Hello again friends! It is the post that you have all been waiting for… time to show off the (mostly finished) kitchen! If I wait to post when it is actually finished, we may all be dead by then. Everything you see here was done by July of 2023, so we have had a full year of enjoying this kitchen!
There was also a bunch of work that Mike did with his parents and uncle to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room so we could have a truly open concept.
I posted about that in this post. It looked like this:
We decided to go with an Ikea kitchen and watched several YouTube videos about the best way to install it. Still,
we had a bit of trial and error making sure everything was lined up just right. We also had to swap some cabinets around
because we didn’t get the measurements exactly right, but it all worked out in the end. Here is the kitchen mostly patched
and we were starting to lay out the cabinets:
After the wall was patched, it was time to put in the upper cabinets! We started with the uppers so you don’t have to lean over the base to put it on the wall, it’s much easier.
Before putting in the base cabinets, Mike had to move the outlet for the dishwasher. It was a 220V so I was worried that it might electrocute him! Luckily, he did it with no problems!
We took some days off of work to try to get as much done as possible. Eventually, all the cabinets were in, time to work on the drawers and the doors.
Mike’s parents also came down to help!
After a lot of Ikea construction, we got all the cabinets in and drawers (although a few missing pieces):
Then we got the measurements done for the countertops and a few weeks later, voila! We couldn’t install the above fridge cabinets because they were out of stock at Ikea. We ended up waiting 6 months I think or something insane. We also weren’t planning on replacing the fridge to save some money, but it actually went on the fritz very shortly after this picture.
Pendant Lighting
After more months pass, we were able to install the remaining above fridge cabinet and pantry cabinet. We also got a new fridge.
And then we installed the pendant lights! We did careful measurements to make sure that they were equally spaced above
the island:
And after installation!
There are still little bits and pieces to really polish off the kitchen, including a backsplash. All in good time…I hope.
And now…a puppy picture
During all the construction, Thambi was a good sport. Here he is with the new dining table, enjoying the soft light streaming in from a Shenandoah sunset.
