Monday and Tuesday saw the upper cabinets being hung, and a lot of trim and cleanup work! All the major stuff is in now, and we have been told that all the doors, detail work, and other fiddly bits will be done on Friday. Yay! The new upper cabinets have the odd and wonderful capability of appearing smaller than the old ones yet actually being a bit larger.
Adjustable shelves and soft-close doors! And of course, as a game designer I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get both of the doors to kick in the soft-break and close at the same time! Our installer got a kick out of that saying, “Ah, so this is what home owners do when I leave”.
We love the new sink! We chose a single basin instead of a dual, because we both feel that the little side basin in a dual is largely useless, and somehow all the food waste ends up in the basin without the garbage disposal. Truly some goofy designs out there in sink world. This single basin Elkay looks great, and gives us a pretty noticeable piece of counter top back, which is valuable in our little kitchen.
The faucet is a KWC which we paid entirely too much for, but it’s absolutely fantastic. Porcelain interior, soft shut off (so the pipes don’t jerk and klonk when you turn off the water), and a pull out sprayer with a really nice counter weight. The travel on the handle is firm and silky smooth. The little faucet on the right is an Aquasana pure water filter. The blue tape is covering holes for a soap dispenser and plug which have yet to arrive.
Both Aquasana water filters are fitted neatly under the sink on the right. The carbon filters only need to be changed every 6 months, which will be a welcome change over the faucet mounted Britta we had been using. We elected to keep our old Insinkerator garbage disposal since it was only a couple years old.
One of the filters runs clean water up to the sink faucet, and the other runs a pipe under the crawl to the fridge on the other side of the kitchen. We can finally use the ice maker!
We also kept our dishwasher, since it also is only a couple years old. We purchased it from Sears, only to learn after a series of mishaps during the install back then that Sears is now owned by K-Mart. Based on the poor installation and customer service, backed by the cheap K-Mart reputation, we will never be doing business there again. All that being said, the dishwasher looks great in it’s new slot next to the sink. It was previously located next to the far wall on the right.
Those of you who have lived through a kitchen remodel will know what a HUGE deal it is to run your first load of dishes in the new kitchen! No more hand washing in the bathroom. This went a long way towards easing some of the serious burn factor that we are both feeling at this point. I couldn’t remember where we packed the soap, so I went to the store for a new box (gladly, I might add!).
Now that the dishwasher was installed correctly and with professional care (thank you Keystone!), it runs smoother and quieter. I’m sure the better cabinetry and new flooring have a lot to do with that as well.
This rather unexciting hole is where the new Bluestar 30 inch gas range will be installed! Albert Lee Appliances tells me that it’s still scheduled for a Monday deliver, and as I type these words the gas line installers are klunking around in the kitchen getting things ready. All that remains is for Potelco to show up and bring the gas to the house, which is estimated to happen either this or next week. After not having a kitchen for 5 weeks I can confidently say that the stove is by far the least important thing to get back. Having running water and a dishwater is easily on the top of the list.
