The Kitchen Update: Lights, Walls and Infrastructure

This is the second week of kitchen rennovation, and I thought I would post some photographs of the progress so far.

I know it doesn’t look like there has been much in the way of progress, but there has. For one thing, the walls, ceiling and floor are all intact, and the walls are ready for paint, tile and cabinetry.

My first excitement is the number of lights they installed in this kitchen. Look at all those can lights recessed into the ceiling. Look at that. Isn’t it beautiful? When we moved in, the only sources of light were the ugly fruit lamp which everyone universally hates, three cans over the sink, and the light under the microwave over the stove.

All of you folks who read here who cook know that it is just not enough. Cooking in a dim room is like cooking in a cave; a dim kitchen is not ambiance, it is annoying.

Now, I have fourteen can lights installed, with undercabinet lights coming along when the cabinets are installed.

I need never fumble in the dark again.

I am ecstatic.

A lot of the improvements you cannot really see in these photographs–they happened under the drywall. They rewired everything, and apparently had a not too fun time doing it, considering the cursing that went on while they worked. But now we have plenty of juice coming in to power the stove (it is a dual fuel–gas cooktop, and four electric ovens below), the horrifyingly huge vent that the stove requires, the garbage disposal, which we did not have before, and all the other bells and whistles that the kitchen will possess. Next to that mop pictured above is where the stove will live and dominate the kitchen with its magnificent presence.

What had been a gaping hole in the wall, exposing the guest room to scrutiny, is, as you can see to the left, now a niche into which bookshelves to hold most of the cookbook collection will go. The patch next to the door to the dining room there, where the glass fronted cabinet was hung, will have another glass-doored cabinet, and below it a cart with a butcher’s block top that can be wheeled away from there to be used as a kitchen island, or left in place to serve as a second prep area.

The corner to the right is where a small desk area will be put, along with glass doored cabinets above, and drawers below. That is where the desktop will live, which will house, among other things, all of my recipes, so if I want one, I don’t have to print it out and waste paper in my office and carry it to the kitchen. I can call it up and read it from the screen. A telephone line is there as well, and look–lights above that don’t involve either the still extent ugly torchier or the hateful fruit lamp that tried to kill everyone who came near it.

Finally, there is another view of the window area with the lights. I really like lights. They make me happy.

Here, I can tell you a bit more of the colors that the kitchen will have–the extent red tile floor is staying–it has streaks of black in it.

The window will have an exterior frame of moss green stained wood, with an interior frame painted a green so dark it registers as black. All of the appliances save the stove will be black–the hood will also be black enamel. A moss green shelf will go over the windows, and the walls behind the cabinets on the upper part of the room will be painted a paler moss green.

Below the cabinets, along the sink area and behind the stove will be tiled with a variagated tile that has reddish tones, green, moss, black and golden sandstone colors. The majority of the cabinetry is golden oak, and will have solid doors–about the color of the door to the dining room, and the floors throughout the house. The glass fronted cabinets on the other end of the kitchen where the desk and kitchen island will be are going to be the moss green stained oak.

The sink is undermounted beneath the quartz countertop which will be a warm color that incorporates flecks of green, the exact same red as the floor tile, gold and black veining. The sink is a single large black enamelled cast iron sink which is deep and wide enough to hold my stockpots and woks–no more balancing woks on two compartment sinks and scrubbing which sends water flying in all directions. Gah. None of that. The faucets will match the Arts and Crafts/Mission style bronze cabinet hardware, and are an antique-style bronze. They will be very pretty.

I will take more pictures as this takes shape, and might do an entire before/after thing when it is done.

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