Cabinets, Appliances and Counters, oh my! Cabinets, Appliances and Counters!

Our 'bar area' Icemaker/Undercounter Fridge

The Miele Optima II Dishwasher

The very indecisively decided Double Wall Ovens (Electrolux Icon Professional)

And one of the stars of the show: the Wolf rangetop 4 burner and griddle in the middle

And finally, the Subzero BI36 series with 'air scrubber' system to take the Ethelene out of the air

Enough to drive a girl insane. And I know I am not the only one as I 'troll' the gardenweb home site and try to make sure that I am doing the right thing. Just about everything fell into place with our appliances. . .that is except the double ovens. So I have spend the last week stressing over going 'one grade down' to the Electrolux Double Ovens from the Wolf L Series. I am sure in 3 months from now, I will not care and will probably be thankful to have saved the approximate $3600 (more than 1/2 price!) by not going with the Wolf. Then finding the floor model wolf about 120 miles from us and deciding that driving this 300 lb oven home is probably not a great idea, even to save $1500. I have been living an appliance roller coaster these past 3 months since finalizing and committing to this project. But we have to submit our final plans to the cabinet makers so we can have the cabinets in time to finish our project before our final inspection in September.

So I have the latest plans for our cabinetry (well the manual drawings our installer/dealer had done) and I think I am happy with all of my choices! And hopefully come late July we will have all of the cabinetry ready for installation. . .

One month and counting. . .

View of the exterior of the addition/Mudroom.

View of the entrance from the garage into the mudroom/laundry/new addition area. . .(notice the built in cubbies/bench on the left as you enter).

The all one height ceiling from the kitchen to the family room(they moved the family room ceiling up about 12 inches).

View of the kitchen (Henry playing) tape is marking the cabinetry for our planning. . .

View from the corner of the kitchen through to the family room.

Another view of the family room (all utilities will be moved to the new addition).

View of the family room (and step up to the kitchen) from the outside window).

View from inside the new addition/mudroom area (the interior framed area is the new bathroom); you can also see the doorway (dark area in the middle of the yellow) where the original door is now short. The inspector asked if we were going to 'keep the door this way,' and our GC was about to explain to him this house is designed for 'little people.' But, yes, we are going to make this entrance into a normal doorway.

View of the exterior on June 12

I am impressed with where we are right now(or where we were on June 12). . .most of the framing is complete in the addition and the new kitchen space and we can finally start planning out where things are going to go. . .and I have to finalize my oven selection. That seems to have been the hardest thing for me to do! Whether we go ultra-high end with the Wolfs or one step down with an Electrolux or Thermador Professional Series. . .how this $2-3,000 decision seems like a hard step to overcome!

Anyway, I am going to post our JUNE 12 progess pictures. . .enjoy.

My Vision??

Soapstone Counters with White Cabinetry

The look of the floor to ceiling cabinets

Bench seating options

Floor to ceiling look!

So last night we went to a BBQ at my husband's colleague's home and I walked into the kitchen and was so excited to basically see my vision! Granted, it is far from truly an original idea, but the idea is to keep it with the time/style of our home, but to be updated. And I think they had the same vision as we did. What was even more coincidental is I had started collecting pictures of my thoughts of the end product and thought I would post them so I remember a little more easliy when I want to remember them!! Anyway, I was excited to see that her cabinets, countertops and even appliances were very similar to our selections (if not exactly the same). So my vision may not be 'my' vision, but it is exactly what I was going for.

Now I understand why Designers get paid well. . .

In some ways, I know I can do this myself. However, all of it takes time, and well, time is money. The deeper I get into the project, I see that the General Contractor has lots to do, and stuff I could give a crap about (like electrical and plumbing concerns; I mean I care, but the end result is really what I care about, not the surgery); but the Designer, if they do it correctly, will think of every little detail down to where you want to put lights and where you want the faucet to go. The GC thinks about these things, but more on the big picture. And it’s not like you can totally plan it out ahead of time, because as much as you want to control what your wall looks like inside and what the measurements are, you can’t. Things change, needs change and then all of a sudden your window takes up most of the wall where your shower is. Now, the GC is going to come to you with ideas, but his ideas aren’t always going to be driven by design or the final look. . .they could be driven by cost, they could be driven by ease or even by convenience, so no matter how nice, trustworthy or pleasing your GC is, it is his bottom line (and yours), but again, time is money.
So I am starting to appreciate that doing everything yourself is really tough. In 2007 when we did our bathrooms I learned that you have to trust your GC and that I am not the type of person to work well with a ‘cost plus’ contract, because I don’t want my GC to make more of a profit when things go over budget and over time. I also learned that while you could easily do the GC work yourself, the stress, relationships and timing is something that will end up making a 3 month project take 9 months, and a 30 year old look 40. Plus you may lose some jewelry along the way if you aren’t too careful.

