PHEW...the kitchen is FINALLY finished!

Boy, does it ever feel nice to have our kitchen back to working order...not to mention all new! Now, it really wasn't that long compared to some other stories we've heard from people who have been through kitchen remodels in the past, so we can't complain! We did get tired of Lean Cuisine, take-out, no coffee in the morning and using the bathroom sink to wash the few dishes we had!

All in all it went well, but we did have little "bumps" along the way and it got to the point that we almost expected something with each new phase...and we usually weren't let down because there seemed to always be something!

The start was the doors we ordered...so we "thought" were suppose to be completely finished, but when we picked them up, we discovered they weren't stained...leaving us with our first dilemma. That all worked out...we were able to get the cabinet company to agree to stain (for a fee, of course!) the doors and trim for us...but when we asked them that, they told us our date for the cabinet installation was a week later than we had been told...and this was just four days before the day we "expected" them to install them! ARGH!! Then, we scrambled to reschedule the counter top installation and the other work being done in the kitchen and lower level. That all came together and we had just one more week to wait and the cabinets went in just fine. And, we were able to sell our old ones in just two days...whoohooooo!! The granite installers came out to lay the templates for the counter top and discovered the sink fitting had been cut wrong and had to call the cabinet company to return to redo it...and that took about four hours...seemed crazy to me, but evidently they hadn't installed an under mount sink before?? Hmm, I don't quite understand that because so many people have under mount! Whatever...it got done! Then came the granite installation a week later...we LOVED it and were so excited. Of course, a little "bump" with that in that the faucet we chose would not work and we had to scramble to get a new one in a day so it could be installed and we could finally have a sink! They wouldn't cut the holes until we had the faucet, so they could get them right...and again, it worked out, we found a new faucet, got the holes cut and it installed the next day. But...there was a little problem when having the faucet installed as one of the sides of the sink wouldn't hold the water, so we had find a new ring that would fit with the sink...and we did, but had to wait three days for that to get done! There were some other little bumps...the extra trim to match the flooring we put in last year came, but was actually a different shape from what we had before...we figured out a way around that...the instant hot water tank JUST fit under the sink, but the disposal had to be taken out to get it in...one of the stove feet was broken with being moved around so much, had to order another one and shipping was TWICE the cost of it! We have some narrow cabinets alongside the microwave and Terri decided we needed "sliding" spice racks in each side, it took a bit of work to figure that all out, but in the end, it worked great and looks nice!

SO...the kitchen is finished, all is unpacked and put away (but don't ask us where anything is, that'll take a few months to figure it all out!) and we're now working on the rest of the house that got neglected (and covered in a THICK layer of dust!!!) and had things thrown into other rooms during the process! So, we are now working on that and hoping to get everything ready for next month when we have a celebration for Jess who will graduate from college!!

We must give big "KUDOS" to our neighbor/handyman, Nick Holbrook, for all his great work, patience and understanding...without him, this would not have gone as well and probably wouldn't even be finished by now!!

Here are some photos to see what it looks like...and something to compare it to!

~~ BEFORE ~~
~~ AFTER ~~