Final Preparations for Kitchen Cabinet Install

So remember that we originally thought we'd have the kitchen done in a couple weeks? Well, obviously that didn't happen. Things take longer than you think, and there are also things that pop up that you don't expect, don't even know about! And since this was (obviously) our first time doing anything like this, we really didn't know what to expect. So here was one of the original ideas on the project:

1. Order cabinets
2. Demolition (wall, cabinets, countertop, ceiling, etc.)
3. Paint
4. Install the subfloor and tile floor
5. Install the cabinets
6. Install the countertop

All ready to go in about a month, right?!  :)

Well, we didn't take into consideration the electrical work that needed to be done and redone, and we didn't anticipate how big a project the ceiling and wall rebuilding would be (i.e. after you remove what you don't want, how do you get it back to looking like something you do want!?).

So when we took everything out of the kitchen, this is basically what we were left with:

The dirty white areas are just drywall behind the cabinets, no big deal since we were planning to paint everything. But the yellow brown areas are 55 year old glue that held the "backsplash" onto the wall for so many years. That had to be scraped off and plastered over in many cases to get it looking like something you'd want to paint.

Thanks so much to our friend who is a plastering genius, he spent many afternoons and evenings working and helping us get our walls and ceilings back in order. Plaster, dry, sand, repeat. (This also made for a very messy workspace - but at least we tried to contain it to the kitchen and dining room with plastic coverings for the entry points.)

Finally, the walls were ready to get painted, and just in time - only the night before our cabinet installer arrived. Since this was now the first week of school and volleyball was in full swing, Robbie and Mom went at it while I was at practice one night. This is what I came home to find!

Maybe you're thinking - this looks a little odd, and it did - but we tried to focus just on the areas that would be exposed versus those areas that would be covered by cabinets.

We went with our designer friend's suggestion of doing two tones of grey in the kitchen, to help blend the dining room into the kitchen. The lighter gray color would run from the dining room into the kitchen where the bar area would be, and the darker gray color would be mostly on the "L" shape of the kitchen where the cabinets were. Above you can see that at the time we only focused on the kitchen area to paint before the cabinets were installed. Later we had to go back and do the dining room area.

And of course painting is fun! You may not be able to tell really well, but the darker gray was a brownish gray (called Warm Stone) and the lighter gray had more of your traditional black with white mix. It's amazing how a fresh coat of paint can change the feel of a room! And barely did the paint have a chance to dry before it was time to install the cabinets!