Here is the kitchen, posing a bit for a special photo or two (i.e. this is what it would look like if no people lived here).
So there you have it! There’s still a few finishing touches yet to be completed, but nothing major or urgent. The kitchen has been a pleasure to cook in so far!
On the same day Game of Thrones Season 4 came to a close, so did our kitchen renovation. I was hoping to be able to post this last week, but unfortunately a couple of small things were done incorrectly last week.
It’s all the tiny details that make the difference. The moulded deco strip at the top of the wall cabinets really adds a final touch to the kitchen, but unfortunately despite providing plenty of material to do this without joins except in the corners, our installer left an ugly join right in the middle of a door. Why why why?? I assume i’m just fussy and that everyone would accept this, right? Or do they do this because they’re lazy and hope you’ll accept sub-standard work?
Also, the rounded deco strip that borders the base of the wall cabinets was installed flush with the front of the doors, and with a small gap between the base of the cabinets and top of the deco strip. This looked…. odd. Opening the doors gave a view through this gap at the brackets and looked really cheap and dodgy. When i turned on the under-cabinet lighting, you could clearly see all the brackets that held it on. Once installed, I commented to the installer that the deco strips were a necessary evil. The more i looked at it, the more i felt it had ruined the look of our kitchen. That seemed melodramatic, so i waited until James got home to get his opinion. He agreed it looked bad, especially where the deco strip protruded out past the front of our open shelving.
Some googling revealed that every other deco strip ever installed was set back flush with the cabinet and that there was also a sealing strip that should have been placed between the deco strip and the cabinet.
So we (well, James!) made that awkward phone call to tell them we weren’t happy. They said they always installed the deco strip flush with the doors. I didn’t really care, that’s not where i want it (nor where anyone else in the history of Google image search and Pinterest has ever installed it!). They also said they didn’t use the sealing strip because it looks “crap”. Well, it looks rather shizenhausen without it, lemme tell you!
Yesterday the installers came back to rectify the problem. Totes awks after criticising their work! It was also the first time all three had been in my house at once. Gosh, we could have been finished in half the time if they’d worked like that from the start!!
So that’s it, deco strips are in. No more tradespeople in my house, woohoo!
We still need to resolve our architrave vs sliding pantry door issue, and do a bit of painting, but then we are done diddly done!
Photos are in the offing!
After a couple of week lull in proceedings while we waited for the pressed metal splashback to arrive, we are almost, almost done!
The splashback is in and looks pretty good!
We weren’t allowed to go near the surrounding benches for 24 hours while the glue formed a skin. We were also not allowed to wipe it over for a week, so i’ve had to be a bit less splattery than usual in my cooking!
Tomorrow the installers are back to finish off bits and pieces. Our windowsill needs cutting down to fit behind the new tap, the deco strip and cornices need to be fitted to the wall cabinets, and there’s a couple of pieces of kicker to go under the dishwasher and maybe oven. Also, the plumber forgot to hook up the rangehood ducting, so that’s on the hit list too.
Will be nice to get the last few boxes out of the dining room and start just living in our house again. We seem to have done so much packing up, unpacking and shuffling in the last seven weeks!
So after my impatient post, quite a bit ended up happening last week. Our installer returned and finished the fridge cabinet, the kicker drawers and put on the last two doors. He also installed a substrate aka MDF benchtop (which will be the subject of a future ranty post!).
The electrician was meant to return that day too, but as i’m learning is often the case, he was delayed and didn’t come until the next day. When he did return, he hooked up our oven, under cabinet lights and power points. Between the substrate and power points, we can almost use the kitchen. The lack of a sink is still irksome, but hopefully the end is near!
On Saturday we visited Period Details in Hawthorn to check out pressed metal for our splashback. My initial thought had been to get a “brick” pattern which resembled tiles (but with no grout to clean). James hadn’t been keen on the more decorative pressed metal, but once there, it was clear that the brick pattern was just too industrial for our home. It looks amazing in the more edgy, modern warehouse renovations, but in a Californian Bungalow in the suburbs? Probably not quite right!
Brick pattern:
In the end we chose the Mudgee pattern. It still resembles tiles, but slightly softer, more traditional tiles.
The next conundrum was the colour. James’ fear of a white box is still strong, so we had been considering a “greige” something like the plasterboard that is currently in place! This was completely kyboshed when we brought home a sample of “Shoji white” coated pressed metal. With it sitting next to a sample of the benchtop and the undercabinet lighting on, it just kept making me smile. I try to be accommodating of James’ opinion as it’s not all up to me, but i just couldn’t compromise on this. The colour made me happy, so that’s what we’re going with!
I unfortunately missed a call from the benchtop installers on Friday and unbeknownst to me, my voicemail was not working. If only i’d answered it, i would be typing this post with my iPad resting on lovely stone instead of MDF!! They had hoped to come on Saturday but as they couldn’t get hold of me, obviously it didn’t happen. At this stage, Tuesday is looking like when the benches will go in, but am waiting on confirmation. Hopefully the plumber will be available to come out soon afterwards to install the tap, dishwasher and water line to the fridge.
We also have to deal with the line of exposed old timber around the kicker.
I had someone come out this morning to quote on sanding and refinishing the floor who said their isn’t enough left in our old baltic floorboards to sand them. A damn shame as i love these old boards. I guess down the track they will need replacing or a floating floor over the top of them. The flooring guy said he would be able to fix up the part near the kicker but would have to be super careful with the other areas and basically give them a very light sand one coat of polyurethane. They’re not going to look much better, but at least we’d be preserving them. Just one more thing to worry about!!
“At laaaaaaaast”; Etta James keeps singing this in my head. Our kitchen is finally booked in for installation. Took a bit of to-ing and fro-ing to get the quote finalised and then we lost a week waiting for an email that had been mistakenly sent to the wrong person (lesson learnt: nag early, nag often).
We’ve gone with an installer who has his own plumber and electrician that he will project manage for us.
We are currently doing a slide puzzle in our house to make room to store the kitchen, old appliances etc. We’ve listed the kitchen on eBay in the hope someone can make use of it. While it is not my taste, i could definitely see someone with more time and skills getting it to come up looking really nice. The fridge is ready to sell, and the oven and microwave will follow.
In other news, the oven has been delivered in plenty of time and our cabinet handles came in last week. Very glad to have them on hand, as having the holes drilled without the handles on hand was a bit of a risk, i thought.
The countdown is on!
Bettina's Kitchen 