Ignorance is bliss

We're two weeks into creating my dream kitchen, and there are many positive changes to report. All traces of the old kitchen are gone (unless you look in the driveway). New electrical is in, including more logically situated switches for the new LED lighting. The holes for the new lights have been cut into the ceiling. A lot of the new drywall is up (but still needs taping, etc.) The support for the flat screen TV has been built into the wall, and the electrical for all of that is in, too. I went to the granite yard to see and approve the slab. The new, larger kitchen window has been installed (and it's now at the proper level!) In some respects, we think the worst is over, at least in terms of what we discover has been done wrong by the prior owners.

And it's a lot! The kitchen outlets were not wired to code. In fact, they were "daisy chained," or wired from each other rather than running power to each one. The stucco for the house is another problem. It seems they nailed the lathe on to the sides of the house (great!) but didn't do it into the studs (not great!) So the stucco is being held on by penny nails driven through the plywood. My natural impulse is to fix things that are wrong, but Alan the contractor adamantly said not to do it. I can see his point. It isn't just wrong in the kitchen...it's probably wrong throughout the entire house. Correcting it would mean pulling off all of the stucco, mud and lathe and redoing it. Incredibly expensive and just not worthwhile. He is hopeful that we won't ever need to restucco the house, and I am too.  

On the agenda for this week is taping and applying the texture to the drywall, painting, roughing in the plumbing (including moving the gas line for the cooktop), and delivery of the cabinets. Cabinet installation and installation of the sink and faucet should happen the following week, and then we can have the granite templater in to measure for the countertops. Then the countertops and appliances will be installed. The finishing touch is tiling the backsplash, which I hope will be done by the deadline. Alan is managing my expectations by telling me he said I could bake pies by Thanksgiving, but that I don't need tile to do that, so we'll see if it all gets done in time. 

Many people ask how one manages without a kitchen, especially someone who cooks and bakes as much as I do. I do have a grill, which I use for most cooking, and supplement it with the microwave. This is the one time that I tolerate using paper plates and disposable cups, forks and knives. I made a few things and froze them before this all started, so we're eating reasonably well. I find myself daydreaming about baking more than I ever have before, and several people have offered their kitchens in case I want to whip something up, including one friend who offered to let me come over and bake the pies if we don't make the schedule.

Here are a couple of photos showing some of the changes.  Allie continues to supervise the job and is seen here inspecting the new drywall.