The Kitchen Diaries - Day 18

I never thought I'd be living my 18th day without a working kitchen, but here I am with still no working sink or stove, about half the cabinets one normally expects, and what can barely be called countertops if and only if you consider a piece of plywood laying atop the cabinet a counter. Today I have a special treat for my readers (and by the way, if anyone is reading this thing, an occasional comment would be more than welcome!) Today I took some pictures of the project in progress so I can guide you on a virtual tour of my little galley.

First, a shot from just inside the doorway from the dining room.
Notice the lovely patched up walls in desperate need of painting, the huge blank spaces where cabinets should be but are not, the plywood countertops, the old sink perched atop the counter waiting to be hooked up, the pile of tools and parts all along the far counter. Notice the hacked-up window-trim that will need to be replaced, and the open cabinet whose door is still on reorder. Okay, and while you're looking, go ahead and admire the beautiful cherry that our new cabinets are made of, the fresh new Pergo that is almost completely installed - well, sort of - and the shiny stainless steel dishwasher begging to be hooked back up as well. There is some hope in this picture. Really.

This is a shot from the opposite end of the room, showing off the new cabinets on the other side. I'm not even going to go into the very long story about the closest cabinet in the picture, but let's just say it's also got a replacement on the way because if we put a vent hood under it, you'd have to be about five feet tall in order to comfortably cook a dinner on the stove. I'm really liking the microwave nook, though - it's going to free up some room on the counters. I had no idea how huge our fridge is until I saw it in its intended home, but I can live with the way it blocks the view to the hallway as long as I don't have to fill ice trays and Britta filters or worry about cramming holiday-meal groceries in a smaller one. Try not to notice all the smudges and finger prints on the stainless steel. We're under renovations, and that's my excuse.

Another shot of this side of the room. I'm still waiting for Joe to install my plywood countertop on this side, and you can see Julie has found a loose spool of tape to carry around. At least it's not the box of nails she found yesterday when I left the gate down for a minute. Oh, and you can also see the wall from which I removed the wallpaper last week - the plaster guy fixed the giant holes, then also had to mud over the entire wall to deal with the layer of old paint or whatever it was that had been hiding underneath.

This shot shows the crap-tastic baby gate we are using to keep Julie out of the construction mess. It doesn't swing open, but is held in place with pressure, so one has to step over it to get in and out of the kitchen. Normally not a huge problem, but when you're carrying three plates of hot food and wearing maternity pants whose crotch tends to slide down 6 inches below your crotch and have an ever-expanding belly - well, it gets annoying fast. And poor Julie is stuck out in the hall wondering loudly when her food is going to be ready and begging to be held.

Finally, a shot of our lovely main floor bathroom that is in desperate need of renovation in its own right, but will have to wait till we get the current renovations paid off. I'm including this one to illustrate "What Julie can get into while Mama is in the basement washing dishes" Luckily, today it was just digging through the bath toys in order to find and bang on plastic cups. It sounded like something much scarier when I was a flight of stairs and a crazy baby gate away with soap bubbles up to my elbows.

The reasons for all this delay are numerous, but I have to say the Pergo gave Joe a lot more trouble than he expected. As frustrating as it is to have no kitchen, it is even more frustrating watching my husband struggle valiantly with all the prep work, getting the boards cut just so, fitting them into place, "helpful" advice from his parents and - um - me when I forget to control myself. The poor guy took two of his precious vacation days to work on this, spent an entire weekend at it, and has been coming home from work and slaving for hours each night without complaint. But it's looking good, and there is only a little square left to finish on the landing by the back door. Then he can move on to sealing the edges, sanding the newly-mudded walls, priming and painting all the walls, and all the other projects lined up for him.