Feeling the same way, and we've yet to sign off on the final cabinet order. :)

I asked myself every one of these same questions (except the tile because we're not doing a tile BS) and as every piece comes into the kitchen I am more and more excited!! It's turing out awesome, just like I orginally imagined in my head.
I'm sure yours will look just as awesome!

Hi dreamweavermam,
We just got our cabs delivered and our install also starts on Monday..I tossed and turned all last night so you are not alone lol.
What cabinets did you get?

yes yes and yes. i was in exactly your shoes a few weeks ago. i even started a thread about it bc i was nervous that i made a huge layout error.
we are still living in the midst of everything, but i have come to LOVE everything about my renovation. everything that i questioned, everything i worried about - it is all coming together so beautifully and i am at that point of excitement now. when everything is new and happens all at once, it can be terribly overwhelming. give it all a chance - hopefully you will come to love your choices too!!

I have a wine glass that can hold an entire bottle of wine.

I think you need one too.

All will be fine.

-Bee

I did the same thing, second guessing myself constantly but I love the way it turned out and I don't think twice about my decisions now.

So glad I'm not the only one! I could have written your exact post every day for the last week.... Cabinets are almost all in, painters start Monday (I finally have to pick the color this weekend!!!) -- will I screw up or will it all go together??won't know til it's all done... aaaagh!!! My husband is ready to commit me.

I'm living in your world right now. Cabinets are sitting in the family room waiting for install. I have a white kitchen (love white) and am going to cherry. Big,no, HUGE change! Concerned I'll be going from small, light and bright (although falling apart) to small, dark, and cave like, all the while hoping that it will all work out in the end. Fingers crossed for all of you!

oh wow, thanks for posting this. i'm feeling the same way, but i'm only on the verge of ordering cabinets.

i hope as it goes in you'll start to feel excited like craftlady07! i love watching her remodel come together.

fingers crossed for 'ya and keep us posted! :)

I know what you mean, 11 days and counting for cabinet install. Haven't slept in a while, endless goggling worried about the Saturina granite I picked, what backsplash, every doodad on the face of the earth... My mistake is I did my own deconstruction and drywall electric gas etc, and I STARTED TOO EARLY for fear something would go wrong and I would need more time, etc. Everything was fine while I was busy, but now I am in the second week of the "waiting period" and have had time to second guess decisions already made, and panic over the decisions not yet made.

I never realized how depressed I would be without a kitchen and the house wrecked, new appliances in the dining room, laundry tub for a sink in the kitchen, heating only using a microwave and hotplate, eating with paper plates and plastic utensils, gaining weight from eating out and eating junk because its easier to make.

Not to mention I was very innocent in the ways (ahem) of what things cost these days, and lets say my budget was many 10's of thousands off what I originally thought when I came up with this brainstorm.

But 35 years with my wife and wanted to give her the kitchen of her dreams, or at least close:) so I guess it will be worth it in the long run, I just want it to be over.

I have remodeled our entire house over the years and never had any room, furnace roof etc be anywhere near as stressful and messy as this is.

I mean, get the cabinets installed. Wait on the template, wait two weeks on the granite, wait on the tile people, on and on and on!

End of my little pathetic rant:)

Jgopp and craftlady, thanks for encouraging me with your success stories. Debbie, ironcook, jgs7691, bellacucina and research_queen, it's good to know I'm not the only one. As they say, there's comfort in numbers.

Debbie, I'm going from white to cherry, too. I like the idea of stained cabinets, but I'm afraid that DH's choice is going to a bit darker and redder than I might have selected. He allowed me to make most of the decisions, so I really can't complain if he liked the cabinets a shade redder and darker than the natural cherry I would have probably gone with. The stain we're getting is called candleglow.

Jillsee, it sounds like we're on the same schedule. What kind of cabinets are you getting? Since yours were delivered already, I guess you can take a peek at them? Or are they all wrapped up?

Pricepal,, we started our deconstruction a bit early, too as it turns out. Last week there was almost nothing going on. That's so sweet that you want to give your wife the kitchen of her dreams. We're with you on the "new appliances in boxes the dining room" and "house wrecked." We're doing the painting ourselves this weekend before the cabinets get here.

Bee, as it turns out, I had poured myself a glass of wine before I sat down at the computer after an evening of priming the walls. But I believe your glass is probably bigger. Your comment made me truly laugh out loud. Thanks!

I totally understand what you're going through. We are starting week 3 of probably 6-9 weeks of a total gut and remodel. The last two weeks have been extremely hard on me and the kids. My husband seems to be handling this all ok, but I think it might be just so that we aren't all freaking out at the same time.

