handles (never understood people who don't want handles).  I've learned to carefully close drawers while anxiously awaiting a fix to that.
• What you can't see to the left of the picture is a peninsula with a wet bar.  Never cared about a wet bar but thought the peninsula was a great idea.  Well!  Try putting on a large party (pre pandemic) and walking around that damned thing 3,000 times in the few days during party prep and 100's of times during it.  After our first big party I was ready to take a sledge hammer to it.  I've been patient but now it HAS to go!
• There is a small (useless) hutch next to the wet bar.  It's outta here.
• That frees up some much needed space to insert a real hutch on the other side (facing the kitchen)  
• New hutch will require removing the pantry which will move to a different wall and match the new cabinetry.  
• The lower part of the "L" will be completely removed allowing the island to no longer be a "step up" -- completely useless.  New island will be 5' x 10', all one level.  It will be amazing.  We'll go from being a two butt kitchen to being a least a four butt kitchen, which is as it should be.
• All of my serving pieces have been stored in boxes in the garage since we moved it.  Looking forward to getting them out and using them for more parties; I do love a party!

Most of the party stuff and things way up high that were used only occasionally have been packed up for weeks.  I evaluated the remaining stuff and decided it would take two 3-hour days to complete.  Right ... wrong.  It took 2 SIX hour days.  This morning I dashed off to the post office to send out a Lori Box and realized I was in extraordinary pain.  On the drive home I called my chiropractor and asked to be fitted into his schedule.  The amazing Brandy said, "When can you be here?"  I responded, "Two minutes!"  I'm happy to sit quietly and politely (unusual for me) until he can see me.

When the doc opened the door to usher me into his workroom he announced, "Brandy misspoke, we're closed!"  "Ha! I intoned, Brandy NEVER misspeaks, now it's time for you to fix me." as I marched into his exam room.  POP, CRACK, Crackle.  What a mess.  When I stood up my pain level went from a 5-6 to a zero!  I could lift my knees high with no pain.  I no longer shuffled.  Yea, that was a lot of work.

Then Travis arrived.  Here he is dismantling the island which will be reassembled in my friend's workshop.  Travis is an animal, I already like him.  He's a hard worker and is anxious to please.  I'm pleased so far!

Oh yes, we're keeping the hood!  I love that hood.  I hope you find time in your busy lives to come out and enjoy our new kitchen, I'll take you for a test drive around that hood, it's amazing!

So to those who think this is a lovely kitchen: so did I!  And it was nice to the uninformed eye.  It simply didn't work for me.  This is my last house and  my last kitchen  It want what I want.  I worked for more than 40 years, saved carefully so that I wouldn't have to be on a budget during retirement.  Well, this remodel will put me back in budget land but it will be worth it.  We're very excited, me because I will get what I want; Gary is excited because he will no longer have to listen to my bitching and complaining.  The boys (Harvey, Tommy and Mikey) are excited because soon their crystal pitcher of water will be on the counter and their world will be as it should be.

Stay tuned!