Pay no attention to the man behind the screen...

Here we are about 2 weeks after the finish of kitchen-new.  Most of the punch list has been attended to, except for our swinging door that will be between the dining room and the kitchen, the fixing of the LED light on our sink faucet (yes, George the Elder found that little gem.  I guess it's important for doing dishes in the dark??), and the glass in the upper cabinets on the stove wall will be changed out with ribbed glass to match the back door and soon-to-be-hung kitchen/dining door. 

 

I'm still working on putting in the drawer organizers, some were back ordered, some were mis-ordered and some were simply not ordered - - but I'm getting there.  My spices are now alphabetized and at least I've got that going for me.  And yes, I said alphabetized.  You can laugh, but when you're in a hurry looking for oregano - - it's nice to just be able to scan past all those pesky C's - - you know curry, cinnamon and cloves.

 

I promised some photos of the kitchen-new with our stuff in it - - and today you get those, PLUS an added photo stream of things "behind the doors."  I promised this to my sister today, so you all get to snoop as well.  Do. Not. Judge.  Just because I have capri sun in my cupboards, doesn't make me a bad person....

 

 

 

View from Atrium.  Need a little work on my shelf organization and display, but am so pleased to have these shelves in there!

 

 

View with "stuff" from top of stairs.



Close up view of shelves... Plus, dig those nifty Emeco stools.  They're aluminum so they weigh about next to nothing.



View of nice big bright windows in kitchen.  Our plan for window treatments = none.  I don't know if you can tell, but these have really cool pull open screens on them.  The screens are on the inside, so you don't wrestle with dirt or spider webs from the exterior.  Brilliant!

Pantry - - closed...

Pantry  - Open.   Love those drawers.  Love those shelves.

stove wall with stuff on counters... our vintage canister set, and George the Elder's very high tech coffee machine.  I don't drink coffee, so I've no idea how to use it. 

And more for the insides of drawers...Left side first....

Go ahead -- zoom in if you'd like.  Alph on the right.  Others on the left....

 

Right side now...

 

oil pull out!!!

Island with the bar block returned to it's intended state.  What I didn't take a photo of was the inside of these drawers.  The large middle one has a knife block.  The other two are empty so far.  I've a feeling that junk will fill them shortly!  Far left is a little door that covers the electrical outlet and a port to plug in your computer.

 And now for the insides...Right and Center....

Left side.  Can I tell you how much I appeciate having all of our plates and bowls in drawers?  Plus, they're right across from the dishwasher, so once you're bended down to start unloading the clean dishes, you just move them across the way to their rightful location.  It's a little chunk of organizational heaven...

The sink wall.

 

And the guts....

 

 

Room enough for a very nice sized composte bin!!  So San Francisco...

We put our recycling in this pull out bin.

corner cabinet with kidney shaped thingy in....

corner cabinet with kidney shaped thingy pulled out. 

The "Tall Wall"....

 Behind the scenes....

 

appliance garage.  sheer brilliance.

The hidden microwave...

the pantry

Lots of fridge room!!!

And that is it for the kitchen-new.  Pleased it's done, still need to find the right pendants, and I love cooking in it.  I didn't say I loved cooking per se, but if I've got to do it - - the place is a real dream to do it in.  Go us!

Same Perspective : New View

After posting the photos yesterday, I thought it might be fun to show a little before/after from approximately the same view points.  I loved seeing the photos nearly side by side.  One of these days I need to do a quick slide show for myself that shows the transformation over time.  Cause for the life of me now, I still am confused about what took so long - - even though I was there watching it through its various stages of transformation...

Kitchen-old on October 1, 2012

Kitchen-new on December 21, 2012

Kitchen-old stove view on October 1, 2012

Kitchen-new stove view on December 21, 2012

Kitchen-old view from pantry on October 1, 2012

Kitchen-new view from pantries on December 21, 2012

Beyond just updating everything from the 1984 pink sink, gray/pink granite, white cabinets and weird faux wood floor - - the thing that we like best about this room now is that it is really open.  Removing the wall made a really big difference in the amount of light that we get in there (and I guess putting in a larger window over the sink didn't exactly hurt).  It's also a place now where we spend a lot of time just hanging out - - when someone else is cooking, there's enough open space for other people to be there - - the "galley" concept of kitchen-old wasn't conducive to having more than the cook in there without getting in the way.

And like all things "new" - - it takes a little getting used to.  Last night I discovered that putting garlic bread in the small top oven (which seemed to be a perfectly reasonable place to put it to heat it up) is not a great idea.   The good news is that when the bottom of the bread turned black and started smoking - - I quickly discovered that my fan hood is amazingly strong and efficient!  Silver lining - - but no garlic bread.  heh heh heh.

It didn't fit under the tree...

But, on December 21st after a grueling 2 months, 20 days and 8 hours (give or take an hour or so), Luke made good on his word and delivered to us the best Christmas present EVER.  All the protection was removed, the last bits ands bobs were attended to, the cleaner came and....VOILA!

 

View from the top of the stairs looking down in to the kitchen new.  Love the Ann Sacks tile - - it's so clean and bright.  The pendant lights are the only thing we simply do not like, so these will be switched out at some point in the future.  They're just a little too "some thing" - - too industrial, too heavy, too "some thing"

The "tall wall" - - Right to left:  Fridge, Freezer, Pantry, appliance garage, microwave cabinet and then along the top all kinds of cute high cabinets where we will house all manner of things that we keep in the kitchen but rarely use since I cannot reach them!



From the top of the stairs, our GLORIOUS pantries!  These bad boys are BIG and I was able to get everything in there that I had planned for.