The double guessing is so hard. After 1 1/2 years of dreaming I'm now so scared I won't like the decisions we've made, particularly in terms of the layout which is a big change from the way our kitchen used to be. Changing our kitchen is going to change how we live in our house fairly substantially. I just hope we like it.

One final thing that's making this hard for me is that I don't want to complain too much about how hard this remodel has been on my mental health because A) it is voluntarily self inflicted and B) it's so burgeois to complain about a kitchen remodel. Glad there are others here who feel similarly to commiserate with.

Oh, how all of your sentiments ring true for me. Especially the one about not feeling justified in complaining...we're doing a total DIY remodel, including some major structural changes to our kitchen (from 1935 before the countertop era). My cabinets and soapstone are in, sink is working as of this afternoon, and it is in fact, all coming together. Although I seem to be stuck on some of the finishing...wall color, hardware, backsplash...trying to take my time with those decisions so I don't make them hastily...
May the force be with you as my seven year old would say!
:)
j.

Oh my do I identify with this thread!

I remember a few months ago our carpenter said, "You must be getting excited seeing it all come together" and I said, "actually I feel like throwing up and I'll be happy if I just don't hate it."

We're doing a whole house remodel and I am second guessing everything in every room.

As things have come together though, I've been feeling better for the most part. I've had a few triumphs (moving the kitchen from one side of the house to the other was smart and all the windows we added make the house so much more light and cheerful.) But I really have to make myself hold onto those to endure the various "misses" that I can't do anything about now. "I'm-doing-the-best-I-can" is my mantra but it is tough when so much money is flying out the door and everything is not perfect. (I rationally know everything can't be perfect, but I spend a lot of sleepless nights trying to see to it that it will be, LOL)

Our kitchen cabinets are going in next Monday and I am both nervous and excited. I really, really, really hope they are ok...

baligirl I LOVE what you wrote about the impact on mental health and that we can't complain because it's self inflicted and so "bourgeois." So true!! We do have to remind ourselves what a blessing it is to be able to remodel a kitchen, but no doubt about it-it IS stressful.

It's truly a blessing that we can come to this forum where others are going through the same thing and understand and don't judge us for being so frivolous. :)

Today is Monday.....what happened?

I'll try to find out where you can get the 750ml wine glass.

As Martha Stewart would say "it's a good thing"

Today is the beginning of week 2 and I'm still selecting stuff. Three electricians here today, studs, ceiling, insulation, floating fluffies, plaster, walls of boxes, pathways thru canyons, Delicious Lean Cuisines. Three layers of floor gone with holes to relocate the heating ducts and reconfigure the electricity.

Interesting that I, too, have just demo'ed a white kitchen and love my new deeply stained maple cabs, kind of a cherry-ish color. Funny, the new cab color is not far from the original 1960 cabs, which were so well made in this well built house. I am happy and scared and second guessing everything except the cabs.

How could I pick the only cab pulls I looked at-the single uninstalled pull from our 4 year old bath reno? I knew where that pull was hiding, looked at it and said, ok, that's it, when I cannot decide the countertop (That glass place hasn't replied yet).

Do you all feel that you need, absolutely need, at least 3 clones of yourself?

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your similar stories. Baligirl, I agree that it feels somehow "wrong" to be worried about all of these silly details. A friend of mine just returned from a mission trip to Haiti. Her pictures certainly put all of these ultimately meaningless little decisions into perspective.

Nontheless, we started down this road, we're in the middle of the project and so we must continue. Here's an update.

The cabinets arrived yesterday and are all in place, although the trim and a few tweaks and adjustments need to be completed. They're coming back Thursday to finish because they need to remake a beadboard section that they had measured incorrectly.

Yes, the cabinets are darker and redder than I would have selected, but they really are beautiful. They are SUCH an upgrade over our previous cabinets. The drawers don't make an awful creaking sound when you pull them out! The doors and drawers close softly; there's more storage; the wood finish is beautiful; the magic corner (which I think we're going to refer to as "the contraption") looks wonderful. I love how the glass inserts above the hutch area look. I guess you could say I'm feeling more optimistic about this whole thing.

Jillsee, how is your install going? Did I see on another post that you're in PA? We are too. My kitchen floor isn't hardwood like yours, but it sounds like our cabinet choices are similar. There is hardwood adjacent to our kitchen--that's what you see in the photo. Our kitchen floor is currently plywood subfloor. I still haven't selected the flooring for the kitchen. I had a whole other thread about that subject. At this point, we're leaning toward Duraceramic Tile or Marmoleum Click. Since we were so close to getting the cabinets I decided to wait and see the samples with the cabinets before making the final choice. Either choice doesn't need to go under the cabinets anyway.

