30 lbs in 3 months!

Lost it

Counter top photos

Here's what the countertop and sink look like. The countertop was a little darker than we expected but still looks very good I think. The sink is absolutely gorgeous in my opinion and also huge - I can pretty much lay any of my pots down flat (other than the absolutely largest non stick) in each of the bowls, including the handles and everything. I could definitely give two Aditi's a bath in each of the bowls.

The question now is on the tiles. We had pretty much decided on white subway tiles which I have bought a few of but we're wondering now whether it will look too clinical or bathroom like. I suggested maybe interspersing one feature tile every 12-18" or something like that. This morning when I looked at other kitchen photographs with subway tile, I think this will look fine. Still haven't made a final decision though.

Counter top installation

The counter top was installed today! I had to come in late to work because the neighbor who had agreed to come by to oversee it had to cancel. The installation was pretty quick, or at least it seemed to be after I read all the reviews of various granite installers being very late and very slow. These guys were on time and they did have to cut the granite further after getting home as well as notch it for the sink to be installed - but the whole thing together, including sealing, sticking, dropping the sink in and cleaning up after took just over an hour. I think it looks really good but to be honest, I just rushed out once they were done and didn't have time to really admire it or study it. Also, I think I really need the tiles now because everything else looks so nice and finished while the area where i have to tile still looks pretty bad. I will start on the tiling tomorrow.

The other thing is the floor - the only part of the kitchen apart from the appliances which hasn't changed. I think it will look nice with a very dark almost ebony floor. Changing the whole floor out seems like a pain though, not sure I want to go through it but I'm wondering whether I can stain it. When we had got some professional contractor to look at it, he had said the floor couldn't be properly refinished because it was too thin to really sand well. However, I think that it may work if I sand myself with my sander and stain it. Something to consider...

Base Cabinets installed

Ok - so I've installed the base cabinets and put in the shelving systems. The shelving systems are really good though and they have drawers which pull out all the way and so on. I think our kitchen will definitely end up looking less cluttered. I haven't installed the sink cabinets yet because the sink needs to be placed first and for that, the counter tops need to be installed.

Cabinets

Finished hanging all the wall cabinets today. Hanging the cabinets were a lot easier than I expect, probably one of easiest Ikea things to do. The time consuming part was cutting out a hole in one cabinet to fit the vent pipe. Also, once I hung all but one, the cabinet on top of the fridge wouldn't fit. I had 34 inches but the Ikea cabinet was 36 in. The next size they had was 30 in so I had to cut down 2in off the cabinet. Thanks to my new Craftsman jigsaw though, it was amazingly easy. On close inspection, you can see the finish is not perfect though. I couldnt install the doors on it though because taking 2 in off the doors would not be easy and the finish will be easily noticeable. So I've left that and the cabinet on top of the range without doors. Anyway, this is what the kitchen looks like now.

Paint

Beks sent me her kitchen inspiration paint colors today. I went to the Hardware store to buy Yucca Plant which was on her list but the swatch there looked very blue - not sure whether it was the light. In any case, I decided to go one green above on it and chose Lily Pad. I painted a patch on the wall but not sure about it  now- feels like its too dark green. 

Day 17

By now I'm just making up the days on the title as I've lost track. Anyway, as of this morning, I finished priming the walls as well as put one coat of white paint on the ceiling. The video shows what the kitchen looks like now. Its much much brighter than it used to be already. If you look carefully though, you'll see that the ceiling paint is not even and you can see the roller strokes. I'm waiting for a couple of hours before putting on another coat. The other thing that you can see from the video is the one pipe sticking out of the wall going into the ceiling. This is a vent pipe for the kitchen sink as well as for the basement and cant be removed. It was also sitting next to a structural beam of the house so it couldn't be notched into the wood. The plan for this is to cover with a cabinet.

Going to go out and buy some paint samples to see how it looks with the white.