Christmas Is Coming Too!

My mother used to say this to me every time she called for me and I'd say "I'm coming." It was our little call and response ritual. "Christmas is coming too!" was yelled down the hall back at me. Well we were calling for our appliances to be installed so we did not have to eat at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas. And, it was getting perilously close to Christmas Day. But, just in the nick of time, I guess the St. Nick of time, our appliances were delivered with a few days to spare.

Now, I was still annoyed that our ceiling and walls were still not yet smooth enough for priming, but at least I could cook a meal for the first time in months.

New range. Pancakes would be one of the first dishes I would prepare using that griddle. The griddle makes it so easy to get them cooked quickly.

From left to right: ice machine, microwave, oven, warming drawer, and refrigerator. Notice how the cabinet is missing over the refrigerator. It was too tall, so the bottom was lower than the top of the refrigerator. New one had to be ordered.

Countertop for island was also installed. Note dishwasher to the right of the sink. Not really worth taking a photo of, but that is what they look like before the cabinet door panel is installed. And, turns out, that would take months as the first one ordered was a different color than the rest of the doors and had to be reordered.

So, not fancy, but we had pan-seared chicken for our first meal cooked in our new, partially complete, kitchen. That is our favorite kitchen gadget I'm using, the Thermapen. It is an instant read thermometer. Indispensable. And, you'll note the chicken is ready to take out of the pan at 138 degrees. Tent with foil and it will carryover cook over the next 5 minutes to the perfect 140 degrees.

That wire hanging down is for the under cabinet lights. There was a problem with the quantity ordered on the panels that go underneath the cabinets. I do not like the look of the underside of cabinets that are semi-custom, so I always specify thin panels be installed under to give a completely finished look. We had to wait for the additional quantity to come in and it didn't come in right the first time, so an even longer wait.

Even though I had taken time off to do the painting in the kitchen, it was not to be. We were into January and the ceiling and walls were still not smooth enough. So, I ended up doing it on nights and weekends. And we really didn't take any photos. I thought we had enough pictures of me painting. Plus, we were annoyed. You just don't want to capture that for posterity.

We worked on a few elements over the time I was priming and painting the trim work and the walls. One was the backsplash tile selection. We waited until the cabinets and countertops were in place to begin this process. Here is a look at some of our choices:

In our old house, we had a tumble marble backsplash and we liked it. So, we considered it for this kitchen. But, it just didn't feel "new" enough and our new kitchen had just a little more modern style. So, old Tuscan just didn't fit.

One element we knew we wanted right from the start was something flashy for the bar area, which is to the left of the microwave/oven combo unit. And I knew it had to be the "sticks" tile design in that space. We tried above sample, but it was just too busy and too much veining in it against the very veined countertop it would be above.

Then, we went to Artistic Tile. Funny, I hadn't heard of it until I was sitting next to their marketing director at a fundraiser dinner. So, we went there as part of our research. We saw this pattern above and knew it would be perfect. Plus, you could select the tiles used in the pattern from a palette of over 100 different colors and glazing techniques. They had me at "pick your own colors". The small squares were something we considered for use behind the range around the pot filler.

We brought home several samples of tiles and put this palette together to make the sticks design.

This close-up makes it easier to see the color and texture. We mixed watercolor crackle finish tiles with pearlescent and metallic tiles. This is my favorite part of any project. If I could just do this part, specify all the design details, and then leave and come back to find it all finished to my standards, I'd be happy. But, that is impossible, so I have to endure the parts I dislike as well.

I also selected a lighter shade of the green color in a subway pattern for the rest of the backsplash on the other side of the kitchen. I've seen many kitchens where they do the dramatic sticks all the way around and I think it looks way too busy, plus it diminishes the impact of the sticks. Alan wasn't sure about all that ceramic tile. He was concerned it would look too much like a bathroom. So, we went back to Artistic Tile and looked for other options. Here was the selection of choices:

The one on the far right was my original selection, but in the subway shape. You can see the paint swatches I was considering for the walls next to this tile sample. I really didn't like any of the other choices, and neither did Alan, so he took a leap of faith and left this decision to me. Next post I'll show the designs we considered using this tile and the dramatic impact the design had on price.

Another feature we finished up while waiting for some the replacement cabinets to come in was the interior lights on the glass front cabinets.

We picked glass doors with some drama and copper caming.

You'll note I had the walls primed and painted some color samples here and there on the walls so I could see what my choice looked like against both types of cabinets in the room. Also, that allowed me to view the sample swatches throughout the day in different light conditions.

We like our glass cabinets to be illuminated. It really adds drama to the room at night. Alan is quite the artist with lighting. This is where our teamwork really pays off. I know what looks good, but don't know how to do it. He knows both. So, he did some research since there are always new products and found these very cool LED light strips. You can see below they are about the width of Scotch tape. These can be found at ElementalLED.

Tiny, flexible strips of LED lights can be cut to length at marked locations every 4 inches.

They fit perfectly in between the inside of the cabinet and the front of the shelves. They come in different temperatures of color, so you can even select the type of "white" you want. We went with "warm" white.

You cannot see them even when you open the cabinet door and they provide a continuous even light throughout the cabinet. The only other way to get close to this light distribution would be to install glass shelves so the lights at the top would punch through the glass. With these strips, we could use the wood shelves. Plus it makes cool little sparkles on all of your glasses.

Pretty cool! Note, still no crown moulding on the cabinets. Ugh!

Then, we also ordered some furniture. We were tired of the formality of the dining room for every meal and started a bad habit of eating in the family room in front of the TV.

We put in a contemporary table and chairs to seat four and to make it fit put the table against the wall. This leaves plenty of room to walk in between the bar seats and the table seats to get to the sliding glass door. We also chose a contemporary barrel shade light fixture for this table. At some point I am going to reupholster the chairs, but I still haven't found the right fabric, or someone to do the work.

The bar chairs are situated where the glass bar will go. I'll show that long process on another post. It was one of the last elements to get completed in this kitchen.

This is the view towards the pantry. Most of the trim work is painted at this point and the ceiling is done as well. Walls are primed, but I still hadn't finalized the paint color selection when the furniture was put in place. And, still no crown moulding on the cabinets. That issue went on for months.

The winter dragged along throughout these steps. We had our first snowfall the day after Christmas and didn't see the grass again until April. Getting the contractor to come in and do things to get this finished up was like pulling teeth. We did as much as we could ourselves to keep the project moving, but in some cases we really had to have licensed electricians or plumbers to do some of the installation.

Next post I'll chronicle the finishing of the laundry room and the dryer issues we had. Then of course you don't want to miss the story about the flood caused by the new kitchen faucet installation. Good times!