It really is helpful to hear that you all understand the tension I'm feeling between truly struggling with the stresses of the project and putting things into perspective and realizing how blessed I am to be in this position.

I realized last night at 2:30 am when I couldn't sleep that part of the issue for me is about giving up control over seeing my vision for the project implemented. I think that overall our general contractor and designer have understood our dreams for the project, but then there are issues with misunderstandings or miscommunication (or just mistakes) and it freaks me out. For example, it was only because we poured over every measurement of our cabinet order that we realized that one run wasn't the right length and wouldn't have fit in our space. I worry there's something else that we won't catch, or possibly even worse, some decision we've made that we'll realize later was a mistake.

Then there's the money pouring out the door... Every decision has a dollar sign attached and I neither want to cheap out and not invest now in something that's important nor do I want to spend all of our savings. That's another source of tension for me.

In any case, here's to another day in the wonderland of kitchen remodeling! We are all very lucky to have the resources to be subjecting ourselves to this! ;)

dreamweaver, There is a school of thought here that it is important to have the flooring under the cabs the same height as the flooring not under the cabs. Here's one reason why.

If you need to replace an appliance, it will be easier to remove the old appliance, say a dishwasher, if the floor underneath is the same height. When I had to replace a dishwasher, the installer cracked my countertop, laminate, when he tried to pop out the old dishwasher.

It is not necessary to have the same flooring material under the cabs but it should be the same height as the visible floor. Plywood, for example, but many of us use the same material as often it's easier to just do the whole floor.

Please post this as a separate issue as it is a very important detail. I'm glad you raised it.

Good point, westsider. I probably should clarify my statement about the flooring so as not to confuse anyone. We had plywood subflooring installed under our cabinets, which will bring the cabinets to the same level that our finished floor will end up being--regardless of which of two flooring options we choose. There is a slight gap at the front edge under the cabinets where the plywood does not extend flush to the edge of the cabinets. That will allow the new flooring to be tucked slightly under the cabinets. The new flooring will go under the appliances (range, dishwasher, and fridge). That would allow the DW to slide out and not end up locked in by the flooring if it were to be replaced or need service. If we had gone with hardwood or ceramic, we would have done the entire floor (including under the cabinets) with the new flooring. Since we knew we were either doing a floating floor or DuraCeramic, it gave us a little extra time to decide by doing it this way.

Whew, Dreamy, glad that you have that covered. I didn't see your other post but I would be remiss if I didn't say what could have been problematical. Glad it's ok. I don't know what others know or don't know so it's better to ----sounds like your k will be outstanding. Love the cab color--same as mine.(sounds like, pulling ear)

Thanks for starting this! I thought I was alone and felt like I was going crazy! My cabinets were just delivered and I've taken a peek. I'm going from a bright white kitchen to cherry peppercorn stain. I'm going completely nuts on every decision making driving both my DH and Mom crazy as well. At every bump in the road I'm calling my Mom in tears. Can't wait for it to be done (though I suspect it will take quite awhile).

My cabs are in but we are waiting on appliance and sink installations, not to mention getting counters.
If it helps, it all looks better than the 3D rendering because in person, it is all bigger. I am thrilled with how much more storage and workspace we will have.
The hardware was a big factor into making me love it all. It looked nice before the handles and knobs got installed, but those really sealed the deal. The carpenter was impressed and he does jobs like this all the time.
I am just disappointed that it is taking so long from when we received the cab order (shorted by 13 cabs, but that is another story) to being able to cook. Delays here and there have messed up everyone's schedules, so I am waiting every day to see which subs show up and when things will be working. The fridge and freezer are in and the micro is up there too on an extension cord. Our hood was installed in the wrong spot because the island was not in its final place when they installed it and I was too tired and busy to notice that they had not lined it up on the tape on the floor. It is fixable, but that was a major blunder by all involved (inc me for being right there and not even noticing for a few days afterward). I am just so wiped out from painting all the rooms, moldings, windows and ceilings, that I missed it. Oh well.
I can see light at the end of the tunnel and you will see it soon too. It feels like a pregnancy and I am in the midst of the delivery part (all work, no planning left).

Love the analogy to pregnancy and delivery, dianalo! I was feeling like this experience was like writing and defending my dissertation, but the problem with that analogy is that once you've defended you don't have anything to show for your efforts except a bound manuscript on your shelf and the letters PhD behind your name!

The pregnancy analogy is much better as at least when you're done "delivering" both a baby or a kitchen you have something tangible to show for your efforts (and in both cases it can take 9 months of incubation and several sleepless months after that before you come out of the haze and can see what you've got!)

Anyone else have other analogies for why a kitchen remodel is like giving birth? I think I'm going to start a whole new post on this. I'd love to hear what others come up with.