: ( Forever and ever.... We started last May it feels like longer than a year. It seems like it is never ending. My DH just told me he does not like the crown molding and wants to hire someone to come in redo our ceiling and crown molding. I would say I am about 85% done. The kitchen is functional, I have had friends over but there are little details that still need to be ironed out. And sometimes I get sad about it. And other times I remind myself that I have a good excuse to visit GardenWeb kitchens. ~boxerpups

I had a deadline (Passover Seder) so even without a lot of details done, I had to get the boxes out of the living room and clean everything. I'm still backfilling shelf liners, while the last bits of the kitchen get finished. It took about a month of working at least a couple hours a day to get everything washed (by hand--DW problem) and in. I had everything pretty well planned out, so most things went in pretty well. I'm still rearranging the uppers because I got an extra shelf made and those were just installed. The pantry is doing pretty well, but now that I've been using it and have everything grouped right, it probably needs a going over. I bought some pots and stuff at a big sale so rearranged my bakeware and pot drawers. Those are minor things, really. The kitchen overall works the way I thought it would and better. Zone organization works extremely well except for one thing. I use table knives a lot in baking. Even without really baking anything yet, I had to get a knife from across the room. Then found a couple of nice ones on open stock sale. I'm the only one who knows where stuff goes, but it's great having a place to know where stuff goes! Congrats on getting to this point!

We were without a usable kitchen for somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks. This included removal of old cabinets (Habitat did that for us), removal of old floor and installation/finishing of new HW, relocating and adding plumbing, a bit of construction to reframe an interior window (long story), having the whole kitchen completely rewired, and installation of new cabinets and countertop. There was another couple of weeks of kitchen work that I did myself (filling nail holes, caulking, painting, final coats of finish on the wood countertop, having the backsplash installed) but we were using the kitchen during that time. This is what made it go so fast: 1. not being a normal GW kitchen (cabs/counters are from IKEA). 2. LUCK. 3. Lots and lots and lots of advance planning on my part -- I was the "GC." 4. Wonderful trades (flooring, plumber, electricians) who came when they said they would and got their work done efficiently; ditto local inspector. 5. Great installers with extensive carpentry and IKEA experience who were available on short notice (see point 2, Luck) when original handyman bailed out after reno had already begun. 6. Choosing a floor finish that was ready to walk on the next day (Rubio Monocoat). 7. Using a countertop that could be installed by the cabinet installers (IKEA butcherblock). 8. Having almost everything on site in advance, and having me available to run to the big box stores at a moment's notice for unexpected bits and pieces (corollary: being willing to have most kitchen components come off the shelf from somewhere local; there were only a few special-order things). 9. DIY'ing the final steps and using the kitchen during that time. 10. Almost forgot -- keeping the scale of reno fairly limited -- basic footprint of room did not change (some wall and window work had to be done, but no walls were moved and we left the original plaster in place for the most part). I still can't quite believe we pulled it off so fast. It wouldn't have happened if the people I hired hadn't been so professional and helpful (a big deal, I know, since I'm just a homeowner and can give them only so much business). I really do sympathize with all of you with the longer renos. Your kitchens are on a different level than ours, though, and ours wouldn't suit everyone.

We are in a rural area, one large employer in the county. Our neighborhood is desirable, and this has been a pretty Spring. Only 10 days from listing to ratified contract, full price, this week, yay! Part was luck: our local market had been slow since the downturn, so we gained an advantage from pent-up demand. And just recently, four homes in the neighborhood sold, providing a solid basis for pricing our home fairly. Part was standard preparation: we decluttered, cleaned, bought fresh kitchen towels and pretty shower curtains, and did some very minor repairs. Didn't go overboard with updates, other than a new medicine cabinet & light for the master bath, so some flooring and fixtures are obviously 90's vintage. I don't know if our floorplan helped or hurt -- our rooms are generously sized and flow well, but not "open concept" and no first-floor master suite. We had five showings. Two said no right away, two were non-committal. But the right buyer came along, they are truly looking forward to living here. Fingers crossed for a smooth closing.