Mmmmm good!

And it begins...... the baking of massive amounts of mouthwatering sweets that I cannot eat. My wife is a incredible baker. The gift basket is just a small sample.

Turkey and Bob the Cat

No it's not the name of a new sitcom on fox, just a description of a couple of update photos.

The kitchen was a success. Thanksgiving dinner was less so, but there was plenty of room for everyone. Wow, two large tables are able to fit into the space. Amazing...This is just a random picture of the majestic "Bob the cat" on our new kitchen table.

Baking up a storm!

Enjoying the new kitchen. Baking cookies!!

Time to table this kitchen project...

A picture of the kitchen actually being used. Along with the back of the wife's head and my dorky barely-still-teenage-who-should-be-moving-out-soon son.New huge table and curtains that need ironed and hemmed.

The metal accents on the table match the kitchen faucet and the curtain rod. Which is wild because we got them all at different stores.

It's ALIVE!!!! BWAHAHAHA ALIVE!!!

With the fog rolling in, on a creepy all hallows eve, the kitchen from hell was officially given life!!

The single-bowl big-ass sink my wife has been waiting for. (notice the large cookie tray sitting flat in the bottom) Someone give me a greasy, burnt-to-a-crisp-stuck-on-foot pot to soak please.....

Warm and inviting was the feeling we were going for, and even though it's not quite complete, I really think we achieved our goal.

And the other side view.... The center island was a compromise between what we wanted and what we could afford. We are planning on extending the top out so we can add a couple of barstools to this side to create a place for people to casually visit while the cook is on the job.
We still have the last bit of counter to do, along with a back-splash mural that my wife is planning on doing and some strategic lighting. (under-counter and some track lights)
Storage, storage and more storage.... the wife is ecstatic.
There is even spots for the earlier pictured cookie trays, and some for some reason some lazy lady named Susan came in and stuck weird looking wire shelves in the corner cabinets.

This is the movable center island with even MORE storage space. If my wife ever says "I don't have anywhere to store this pot", we're getting a divorce.

We still have quite a bit left that we want to do, (mostly aesthetic details) but as of October 31, 2007, we officially have a functioning kitchen back. Only took us 3 hellish months.

So close, yet so far....

OK, so I didn't get the sink in this weekend... :(
But... I can put it in as soon as we seal the grout which only takes about an hour. Probably won't be able to do it tonight, but tomorrow evening.



Had to order 6 more bull-nose tile because we miscalculated and ran out, but luckily it's for the counter on the opposite side of the room from the sink. The "extra" counter, so it won't keep us from actually having a kitchen soon!! WOOHOO!

Ass-Draggin.....

We are dragging our asses.... very burned out at this point... but the we can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

The sink is going to go in this weekend if I have to freakin glue it to the wall....

Almost all your base cabinets belong to us!

Another really long weekend full of work, but all the base cabinets are in place and secured. We even were able to get some of the drawers and doors installed. Woohoo!

The stove and refrigerator are back from their vacations in the back yard and living room. They had a nice time, but are happy to be home.

No counter or sink yet :-( We really can't do a whole lot until those get done.

It this starting to actually look like a kitchen again or what..... don't answer that...

The glass doors don't look nearly so fancy surrounded by the rest of the cabinets. Oh well, we sacrificed design for functionality. My wife wanted a pullout pantry and utility cabinet more than the nice clean look of the glass front doors hanging by themselves.

The big empty boxes are for a pullout pantry and utility cabinet/broom closet.

A peek inside. The wife loves all the drawers and pullout sliding things all over the damn place. I'd probably be more enthusiastic if each and every one didn't have to be put together then installed.

I can say it's 200x nicer than our old 1970's cabinets. Every drawer and sliding door has that "soft close" feature where you just start pushing the drawer in and it closes by itself with absolutely no slaming.

We're finally on the downhill slope. After a bit more installing it will be time for the counter-top (which we are tiling ourselves... yikes) and back-splash (again with the do it ourself crap), but the end is in sight. I'm crossing my fingers that we can get it done in a few more weeks.

Top Heavy!

OMG! It's starting to look like an actual kitchen!

The line up...

How does a tape mesure work again?

That is so totally level! We celebrate by doing ladder ballet...

And we're off....

Dirty pictue of me screwing...

It's one small step for kitchenman...

The beauty of glass....

Storage space galore!!!

And the other end...

The glass doors look so good, I had to add another picture of them...

Whew! It feels wonderful to actually see progress. Of course there is a lot more to go, but it's another milestone in the project. Hopefully we'll be able to get most of the base cabinets in next weekend.

Ohhh what a nice looking..... errr .... empty room.

Ok, we're ready for all the cabinets.... except... they have to be assembled before they can be installed.... pesky details...

OH CHIT!

So our Ikea Kitchen order has come in... Holy Moley! There are a lot of boxes..

We had to go through it to make sure all the pieces were there (168 boxes - luckily all accounted for), so we spread it out a little, but it filled a full-size truck bed completely up over the top of the roof and hanging out the tailgate.

Bob the cat say "Meeeyow! That's a lot of crap to put together!"

The wife is excited, but all I can see is how much work this is going to take. I don't think I really understood how large of a project this was going to be until now.... Yikes!

Last bit of tiling...

The last little bit of tiling...

Going down and getting laid.....

Tile is going down! Labor day weekend and we have been laboring hard and heavy....

And it starts......

Guess who did most of the work....
Gettin' laid....
A different view....
They killed Kenny!!!


Just grouting left to do. We were planning on having the whole thing done over the three day weekend, but mixing the thinset turned out to be the biggest hurdle and time consumer. If we ever do this again we're getting an automatic mixer. I spent more time mixing up mortar than I did cutting and laying down the tile.

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll.... uhhh... whow.... dude... someone open a window...

Chocolate!! Nobody lick the wall....

If you can't tell, I'm hot, sweaty, tired and half-stoned on paint fumes in this picture...