The Kitchen List

I hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend. Relaxing would not be the word of choice in our house this weekend. We took the opportunity of a long weekend to really make some progress on the kitchen. Last you saw we were at this stage

and before our big Thanksgiving party last weekend our appliance nook got closed up with sheetrock and putty so that we could have our appliances hooked up for the party.

Basically, as soon as the party was over and everything was cleaned up, we got to work making a list of all the things we hoped to accomplish during the long weekend. This is what we started with:

1. Plan & Frame Beams
2. Run Ventilation
3. Electric: Lights
4. Electric: Vent
5. Detach and Remove Dishwasher
6. Detach and Remove Cooktop / Island
7. Detach and Remove Oven
8. Move Refrigerator
9. Pack up and store everything in cabinets
10. Remove Upper Cabinets
11. Detach and Remove Sink
12. Detach and Remove Countertop
13. Detach and Remove Lower Cabinets
14. Strip out old Backsplash
15. Electric: Light over Sink & Over Cabinets
16. Electric: Outlets
17. Electric: Disposal
18. Electric: Dishwasher
19. Pull out old Floor
20. Run New Plumbing
21. Backsplash Prep
22. Subfloor
23. Install Upper Cabinets
24. Install cork
25. Install Lower Cabinets
26. Place old counter back in
27. Hook Up Sink
28. Hook Up Disposal
29. Hook Up Dishwasher
30. Install Oven Cabinet
31. Install Oven
32. Install Fridge Cabinet/Pantry Cabinet
33. Install Fridge
34. Install Island Cabinets
35. Install Plywood Counter
36. Reinstall Gas Line / Electric
37. Install Vent
38. Install Cooktop
39. Install Beam Covers
40. poly floor

That's a reasonable list to accomplish over 4 days right? Well it turns out that 40 things is a little ambitious for a 4 day period but we are happy (and tired) to report that a huge portion of that list is now crossed off. But, before we get to the crossed off list (which I will be showing more details of as the week goes on) I wanted to share with you my absolute least favorite part of renovating. This is the "it has to get worse before it gets better" stage and it usually occurs right when you desperately want a project to be done and so some steps feel like tremendous set backs even though they are forward progress. 

This is the step we started our long weekend with. Even though it wasn't pretty, we did have a fully functional kitchen and to achieve our pretty kitchen, all the function needed to be moved out of the way for a bit. So, while I was at work on Wednesday, Nate and our friend Tim got to work moving everything out of the kitchen. This included the final section of the old upper cabinets

and the lower cabinets as well as the wall section where the new backsplash will go.

So this is what I walked into when I got home Wednesday afternoon. They had gotten SO much done and worked so hard and all I could see was dust and grossness that I was not the happiest of campers. This was definitely a low but necessary point in the renovation and I always have to remind myself that no matter how much I dislike this stage of renovation, if you spend the time to do things right (no matter how bad you want to make it look pretty again) then you'll be so much happier with the final results than if you rush to get out of this stage.

And the one nice thing about the lowest point of a renovations is that any step (and I mean any) that improves the space seems like such a huge accomplishment that dancing and high fives usually come with it which really keeps the momentum going during a renovation. 

So, without further adieu, here is what we finished this weekend. We're hoping to get a bunch more crossed off during this week so we will have a functioning kitchen again.

1. Plan & Frame Beams
2. Run Ventilation
3. Electric: Lights
4. Electric: Vent
5. Detach and Remove Dishwasher
6. Detach and Remove Cooktop / Island
7. Detach and Remove Oven
8. Move Refrigerator
9. Pack up and store everything in cabinets
10. Remove Upper Cabinets
11. Detach and Remove Sink
12. Detach and Remove Countertop
13. Detach and Remove Lower Cabinets
14. Strip out old Backsplash
15. Electric: Light over Sink & Over Cabinets
16. Electric: Outlets
17. Electric: Disposal
18. Electric: Dishwasher
19. Pull out old Floor
20. Run New Plumbing
21. Backsplash Prep
22. Subfloor
23. Install Upper Cabinets
24. Install cork
25. Install Lower Cabinets
26. Place old counter back in
27. Hook Up Sink
28. Hook Up Disposal
29. Hook Up Dishwasher
30. Install Oven Cabinet
31. Install Oven
32. Install Fridge Cabinet/Pantry Cabinet
33. Install Fridge
34. Install Island Cabinets
35. Install Plywood Counter
36. Reinstall Gas Line / Electric
37. Install Vent
38. Install Cooktop
39. Install Beam Covers
40. poly floor