Cabinet delivery day is coming!

After months of planning, angst over design decisions, and a very dusty demolition, the cabinets are scheduled to arrive around May 11.

Since this is my third DIY kitchen renovation, I have learned a few lessons about how to handle what’s usually a crazy day. I will need to:

• take the day off. I’ll need to be home during the four hour delivery window so the delivery guys have access to the house.

• review my order so that I know exactly what is supposed to be delivered. I should have around 37 items in the order, including cabinets, fillers, toe kicks, moldings, and a special order panel for the dishwasher.

• orchestrate logistics properly, and that includes parking for the delivery truck. I’ll need to get a couple ‘no parking’ signs from the police department to reserve a spot in front of my house for the delivery truck.

• make sure there is a clear path into my house for the delivery guys.

• clear out space so that all the boxes can somehow fit into the apartment. Once the boxes are in the apartment will be jam packed and so the cabinets need to be stacked with limited space in mind, and it has to be done carefully so as to avoid any damage to the cabinets.

• on delivery day itself I will need to keep an eye on how the cabinets are being brought in. The last time I had cabinets delivered they started stacking the cabinets on their sides. That is a huge no, no! They need to be stacked vertically on their bases. 

• inspect the cabinets upon delivery for damage. My contract guarantees the cabinets will be delivered in good condition, so I’m covered. But if there is damage I will have to re-order new pieces but let’s all hope everything arrives as it should.

Now that I have an estimated delivery day, that means I have a little over two weeks to finish demolition, get all the electrical and plumbing work done, and then frame, drywall and paint.

Gresham

I am so excited for the new cabinets.  It will be a white, timeless kitchen with shaker style doors, granite, and stainless steel appliances. 

After going to four different vendors, I decided to go with Diamond Cabinets at Lowe's. I'm happy with the way the design turned out and looking forward to having a brand new kitchen.  The door style that I chose is called Gresham.

The cabinets will be done in maple and finshed in "white paint." I can't wait!

3-D kitchen views

Here are the various views of the kitchen design.  My kitchen designer, Charles, printed these out for me. Click on the images to see them better.

This is a view from the front of the apartment/living room.

A closer look - stove is on the left, refrigerator will be to the right. The sink and dishwasher will be on the back wall.

A kind of distorted (longer) view toward the stove wall. This is a U-shaped kitchen as you can see.

Here is what you would see looking out toward the living room. The microwave will be in a base cabinet.

And lastly here is what the refrigerator wall will look like. There will be two big utility cabinets on this wall for very necessary extra storage.

Demo pics

Here are some pics from the kitchen demolition this weekend.

These cabinets were dismantled. The countertop did not want to go! But I finally got it up and out of there.

All the drywall between the kitchen and living room was taken down.

A trash compactor was pulled out from under the counter - to the right of the stove.

Another wall that is coming down - opening the kitchen up even more.

I still have a tiny bit of counter space left for the microwave!

Here's the view from kitchen looking into living room.

View from kitchen looking to what will be the refrigerator wall.

A pile of dismantled cabinets stacked up and an old trash compactor - ready for the next run to the dump.

I will need to have someone haul the stove away. 

Here's a closeup of the old cabinets and old vintage cabinet pulls. I'll keep the remaining wall cabinets until the last possible moment. They are still holding some dishes and other stuff.

The kitchen ceiling will be the next to go. You can see that the kitchen wall studs are holding up the ceiling so I can't open up the kitchen without dismantiling the ceiling first.

The ceiling demo will probably take all of next weekend.

When I start putting everything back together, this vent will be moved over a few feet. 

The laminate flooring will come out too.

So hopefully by the end of next weekend the kitchen will be entirely demolished. Then I will bring back the electricians to re-route some of the wiring in the dropped ceiling, run a new circuit for the fridge, and hook me up with some recessed lighting.

The kitchen design

 I drew this using Microsoft Visio.  When my designer hands over the 3-D images I will post them too.

Can you see it?

Click on the image to see the details.

False Alarm

The mystery PVC piping was not a drain pipe, or anything related to plumbing at all.

Turns out it houses a thin telephone line. That's it.

So bottom line: the entire kitchen design will not have to be scrapped.

Great!

Demo

Since this is mostly a DIY project and I don't have vacation time that I can take from work, this kitchen demolition will take a couple more weekends, at least.  

But so far ... so good.

Before: the wall closing off the kitchen from the living room.

Most of the wall cabinets in the kitchen are down and the refrigerator is out.

Now you see it (drywall) ...

Now you don't!

Here's the other wall that is supposed to go.

But yesterday I found this. It's PVC that is routed right in the way of my new kitchen. 

A plumber is coming on Wednesday to see what can be done about it.  So hopefully he comes up with a solution!

New washer and dryer!

Check it out!

The new Bosch Axxis stackless washer and dryer. 

The guys from Sears were great.

Setup.

The washer and dryer are compact size. So they fit into the hall closet.

Since I don't have venting to the outside, this is a condensation dryer.

Goodbye, old washer and dryer.  

Online shopping

It took a couple of hours shopping online. There are thousands of options to choose from!

But I did find a faucet and a sink that will should fit.  The sink is an undermount by Kohler and it is about 31" wide and only about 18" deep.  With that depth, I calculate that I will have just about an inch to spare. 

The other great thing about this sink is the two basins.  Going from a single to a double basin will be more $$$ for the plumber, but who doesn't want a double sink? 

And here is the faucet.  The brand is Grohe.  It comes in chrome, has a pull out spray, and looks fabulous. I love it!

On second thought

I just came back from Home Depot.  There was a 27" deep sink base cabinet on display there.

I did not like it.

So now the challenge begins:  find a sink and faucet that will fit in a regular depth sink base.

Seriously, planning a renovation is all about problem solving.

Almost there

I met again with my kitchen designer (Charles) at Lowe's in New Carrollton, Maryland yesterday.  He is the most patient designer ever!  I have to remember to write the store manager to compliment Charles. 

We are just doing small changes to the design at this point and triple-checking measurements.  And there's a good reason for triple-checking: to avoid a big mistake like ordering a 24" deep kitchen sink base. A sink, faucet, and disposer fit perfectly into a 24" deep sink base but when you also have a tankless water heater under there, you need to more room.   

The tankless water heater is 4" deep on the wall and for it to fit in the sink base along with everything else, the cabinet will need to be 33" wide and 27" deep.  This is not the door style or color of my cabinets but this sink base is 27" deep but it gives you the idea.