The Home Stretch

Today was a day of small projects and touch-up details. Having finished all the major pieces yesterday, Keith cut baseboard, tweaked cabinet doors, hooked up the final plumbing and electrical connections, etc. Basically, we have a completely functional kitchen now, with only a few exceptions.

Long Day For Keith

Keith finished up at 7:30, 12 hours after he got here. He worked his butt off today. The list that remains is awfully short. Oven and cooktop -- done. Hood -- done. Cabinets -- done. Sink et al -- done. It's just about finished, despite still having a plywood floor.

Revealing

Not the whole shebang, of course, but some bigger pictures since everything's starting to come together. Doors are all on, handles are on, the counter is darn purty. There's one more cabinet to install and the appliances should be going in on Monday -- Tuesday at the latest. After that, it's in our court for the floor. Trips to the tile store are on the agenda this weekend, as is a trip to look at new cookware -- a requirement that you'll understand soon enough.

Good Days and Bad Days

Today was an odd one. With countertops on the way, Keith was here early to get as many cabinet doors finished as possible before the counters arrived and took over the kitchen. When I went to work I knew I wouldn't get to see it until late tonight, since I had a heli flight in the afternoon and a classroom session for our rigging class immediately after.

Uppers And Downers

Upper cabinetry is in and we continue to add new bits and pieces to the future kitchen-state. Anastasia decided to replace the dispenser for our Insta-hot (which will be making a return in Kitchen 2.0) with a different style.

Truth And Fiction

There wasn't a ton of new work done in the kitchen today, but the base cabinets are pretty much done and the countertop subcontractor was here to take his measurements. He left with a pile of cardboard cutouts in the shape of our new kitchen.

An Unveiling? Or Not...

If Anastasia and I were doing this remodel we'd be lucky to have the cabinets removed by now, assuming we'd taken the last two weeks off from work. Instead, the base cabinet boxes are already 98% installed and the upper cabinets will probably be going in tomorrow.

Making Mud

Mudding and skim-coating was the plan today. The insulation is in and the walls are closed, so come next week we'll start seeing cabinets. Tuesday we take measurements for a very exciting component of the kitchen, hopefully to be installed on Thursday.

Let There Be Drywall

It's funny, but in a way these first few days are my favorite part of the project. As Anastasia will attest, I get WAY more excited about the inner-workings and nuts-and-bolts of the project than she does. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for the brand new log-cabin style cabinets, the red linoleum floors and the refurbished electric range*, but it's really cool to see all the brand-new guts of the kitchen and know that we won't have any problems with it for a long time to come.

The Legend of John Adams

Our dearly departed former homeowner (may he rest in peace) continues to exercise his remodeling prowess from beyond the veil. After discovering (and correcting) the kitchen drainage vent that distributed sewer gas directly into the attic, Keith (our main-remodel-man) discovered that most of the electrical work in the kitchen was just a series of paper clips and staples, crimped together and attached to the breaker box with bubblegum.

Continued Mayhem

Well, we replaced the light bulb and it still appears as if something is wrong with our kitchen.
[caption id="attachment_458" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Mmmmm, new plumbing."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_459" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Demo complete."][/caption]

Kokanee Video

Andy put together a fine little video with our footage from the trip. Be sure to expand it to full screen.

Kokanee Hut from A. Toyota on Vimeo.

Something Seems Wrong

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Something\'s unusual about the kitchen, but I can\'t quite place it."][/caption]

Busy May

The moment we got back from our Kokanee trip we dove into a hectic schedule for the month of May. I'm wrapping up my documentary film class with Andy for a "premier" on June 8th, trying to fit in as much helicopter flight time as possible and, the kicker, taking Snohomish County's "Rigging For Rescue" class, with Mica and Anastasia.