The New Kitchen
Everyone loves a good before and after picture. Transformations are fun. It’s exciting to see improvements. This post is all about the fun of getting a new kitchen put into our home. And yes it was fun. January 31, 2023: Let the games begin!
How did I picked the Marin Kitchen Works to do our remodel? Well they were working on a kitchen down the street and I poked my head in to say HI and ask what’s involved in getting a new kitchen. The was in the summer of 2022, supply chain horror stories were still scaring everyone. I liked the guys I talked to and gave their office a call. I did not worry about looking at lots of companies and researching. I got a good vibe and went with my gut.
August and September we designed the kitchen. Cabinet layouts and colors and special inserts. Backsplash and special tiles. Countertops. Appliances. Little touches I wanted. The FLOOR, which for some reason took us forever to decide on. (I was assured every kitchen has some stumbling block that is hard to decide on.) Decisions were made then we waited. I put the project out of my mind. The cabinets were ordered but work would not begin until they arrived. Finally the day came for MAYHEM!~
This was the noisiest part of the project as well as the most exciting. It comes first and the next dramatic day is weeks later when the cabinets go in. The project took nine weeks total. Yes we ate out most every single meal. I missed eggs for breakfast in the worst way!! The day did come last week when I fried an egg, made some toast, and sat in my completed kitchen. There are, of course, a few little details that still have to happen. Yet we are thrilled to be using our new kitchen for Easter weekend. Zach is even coming home from Portland to help us break it in with this first holiday.
I wanted a few special touches in the kitchen like: blue lower cabinets, a bookcase for my cookbooks, a blackboard for my grocery list and weekly menu, and finally my favorite thing of all: serving spoons for the cabinet handles on the white uppers. I collected a dozen spoons. Marin Kitchen Works figured out how to mount them without drilling a hole through the spoon. Each is soldered on the back. None of them match and that’s makes me smile so much.
There is more space than I can fill! There is more counter space than I’ve ever had. There’s just more. More light, more airiness, more room, more energy, more reason to want to come cook dinner. May it take a long time for the fun to wear off, if it ever does!
For those of you who crave details here are some of the particulars. The countertops are granite. The pattern looks like white marble with a very few grey vanes. The cabinets are by Crystal with fun inserts like a spice drawer, knife block, and lazy susan in the corner. The floors are a laminate of faux boards that click together. The fridge and dishwasher are old news since they still worked just fine. The range however is a big deal. It’s induction! I am learning how to cook again. Everyone’s first comment is “Oh you have to get all new pans.” Well not exactly. I already had many that would work. They just have to be magnetic, so no aluminum. It’s crazy fast to boil water less than a minute. The backsplash is a marbled looking grey and then we picked out some really cool patterned tiles to go with it. Such a splurge but they turned out to be a real focal point of the whole room. It all came together and makes me so very happy.