I am so excited for you Rayna!!! Now the fun of watching it all take shape will begin!

Thanks, cat_mom. Your early input was really a help! (now if I could only get those pictures to a sensible size...) I know the demolition is the fastest part, but I'll just sit back and watch the fun. You can watch with me!

You are so very welcome! I'm always glad to pay forward the wonderful help I received here along the way. I also really enjoy seeing everyone's progress. I'm looking forward to watching yours with you, too! :-)

yeah rayna !!!! I am watching with great good wishes for your project. Keep posting the pics and we will all cheer you on. c

Isn't demo the best? Mine was done in one day and even though I knew it would be a dramatic change I was still amazed.

good luck!

yay Ranya! It's fun when it starts!!

GO GIRL!!! Out with the old ....... in with new!!! YYAHOO!!

good progress! congrats on getting underway and best of luck with the process.

Please continue to post photos, so we see the action. It looks so promising, all empty like that. I can't wait to see new cabs in place, that high maintenance fridge, and all. I bet that delivery guy has never had a SS fridge and covets them!

we bought our house in September 2006. we have never lived there due to the amount of work needed. this week our demo finally starts! We know how excited you must be. Congrats!

Thanks for the cheerleading, everyone! The action today was a bit slower, as expected.

I think the plumber is coming tomorrow. We had a small panic when the KD's plan didn't match the plan Michael had from the cabinet guy (whom he trusts implicitly). Turns out he didn't have the revised edition, which matched the plan from the KD. Mike Cabinet(they are all called Mike or Joe on this job)faxed the correct cab plan over here and it was fine. I had switched the ice maker and a set of drawers in the island to save $$ on an end panel - but it probably wouldn't have been a big cost to leave it alone. Oh, well.

M. gave me more information than I need (or want) about where the outlet needs go to for the icemaker and how it will stick out from the cabinets but will be even with the edge of the counter because of the icemaker door - just like the CD fridges which are not perfectly even with the cabinet fronts, either. Sigh... If I had know that, I would have kept the icemaker at the end of the island drawer run. But nobody tells you these things early on. Or maybe it just didn't occur to them. Whatever.

He also explained what he has to go through to put in a gas cooktop with an electric oven right under it because of the gas line and the outlet for the oven, which has to go in back of the drawer next to it. I don't want to know! There was no other viable place for the oven unless I had put it in the island, which I did not want to do.

Oh, and one other thing. Because the cabinet for the Advantium is at an angle and will sit on top of the counter, the upper cabinets cannot go in until the soapstone is in. So we may be living for a while with no uppers. I can handle that, as long as I have a sink, faucet, dw, disposal, oven, cooktop, and fridge. But we have a way to go.

Thanks for being there through all this boring stuff - you're the only ones who understand! I guess I should be glad he is managing my expectations up front.

Not boring! Good lessons on the funny considerations :)

But, Rayna, dare I say it? I bet your dust mask is better than Mike's! :D VVVGB

Congrats...how exciting!!

Keep sharing the details. It's all interesting to us!

How exciting! Keep up the good work with the posts and pics. I love seeing what I am in for!
---Boxie

Plllog - nope, his dust mask looks like mine - not like my respirator, but just the plain old dust mask. Michael left it here and my husband thought it was one bra cup lying around. (Well, he is having his 2nd cataract done next week - that must explain it - LOL.)

In the meantime, not only are we cooking (if you want to call it that) and eating (ditto) in the formerly pleasant lower level of the house (now stacked with cartons), I am reduced to printing on this little table which is smack up against the wall. Notice the small fridge, the cereal, the Cuisinart and the bins of batik tjaps that won't even fit under the print table. What a combination!

Great photos! Your juxtapositions remind me of my childhood and my father teaching me to caulk a cake :)

just bumping this till I can upload the latest photos. It's coming along. Will check back later; right now, too tired.
I have been blogging about it, though, if you want to pop over there.

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen progress on my blog

I am so excited for you and your kitchen transformation.

I also had a lot of fun looking at your blog! I am an art teacher and I just love your art. Are you going to incorporate some of the things that you do into your kitchen?

Btw, you know that BBB coupons don't expire? I learned this recently - even though there's an expiry date on them, they will honour them regardless! I got my new toaster that way and was VERY happy to get $10 off it accordingly!

