Kitchen Renovation - week 9

Well, we just finished week 9 of our kitchen renovation, and since it was a holiday week, we all got a day "off" on Thursday - and we tried to make the best of it and spent the morning at the VP Parade and the evening watching the fireworks downtown, under the arch.   From the start of the project, my target end date has always been the 4th of July.  Well, we are close to complete, but due to the unforeseen issues and a few delays, we are not quite there.

The light fixtures are now up and the final electrical inspection was completed on Friday morning.  I am loving the dining room fixture and the pendants over the peninsula/bar.  Also, all the lights are working and we have dimmers everywhere.  That is fun, because we have about 20 more lights than we did before, and that's not counting the under cabinet lights that make the backspash tile look awesome.

Oh! I almost forgot, now all of the appliances now work.  The first meal I made was frozen pizza, which isn't really cooking, but since we didn't have all the kitchen stuff unpacked yet and I'm not a big cook anyway, it counts for me.  I must admit that I am a little intimidated by the new convection oven and convection microwave -- they have so many more features than my 1970s, bare bones, oven and range I have been using for the past 13 years.  I have yet to bake or actually use any of the convection features, but M is already looking up recipes and trying to decide what to bake first.

The storage pod was dropped back off in the driveway on Tues and will be picked back up empty tomorrow - so this means all our furniture and kitchenware is back in the house or garage.  This was no small feat.  I have a drastically different cabinet layout now, with a lot more drawers, so figuring out where to put things was interesting.  I have a feeling there will be some re-arranging in my future - of both the stuff in the cabinets and the furniture.  Honestly, the furniture will likely be a work in progress for a few months as we learn the best way to use the space now.

We still have a lot of finishing touches, a couple walls need another coat of paint and we don't have any covers on the floor vents, and among other things - we still need the glass for the last two cabinet doors.  I've kept a running list for the contractor as we used the space this weekend so I'm sure he'll be thrilled when he gets here in the morning, hehehe.  I think we're all ready to be done!