Final kitchen pictures!

After some last minute details and decorating, the kitchen project has been declared complete!  It took about three months from start to finish with a bunch of waiting at the end for final things.  It was all worth it!  We LOVE the new space and can hardly believe it's our house.  It truly is my dream kitchen.  We look forward to hosting many friends and family in the future!  Below is a before & after slide show.

Kitchen: Coat rack

Austin finally had the time and correct materials to put together the coat rack area of the laundry/mud room entrance.  (The shelving had to be reordered because it was too short and didn't have finished edges.)  I am so excited to have multiple hooks to hang everything up and a bench to sit on.  I got the cool flip-down coat hooks on Amazon.com here.  The file holder rack is for collecting school papers and magazines.  I'm still working on a way to cover up the duct work for the vent hood.

Kitchen: Crafty laundry

I'm feeling pretty crafty after my little project in the laundry area today.  I used my Cricut machine to make the vinyl letters spelling out our family mission statement, as well as the description of what that space could be used for.  I also made some basket labels using small chalkboards and chalk ink pens.  It's almost a Pinterest-worthy picture! ;)

Kitchen: Laundry hanger

This was a nifty little design addition to the new laundry area.  It's a flip-down hanger for hanging up dress shirts and other items straight from the dryer to prevent wrinkling.  It can be found cheap on Amazon.com here.

Kitchen: Crown moulding

We also finally got the crown moulding installed.  We had hired someone to do it through the cabinet store.  On his initial visit, the installer declared some of the cabinets weren't straight enough (which he fixed) and the original moulding wasn't tall enough.  So we had to wait for it to be re-ordered and then installed.  It was worth it.  He did an incredible job of blending the cabinet moulding with the crown moulding on the wall.

Kitchen: Table

The new dining table finally arrived!  It came via "white glove" delivery at 8:00pm on a big semi-truck (the only option on the web site I ordered it from).  Two super polite gentleman from North Carolina with sweet Southern accents assembled and set up everything.  It is beautiful!

I literally designed the rest of the kitchen around this table.  I knew I wanted a trestle base table with a butterfly leaf and bench seating.  It also had to be no more than 84" fully extended.  There aren't many options that fill that tall order!  That's why I ended up ordering online.  This one is 66" and extends to 84".  There are three separate benches of different lengths that can be reconfigured if necessary.  We couldn't do built-in benches because of the radiators.  Below is a set up of the table fully extended with a fourth chair.  It should be able to sit up to 10 people (some kids) comfortably.

Kitchen: Grout & pot filler

Austin grouted the tile back splash and installed the outlet covers and the pot filler today.  It's almost finished and I'm loving it!

We had a bit of an adventure/disaster with the pot filler a couple days later.  Austin was supposed to leave to drive to Chicago for work after supper.  However, he checked downstairs and discovered a steady drip of water coming from the wall where the pot filler was installed.  The floor joists were wet and there were puddles on the floor.  He turned off the water main to take off the pot filler since there wasn't a shut-off valve installed.  He couldn't get one of the additional plumbing parts unscrewed and ended up bending it.  That wasn't going to get fixed right then, but the water was still off.  He didn't have a spare shut-off valve for the PEX tubing, and the local hardware store had just closed, so he ended up having to drive all the way to Cedar Falls to get a shut-off valve and install it so the water could be turned back on.  Then he couldn't get the valve to stop leaking.  Luckily, it was dripping directly over a floor drain in the basement.  He finally left for Chicago at 8:30pm.  The next day I called our friend, the plumber.  He was able to remove the bent parts and reinstall the pot filler.  It took him a couple tries, too, but he finally got in a shut-off valve that didn't leak.  We decided that we couldn't see any evidence of water damage to the upstairs walls, so we didn't have to tear things out.  Whew!

Kitchen: Backsplash tile

Austin spent Labor Day finally putting up the tile back splash.  It had been delayed because the original vent hood arrived damage.  It took a while to get a replacement because it got left on a shipping dock in Des Moines for an extra week.  Then there was the small matter of having enough time to install it and the tile.

We used a natural limestone tile with coordinating mosaic tile for behind the cook top.  It turned out we could only get the tile in 18"x18" squares, so we had it cut down to 6" widths for an offset subway pattern on the wall with a custom-sized border around the mosaic.

Kitchen: Storm doors

Austin finally had time to install the new storm doors today.  I was really looking forward to being able to open screens for air flow.  Unfortunately, we discovered that by moving the location of the back entrance door, it no longer cleared the new light fixture we had installed after painting the house.  Amazon.com to the rescue for a new, lower-profile fixture that almost perfectly matches the original.  We moved the porch fixture to the overhang above the garage door entrance because I really didn't care for that old fixture anyway.