And your remodeling mess looks almost exactly like ours, except we had Barkeepers Friend, cornflakes and a copy of Beethoven 9 living together :)

So happy for your progress! Here's the OT part...

Malhgold told me you'd recommended an amazing KD so I went to your blog hoping to see plans for the transformation. Was excited to see your projects! BK (before kids) I was a watercolorist. Since I also sew, my creativity, when not housebuilding, has been directed that way. I love making small quilts, but do NOT consider myself a quilter. I am very impatient and do everything by machine. I just love to combine the colors and create designs with the strips and blocks. Even in painting, I always did better and enjoyed more making designs, rather than pictures. I could just do quilt tops by the thousands...Hate to actually put them on backs and interfere with what I've done for the fronts. I am looking forward to looking further into your blog and its links, your book, etc. There may be life after housebuilding and kitchen planning...You have awakened my old passion! Thanks.

Saturday, end of week #1. Michael was here all day today moving the sink pipes slightly, dealing with the gas for the cooktop, and running all that lovely copper tubing from the sink to where the ice maker the fridge will be.

O.T. - I love that the offlist e-mails are flying and that some of us have really been able to establish relationships. Malhgold and I have to meet pretty soon; I've already met Marthavila and am keeping fingers x'd for the Aga saga to work out well. I'm keeping tabs on Malhgold's renovation plans, too.

Kristen and rhome - thanks for the comments on my art.
rhome - where in the Pacific NW are you? I'm going to be in Portland in May at a trade show.

I have kitchen plans floating around somewhere. I loved my KD but the cabinet KD tweaked her plans and his were more accurate on the measurements.

Wrapping up for tonight - maybe I can sleep a little later tomorrow, since we don't have any contractors coming at the crack of dawn.

We're in Port Orchard, WA. About a 3 hour drive from Portland. Still, it could be a fun trip!

bump

I cheated and bumped it up so it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle - LOL.

The electricians were here to finish up yesterday for the time being: I still have to decide about undercab lights - what is the difference between t4 and t5 lights?

Today, we have a beautiful new white oak floor and the kitchen is beginning to look like a real room! Here it is in process. The floor installer came this morning and it only took him a few hours.

Beautiful wood floors, Rayna! Congrats on all the progress! I checked out your blog. Your art is beautiful, too! Ever do workshops in Asheville?

Mary, I was in Asheville about 2 years ago doing a workshop for the Asheville Quilt Guild. Lovely town - I'd be happy to come back if you have any ideas!

Looks great! Be careful driving tomorrow, and keep posting pics!

ooh looks gorgeous!! I had fun poking around your blog this morning too (and thanks for the comment on mine as well)

and you have very fancy toes for this time of year. ;)

It didn't snow after all and the cataract thing seems to have gone ok. Michelle, I love watching the progress on your blog - what fun! I've just subscribed to updates. I am sort of posting about it on my blog but it's not the same there as here.

Sheetrock will be repaired tomorrow & Fri. The cabs are being delivered on Friday and -- yikes -- I have to call the soapstone guy to save the template date.

The fancy toes are because if I have to wear shoes indoors (like when I teach or appear amongst my PUBLIC) I wear Birks. In that case, I need 'em polished.

We were all snowed in yesterday: the trucker sent his people home; we didn't get plowed out till 3:pm. Cabinets rescheduled for Monday a.m. Meantime, Michael came this morning and put the sheetrock back in the kitchen. Monday he'll nicely finish the areas that will be visible.

The lovely wood floors have spackle and dirt on them: no problem, says Michael, they have to be sanded anyway before they are finished. Boo hoo.

Jay from Garden State Soapstone is coming to template on Wed, so the lowers and the vanity will have to be in by then. Moving right along and I am feeling so calm and relaxed.

Good for you! It is really coming along. Monday sounds like it's going to be a pretty big day what with cabs and finish sheetrocking. Can't wait to see the next set of photos. Say hello to Jay for me (and tell him I hope to see him sometime before summer!):) And, stay calm and relaxed at all costs! Double :)

I plan to go visit our soapstones on Monday afternoon or Tuesday. He was going to VT this weekend but told me that if he was going to be around I could come down today. However, he has not called, so he may have gone. That is ok, I need to go to my studio and WORK.

I am so calm and relaxed you can't believe it - despite the 13 extra sq. ft $$ I will need that didn't show on the original plan.