Our crazy big island and new emeco stools!  See the lights?  Some thing's not quite right, yes?

View from the door leading to the dining room.  Still loving the way that the lights reflect off the stainless steel back splash.

Standing by the pantries looking towards the backdoor.

And here she is - - all unwrapped, all cleaned and ready to cook in her own little "nook."

The front of the island.  Note white outlets on the bar block.  Ugly and soon to be removed.  We didn't pass our electrical inspection 2 days before this photo was taken.  Some nonsense about needing multiple plugs on this island.  So, we came up with an elegant solution put in place for the final inspection two days later.  Luke is in the kitchen right now returning this to it's intended design.  A nice little door on the far left that hides the first electrical socket, a second drawer will go back after removing the second electrical socket, and our radio will tuck nicely in to the last space on the right.  I hate inspectors.

This is our sink wall.   LOVE the big drawer under the sink to put all my yukky stuff.

Right after these photos were taken, the boxes were hauled up from the garage to put stuff in the kitchen-new.  My brother was arriving in less than 48 hours and the rush was on.   We needed to unpack all the stuff in boxes in the garage, dismantle the temporary kitchen that was downstairs in the laundry room, transform the guest room and dining room back to their original purposes from their temporary use as construction storage/work rooms!  The whole house needed a cleaning from top to bottom -- that construction dust is a bitch.  But just as the last rag was being thrown in to the laundry basket - - the door bell rang and the Christmas guests arrived.  Perfect!!

 

There are still things to be done - a page long punch list - and the guys are back today to start working on it.  But, DANG we are happy with the room (except for the pendants).  George the Elder had the time of his life cooking here, it's already been christened by guests and I love seeing George the Younger eat his breakfast at the island bar.  Nice to see him there instead of downstairs hunched over the coffee table.  And yet, somethings will never change - - like the fact that even though the kitchen is brand new, I still managed to leave the extra pancakes in the oven from Christmas morning only to find them there 2 days later still in the oven -- cold, wrinkly and stale!

 

I'll eventually post some photos with the kitchen-new filled with our crap.  Books on the shelves, art work hung and all our vintage clocks back where they belong.  And, if I must say so myself - - we did a great job on this room.  Thanks for Henrybuilt for their vision, Saturn Construction for all their hard work, and to George the Elder who, when I thought everything was going to hell in a hand basket, patted my on the hand and told me "everything is going to work out fine."  He was right.

The Calm before the Stone...

Just because I suck at posting, doesn't mean things aren't happening.  What I thought was going to be a big week on December 3rd, kind of got kafluggled.  Last week, however brought some big happenings.... Foreman Luke is still promising to deliver by this Friday - - and I'm going to take him at his word.  Today we got "water" in the sink - - which I will post tomorrow when I take some more photos -- but last week the whole thing really started to gel and it looks like a "room" more or less...

 

The first notable achievement of the week was our big beautiful Chagny made it up from the garage to the kitchen.  Luke and Dan carried her (sans doors and anything else that could be removed before hefting her) around the back and in through the door.  They did this while I went to drive carpool.  I think it was done then so I wouldn't hear them crying like a couple of little girls that, "it's SO heavy!!"  They also brought up the dishwasher - - which you will see in subsequent photos.  They reported that this was lighter and easier to maneuver.  Go figure.

There she is!!  Ready to be pushed back in to her perfect place in the stove nook!

So, after a week of fiddling here and fiddling there -- we sat ready on Friday morning for the boys from fox to come and deliver the counter tops.

Tall wall, minus the fridge and freezer....

Island with our super cool bar block back on top!  Edges protected...

Sink wall (see the dishwasher - - just taunting me now every time I do dishes in the laundry sink downstairs..)

front of island - - see where all the drawers fit in to the bar block?  It even has a place on the far right for our kitchen radio...

The stove wall ready to accept its counter top.  Stainless back splash still covered for protection.  Also, note that the stove hood was recessed in to the upper cabinet as it was intended.  Thanks Dan!

Just before the counters arrived, the teeny tiny cabinets that fit above the fridge and freezer arrived and Dan hung them up.  Can't wait for tomorrow when Miele comes a' calling again to deliver and install the fridge and freezer.  Ooooh-weee!

 

And then, through the rain came the Fox guys and our stone was here!  I was like a little kid on Christmas morning.  George the Elder and I had already met with them to determine how our VERY large piece of granite would be sliced in to pieces for the counter tops.  Who knew there was very sophisticated software to help you with this?  In the end, they got it just right.  Black splotches positioned perfectly.  Blue twinkley spots shining in the sunlight.  A site to behold.

 

 

First slab gets laid down in the corner of the stove nook.

Second slab is glued in to place and the protection is peeled back to reveal the amazing stainless behind it.

The island, the sink counter, and the back splash are all put in to place.

 

And as the sun began to set here in San Francisco, the boys had all cleared out, and stools that we ordered for the island had just been delivered - - I couldn't help myself, so I removed the plastic morgue door at the top of the stairs and looked down on my emerging kitchen-new....

 

 

The first view of our kitchen-new from the top of the stairs.  Love it.  Really Love it!

Note how the radio was the first thing installed in the bar block?  The construction guys love having music while they work!

The protection was peeled back from the stainless and I like how the lights from the stove hood and the under cabinet pucks reflect.  The stove was pushed back in to place and it's looking amazing right there.

Just another view of the island and stove area.  So pretty!

The sink counter complete with our enormous sink and the casing installed around the very very large kitchen window!

More of the sink counter.

 The weekend started with this as my last site of kitchen-new.  We are happy, happy, happy.  Monday morning brings lots of little things being taken care of.  Five days and counting....