I’m beginning to just accept the fact that none of our projects are going to go as smoothly, or as quickly, as I want them to.  Aside from replacing our windows and a couple of doors, which required some fairly major re-framing of the living room and kitchen walls, nothing has taken so much time as our kitchen remodel.  Okay, maybe the septic tank installation technically qualifies as our longest running, as-yet-still-unfinished project, but I digress.

The kitchen / dining room is likely the most important room in any house.  It’s where we cook and it’s where we eat.  It’s often a gathering spot, homework and school projects are frequently done at the dining room table, and it’s probably the one room in the house with the most systems and the most complications.

When we first started planning this remodel, we knew the cabinets would need to be replaced and the walls would need a fresh coat of paint.

The windows were broken and oddly sized and the sill was actually behind and lower than the back-splash.

The island was huge and needed to be shortened to accommodate a larger pantry.  The ceiling was partially open, with shop-style, florescent lights in the open rafters.  Despite the effectiveness and ready availability of bleach and latex gloves, the odor coming from the sink meant that it was simply going to the dump.  Also, the range was beyond usable, so we knew that our finished kitchen would have to have all new appliances, too.

We quickly realized this was going to need a lot of work.  In fact, the first step actually turned out to be a complete tear-out.  Cabinets, counter-tops, the island, the flooring, the ceiling light ‘framing’, the windows, the window wall…….  All gone!  This left us with a clean slate and a fresh place to start from.

We moved outlets.  We changed out switches.  We added light fixtures, and we discovered that someone cut the supply wire for the range, so the range outlet was useless.  We built an all new island and added the necessary wiring for the stove, the downdraft unit, and the extra outlet.  We modified the sink wall and changed out the window.  We patched the ceiling and the back wall, and fixed the cracks in the ceiling.  We went through nearly two rolls of paper tape, several pieces of quarter-round, and several large buckets of drywall mud to get the walls smooth enough to finish.  We went through several jugs of pre-made texture before we discovered it was much cheaper to buy a 50 pound bag of plaster and mix it ourselves.   We went with a knock-down look and it came out terrific.  We painted, connected all of the electrical fixtures, installed the lighting and and then got to work installing the cabinets.  We still have a couple of pantries to install, along with a couple more upper cabinets, but we’re far enough along that the counter-top installer can come out and take his measurements this afternoon.  They say that the turnaround time is about three weeks, so we’ll be moving on to new projects in the meantime.  Eventually, we’ll get the flooring down and trim everything out.  We’ve talked about how to finish the back splash, but we haven’t actually picked out the tile, yet.

First up on the to-do list is plumbing.  I crawled under the kitchen the other day and discovered that every piece of copper pipe has a split from freezing and bursting, so it’s all going to have to be replaced.

It’s okay, though, because we still don’t have a working septic system.  Digger Guy finished up a little over two weeks ago and called for a final inspection to show that the risers had been installed as required from the first inspection.  I checked the status of the permit online and it kept showing ‘pending’, but no one ever came out.  After a week and a half, it was still open, but with no inspection requests pending, so I called the County to ask.  It turns out that Digger Guy’s check bounced, so we’re basically just in limbo.  After all the challenges we’ve had with him, I’m not really surprised.  I think it’s cool in a way, though…  it provides a fitting finish to our septic saga!