So almost 2 years later (we have until September 25, 2009 to get our tax abatement final inspection completed!), I have come to appreciate being able to find a designer who can understand your thoughts, your vision and your ideas and put those to paper and maybe come up with a few ideas that can add to your project. Being a self-professed control freak, I would love to be able to do all of these things myself, but I am learning that if I want it done and done right, I probably need a little help and motivation to get my ideas out. I think sometimes the people who have no clue, admit to having no clue or not trusting their own taste are lucky- they can hire someone easily because they know anything will be better than what they come up with or wouldn’t want to take the time to even try. Mostly I just know what I don’t like and I won’t know usually until I see it. . .so I just need a little guidance from someone who can tell me that my instincts are correct (or in some cases, off!) So now, after dropping some major coin on this project, I’m pretty insistent on talking to my designer to help me bring it all together. . .and allowing someone else control was probably the hardest part.

And the coolest- that they can draw up these sketches in minutes!

Progress, progress. . .

June 8, 2009 Pictures:

[1-2] View of Former Pantry; View of Kitchen to the Family Room

[3-4-5] Exterior Photos of the Mudroom Addition going up. . .

June 1, 2009 Pictures *as best I can describe. .

[1 and 2] Former Pantry Area (to-be 'bar' area);

[3] View of the 'family room' area

[4 nd 5]Exterior (where sliding glass door will be installed)

I was amazed and excited to come home last night to find the sides of our new addition UP! Well, maybe not all in the right place, but hey, it looks different than the day before.

Right now, I think the worst part of our makeshift kitchen is the fact that (1) I constantly trip the circuit breaker because we have a toaster oven, 2 fridges, burners and microwave all on the same circuit breaker and (2) if the circuit cuts off, then I have to go out the front door, walk around to the construction, unlock the door (which isn't easy to do) and then flip is back 'guessing' that I am finding the correct one. Yesterday, I employed Henry to help, saying 'Mommie needs a rescue man to come and help' (as he had little interest in helping me until it became a game) and asking him to come turn on the TV. Thankfully, the TV turned on after a few attempts at flips and my 'rescue man' could get back to his puzzles and I could then lock up and go back around. So after 3 trips (one to see the progress and 2 to deal with the circuit breakers), I am back in the kicthen, carefully choosing microwave on, toaster oven off; toaster oven on, microwave off. . .no 2 at the same time mind you! And I hear what sounds like a generator going off in the 'empty kitchen remodelling space.' So instead of going back in there, in the event there is some type of construction equipment going off that a ghost or an electrical power change created, I called our GC. I explained it sounded like the thing they use for the power nails into the framing (yes, I am getting a little more experienced at this whole remodel thingy) and he explained that it was probably still plugged in and going on and off. . .so ONE more trip to the space to unplug the equipment.

Anyway, I am excited to post pictures of the progress. . . .

And the waiting game begins. . .

In many ways I think being a GC is easy, but its times like now that I know that overhead is for a reason. . . because subcontractors are not showing up or being where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there.

Thursday both our GC and his sub missed the visit from the City Inspector, who elbowed his way into the house and the tore down our plastic (so that I wouldn't have debris coming into the house from the contruction zone). Why didn't he want to enter into the house from the outside. . .I have NO idea. (Especially when we have a door that is easy access- not like having to break down plywood). I thought that was especially kind of the Inspector to tear down the plastic only to 'fail' the inspection-- knowing full well that he couldn't inspect if they subcontractor wasn't there to show him what he needed to see! Go figure?

Anyway, so much has been done, it feels like a hurry up and wait. But now that the beam is in and the room is opened up, its ironic that it actually looks smaller than before. . .but I think that is a function of not seeing things in the room.

Where we were 2 years ago. . .

It's hard for me to believe it, but we moved into the Money Pit almst 2 years ago this weekend exactly. I went through our true 'before' pictures, before the hardwood floors were revealed beneath the vinyl tiles. Right after Karl's graduation, Daddy, Henry, Auntie Konita, Meema, Papa and a Pregnant-with-Jack Mommy all headed to the house to check it out and take out the hallway to see if we had hardwoods underneath. We pulled the stair carpeting and took out the

'chairlift' that hadn't been used in over 40 years (if it ever was). While it took 4 hours and 3 adults to move it. . .I can't see why someone didn't get rid of it years earlier. . .

Henry is about 17 months old in these pictures and its hard to believe Jack is now the same age and living through the new renovation of the vision we (probably more 'I') had 2 years ago.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)