Where Was I?

So, what was I saying?  I know, I know... it's been a long, long time and I'm sorry for worrying a few people (emails I received) that something bad had happened.  I'm not returning to regular blogging but thought I'd post occasionally just to let you know I'm alive and well.  We are finally about to begin our kitchen remodel so I'll post some photos of drawings of the design.  Justin and Sarah's wedding is about 6 weeks away so I'l have photos to post about that and then the fabulous honeymoon they will take to places like New Zealand and Bora Bora.  We have been on a real roller coaster ride with Jeff's mom.  She is slipping further into dementia and Jeff found her a nice assisted living facility from which she keeps escaping.  It's not fun having the sheriff pull up to your house and knock on the door!  There's a whole post in itself.  But for now, on to the kitchen.

I can't believe how patient I've become.  Normally, I want things done yesterday but this has been dragging on for months and I'm still pretty nonchalant about it.  I guess I've finally learned not to sweat the small stuff.  We have a nice contractor who is working with a kitchen designer that we chose and they have been cooperating together to design our kitchen.  It involves combining our current kitchen and the adjoining breakfast room into one big kitchen.  So everything will go including the ceiling and floor.  We've bought all the appliances and the cabinetry is ordered.  This next week, we are having a electrical panel upgrade (to handle all the new appliances and lighting) which involves digging a trench from the street to the current electrical panel.  Phooey!  Who cares about this stuff... just get on with my new kitchen!  We still have to select all out granite, tile, faucets, hardware and lighting but here's some drawings of how the kitchen will look.  You can click on the drawings to see them bigger.

Here's a top view of the new kitchen.  Showing this view so you can see the angles- like the right wall has almost a hutch-like area that is set out... a lot of angles makes for an interesting look with the crown molding.

A side view.  Having an island was a must since we always gather there

This is the back wall.  All the appliances are Thermador.  The dishwasher is next to the sink, that's a pro-cooktop six burner range with pro-hood, and on the far right a double oven.  Only need that on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I requested the feet on certain areas to give that furniture-look to the cabinetry,

This is what I call the decorative wall.  There's the hutch area I mentioned.  It has a plate rack and the two cabinets on either side are glass with led lighting.  On the right is a wine rack.  The glass will have the same v-groove etching that our living room windows have.  There's one more glass cabinet that you can see in the previous photo next to the sink.

This is the view of the refrigerator and pantry.  The refrigerator/freezer comes in columns.  The freezer on the left side is 18 inches wide and the refrigerator is 30 inches so it's large at 48 inches total.  It will be paneled in the same wood as the cabinets.  The cabinets are pearl white with pewter glaze which only goes in the lines.  It looks really nice with all the stainless appliances.  Our appliances wont even have those vents at the bottom like in the drawing so it really blends in seamlessly.  The pantry is on the right.

Finally, the island.  It's the trend here to not have your island match the rest of the kitchen so the island will have the same cabinets but in cherry with an oynx glaze.  Also something new is a microwave drawer.  Everyone tells me they are fantastic as you can slide it open and look down on what you're cooking rather than tippy-toe to see a higher mounted micro.  There will be seating for four.

So there you have it.  Our contractor is estimating 6 to 8 weeks.  Once the kitchen gutting begins, we will have to have our current refrigerator in the garage and set up coffeemaker and toaster oven in our mini bar. We will BBQ a lot and get take out.  I don't think I'll have a problem with that but we'll see!  I'll add more photos as the demo and rebuilding progresses.  Happy 4th of July!