It's done!

We were working yesterday afternoon, and we reached a point where we realized our kitchen was done. All the way. No more little things to fix.

Holy crap.

Here's what it looked like before. It actually didn't look horrible at all, I don't think. I mean, it was completely okay but storage was an issue, there was a total of about five feet of counter space but all broken up, and there were some weird problems with the cupboards, which happens when you have a fifty-year-old kitchen which has only been cosmetically touched up. It was just time.

Yes, there it was, in all its glory. The best part about it was the dishwasher, so we kept that. Everything else? Gone. But almost every bit of it went to another house where it's being used, so that's nice. Besides being warped and just a little too small to hold modern dishes, they were pretty burly little cabinets.

This is it ripped out, in case you haven't seen. Keep in mind we also did the whole rest of the house, too, so there was a time with no floors, anywhere. But I didn't die, so that's good.

If it looks bigger, that's because it is. We ripped out the washing machine closet area and moved those out to the garage because counter space was the number one priority. I need room to bake, man.

We also moved the door on the left hand wall which leads to the garage. It gave us another three feet or so, which enabled us to get a pantry. I have a pantry. They are pretty much the most amazing invention ever and way better than the laundry area/garage storage combo. I highly recommend them.

We also had to move the plumbing so we could have a refrigerator with water, and move the gas so our stove could go on the back wall. This way there's enough room for at least two butts in the kitchen. My husband did all of that himself, and learned a lot, and it went amazingly well. Very smoothly. I lucked out big time, because we only paid a tiny amount of labor costs, since he can do almost all of those kinds of work himself.

In case you didn't notice, I'm a little proud.

So, yesterday, we finished, and it didn't seem real, because we've been living with this almost finished kitchen for such a long time. And we're over a month, but that's not so bad. Now we can finish the other little things around the house and we're done.

So I made a cake!

Here it is, though, with all its shiny newness. I never want to work with a contractor again, because getting him to commit to times and such is just such a hassle. However, these cabinets and countertops are beautiful, and the cabinets are real wood and both are made here in the U.S. (which is really important to me, and you'd think would make them prohibitively expensive, but they weren't any more than the others of this quality level) and I'd hire him again in a minute just for that. Except not right now, because the annoyance is just too fresh in my mind...

Yes, my iPad is getting old and the camera is kind of crappy. And we also need to hang the new back door. But that is not within the kitchen area, therefore we are done.

I'm so glad. Because ugh. And if we had not already put down deposits and stuff when family calamity time hit in January, we might not have pushed through. But we did, so at least we got to double up on some of that stress. Blergh.  

Now on to everything else in the world. But at least I can bake again! 

I still can't believe this is my house.