Kitchen renovation, part eight

Ed installed the moulding just before the end of the year.



Moulding complete!



Ed tiled the backsplash on New Year's Day.



First wall done, only two to go.



Turning the corner.



Removing spacers.



The thinset is curing.



Grouting (three days later).



Ed framed the window with some extra toekick and spacer material and installed a new light.



Lola checks out the new light.



It's hard to photograph, but here's the photo from the web site where we bought it:



Almost done -- the last thing will be replacing the track lighting with recessed lights.

Kitchen renovation, part seven

Ed took a short break from kitchen renovation until he finished finals on December 10. Right after his last exam, he came home and installed the cabinet glass and cabinet/drawer pulls.

He started tiling the floor on December 13.

Ed back-buttered the tiles before placing them in the thinset.



We decided on a brick pattern for the 6x20" tiles.



Ed has gotten a lot of use out of this tile saw.



Brad, the wonder brother-in-law, helped out all day on the 14th. Here the boys strategize about the best order for tile-laying in areas around the kitchen.



Almost done!



Later, Ed installed the under-cabinet lighting.



Grouting.



Baseboards and toe-kicks on deck.



The completed floor on the 22nd.



The kitchen as it was on December 23rd. Still remaining: changing out the lights, tiling the backsplash, and putting up the moulding at the top of the cabinets.

Kitchen renovation, part six

Shortly after our return from Argentina (pics to come), Ed finished prepping the kitchen for the countertop installation, including installing the last two cabinets. I helped him lift the microwave into place, which ended up being pretty difficult. It's nice to have a microwave that's out of the way and not taking up counter space.



Two very nice guys from Stone One in Methuen installed our countertops yesterday. They did excellent work and we're really pleased.



Then Ed worked on the faucet. The Moen Level fit the available space so I returned the back-up faucet.



My dad was visiting and helped out a lot, both with the faucet install and with looking for all the parts we needed at Lowe's for the plumbing (Ed stayed home during that trip).



There was some soldering...



Don't tell anyone. I'm having an affair with my plumber.



Ed started installing the drawer pulls today. As you can see, he's already set up his coffee station.

Kitchen renovation, part five

On Friday, Ed put the oven in place and screwed down the last of the base cabinets to prepare for the countertop templating.



On Saturday, the countertop guy visited to take measurements and make a template. The PVC prep glue on the template made us all a little lightheaded. We're going with a white engineered quartz (Zodiaq Cloud White). The countertop should be installed in a couple weeks. It looks like the space between the sink and the window might be a little tight for our faucet (you can see it here in this unintentionally funny, smarmy ad), so Kris helped me pick out an easily returnable backup faucet yesterday just in case.



Today Ed did some finishing work on the cabinets and walls and hooked up the stove. We cooked tonight! There are only two wall cabinets left to hang.

Kitchen renovation, part four

I spent the day scraping up the old linoleum, ordering our floor tiles (receiving in the process a pleasant surprise: all special order tile 20% off at Expo until tomorrow), and trying to order our countertops.



Our appliances were delivered today. Also, Ed made a lot of progress getting more of the cabinets in place and bolted together.

Kitchen renovation, part three

Ed's Makita ran out of juice so he used a hand drill from his grandfather's collection to screw in the cabinet guides.



My awesome brother-in-law, Brad, came by tonight to help Ed.



They hung the two corner wall cabinets and a few adjacent cabinets before celebrating with dos Dos Equis.

Kitchen renovation, part two

Ed experimented with a few ways to get off the old epoxy. We got two-thirds of it off with hammers and chisels.



Then Ed found some cross-peen hammers (probably 100 years old) that belonged to his grandfather, which worked much better to shatter the epoxy. (Thanks to Wikipedia for helping us identify these mysterious hammers.)



The Formica that was being held up by this nasty epoxy had received the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval back in the '60s.



Ed patched up the wall and sanded it down, then staged the lower cabinets. He also painted the ceiling.

Kitchen renovation

I took this picture on Thursday night before I left for Rhinebeck. The cabinets, countertops, backsplash, and floor are all original and 40 years old.



The cabinets were delivered on Saturday. We moved our dining table into the basement last week to make some room.



When I got home last night, all the old cabinets were gone except for the sink base cabinet. The brown stuff on the walls is the thick, nasty epoxy that was used to hold up the faux marble backsplash.



I am in awe of how much Ed accomplished in such a short time.