Ready for drywall

Plumbing, electric and HVAC changes complete and ready to be covered up. Drywall goes up next week. However, there has been a slight change of plan. My brother's plasterer friend is offering the family discount, so instead of finishing the drywall with texture, he will plaster over it in the new kitchen area and in our front entry.

Ken the Plasterer is also doing the walls in our concurrent basement refinishing. The opportunity to finish our basement became irresistible once Kurt the Carpenter, Jim the Plumber and Bruce the Electrician started their work upstairs. But that would be another blog.

Colors, textures, materials

Virtual cabinets

The cabinet order has been placed. The new portion of the kitchen will look something like this. A granite eating bar will be installed along the back of the island.

A good day of progress

Quite a day. The plumbing was moved, the heating riser removed and the wall opened and reinforced. I was expecting to see the kitchen cabinets through the opening. When the new cabinets are installed there will be a look of continuity between the two rooms.



This is looking back into the old dining room. I marked cabinet locations on the walls and floor.



A nice surprise was the view out the back windows from the new kitchen - believe me, you can actually see better than this photo. There is more of a panoramic look than from the current room.



We expect the HVAC contractor and electrician to start their work this week. Cabinet manufacturing is now critical path for this project, 4 to 6 weeks is the estimated delivery.

Finally moving forward

My carpenter starts work tomorrow, so I had to get some plumbing completed for him to start. My plumber moved a gas line today to accommodate relocating a ventilation riser after the wall is opened up. He also will need to relocate the water pipes before the wall can be taken out.

My goal for tomorrow's carpentry is to remove 2 kitchen cabinets, open the wall and reinforce it with a new header, and build a knee wall to support the granite as it passes between the two rooms. Preparations for the heating duct move can also be made by the carpenter. My HVAC contractor will reroute the heating duct this week to get air flowing again to my daughter's room.

Once that is completed, my electrician will wire the new kitchen area and install outlet and lighting boxes this week. When all of that is done, drywall repairs can begin.

Then we wait for our cabinets to be built, finished and delivered. That will take 4 to 6 weeks. I had some sticker shock on the cabinet pricing, but they are being custom built and will exactly match the existing cabinets. So we will bite the bullet and have them built.

Hopefully I have some photos of our progress tomorrow.

Instant hot water system

Faucet

Too nice for our kitchen

So we designed a new kitchen around it.