Kitchen: Pantry

It took over a week and a couple different trips to Waterloo for shelving material, but I finally got the new pantry organized.  It's amazing how fast the space fills up even when you don't feel like you have a large inventory.  It makes a big difference when things like cereal and snacks are added to the pantry rather than in a kitchen cabinet.  It's still a bit of a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with how things turned out.

I found a spot for my white board menu planner on the inside of the pantry door.  It also has a spot to pin up the school lunch menu.  There is a small basket with markers and the Fareway ad in the closet. 

Inside the pantry to the left is the recycling/collection center.  We collect all recycling items in one bin and then sort them in the garage.  I also have separate baskets to collect Milk Moola lids, Box Tops for Education, and Labels for Education.  Above that is the snack shelf.  There are small disposable containers filled with serving sizes of different snacks.  There are also bins for fruit snacks and pre-packaged snacks. 

My baking supplies fill the floor and a shelf.  Then it's all the open cereal boxes, snack boxes and cooking supplies.

I bought a shallower adjustable shelving unit for smaller boxes/cans because I didn't want it to stick out so far by the doorway.  It doesn't hold as much as I had hoped, but it's nice to be able to see everything instead of moving and digging.

It took two tries to find a shelving unit for inside the original coat closet.  This one holds the beverages that don't fit in the beverage fridge. (I like to have options and to stock up when things are on sale.)

You can't see it in the picture, but on the right side of the upper shelf is all the electronics that connect to the TV with the cords going through the wall to the TV on the other side.






The shelves also hold the paper products, mixer and crockpot.  In addition, there is an outlet wired by the bread machine on the floor.  This allows me to simply slide out the bread machine, fill and insert the inside bucket/pan thing and let it run on the floor in the closet, thereby eliminating the need to ever lift it up or take up counter space.

The best part of the pantry, though, is the motion-sensor light.  You never have to flip a switch or pull a chain to turn it on or remember to turn it off.  Brilliant!

Kitchen: Washer & Dryer and Hardware

Austin got the washer & dryer stacked and installed today.  It was a bit of a hassle, though, after discovering that the 220V outlet the electrician had installed did not have the same shape as the dryer plug.  After a trip to the hardware store and then another to the local appliance store, Austin ended up changing the dryer cord to match the plug.

I'm curious to see the difference in dryer efficiency from the ridiculous 20 ft. vent with four right angles in the basement to the 2 ft. out the wall vent upstairs.

Austin also installed all the cabinet hardware.  It was an extremely stressful decision on my part to decide where to install the knobs.  Then I hardly slept all night fretting and second-guessing my decision.  It all seems silly now.  They look great!

Kitchen: In & Out

We said goodbye to the stove today.  It was brand new after we moved into the house and I declared the inherited one unusable.  Other than a few chips in the porcelain top, it was in like-new condition.  We ended up donating it through our church to a new, young mom who could really use it.

With an extra helping hand, the washer & dryer made the trip up the stairs.

Austin also got the dishwasher installed, although it required a late-night trip to Wal-mart for a special size/shape tool and cost him a toenail after he dropped it on his foot. :o(  It is awesome, though, because it is SILENT.  We also hauled the old table and a collection of chairs up from the basement.  Here are some current pictures of the kitchen:

Kitchen: Modifications, plumbing, electrical

The rest of our appliances were scheduled to be delivered today.  However, no one told us that we would have to modify the wall oven cabinet in order to make it fit.  Austin had to build a platform in the bottom and then saw out a bigger hole.  The delivery guys came back again in two days to finish installing the double wall oven.

With the counter tops in, the plumber could also come to hook up the gas cooktop.  Because of the location of the gas valve, Austin had to modify the top drawer.

The plumber also hooked up the kitchen faucets for us (something Austin could do, but just didn't have time).  I have never been so excited to do a sink full of dishes! LOVE the new Touch2O pull-down faucet from Delta!

The electrician was also able to come back to finish installing the sub-panel, LED under-cabinet lighting and 220V dryer outlet.  Lincoln was eager to help Austin finish installing the ceiling fan. :o)

Breakfast bar

After six weeks of eating breakfast in the basement, we enjoyed our first breakfast at the new bar. :o)

This is where we have been eating most of our meals since the beginning of July:

 

Now it's time to start the monumental task of moving back into the kitchen!