Kitchen Renovation Update

Here are a few more after photos from the kitchen renovation.

Double dishwashers.  Enough said.

These babies have been the the most reliable appliance purchases from the group of over $xx,xxx worth of appliances we selected.  They don't complain (whisper quiet) and they are always willing to lend a hand (washing dishes).

Our Viking range died on us about 1 month into installation.  No kidding.  I called Viking and they directed me to a local repair shop.  That shop showed up the following morning and repaired the stove on site.  The repair-man had the part in his car, so there was no delay.  Even if the overpriced  ranged crapped out on us after 1 month of use, the service was impeccable.  So I guess we can still rely on it.  It's still pretty in a industrial kinda way.

Our Kitchen Aid steam injected stove got really rowdy on us this month.  The fan was REALLY loud.  Let me start by saying, that oven is general is very needy.  After using the microwave, it always requires feedback..."need more time?, keep warm?, make me a coffee!"  Kidding about the coffee.  Anyways, it's needy and wants you to push buttons after it has completed it's job.  It really needs recognition for it's work.

Anyways, it got really loud.  Like "Can you folks hear me upstairs?  I'm down here baking your cake and no-one is here to watch!"

I ignored it at first.  Like I do my children when they are whining.

Then it got louder.  My husband complained it was too noisy.

So I called Kitchen Aid and they sent someone the very next morning.  Both the fans were defective.  But the repair-man did not have a magic truck that had all the parts needed to fix it.  We are waiting for that part to come it.   It's been a week, and the oven is still whining... A bit louder now.  I'm just sayin' Kitchen Aid.

Here are a few more photos of him. (Since he's needy and needs the attention).

He said this was his good side.

Kitchen Renovation - After Pictures

The renovation is 95% complete. We are left with those miscellaneous odds and ends that no one wants to claim responsibility for, and of course there is the floor that will need to be sanded down to bare wood, stained, buffed and varnished ALL OVER AGAIN.  More on that later.  For now, here are the before & after photos.

You can see we had to keep the opening on the left and right side of the photos the same.  The kitchen spans the entire width.

  

The cooking and refrigeration side.

This shows the drastic change we made.  The wall in the before photos has been torn down.  The window on the far left is the same window.

Another before photo.  The window is in the same place in the before photo as they are after the renovation.

The stove in this before photos is in the same position, but stove itself is brand new.

The beverage centre is home to the beer and wine fridge, coffee machine and breakfast food.

 Here is the before..

And the after...

Another before and after...the dishwasher are almost in the same position as before. Only now we have two.

Before...

And after...

Kitchen Renovation - Cabinets

The cabinets were being installed on site, at our house. The cabinet guy says this is not how they normally  do things.  But they were rushed to get the cabinets in, so they could get the counters measured and installed and thing could go at a faster pace.

So that meant the cabinet frames came, and the pieces were being installed one by one are our house.  This was a long, long, long process.

I think the cabinet makers were here for three weeks.  It was pretty boring to chronicle each door frame being installed and each door handle being screwed in, so here are a few during, for the final touches have been added.

Quartz Countertop & Stainless Counter Top

We have three different work surfaces in our renovated kitchen, quartz, butcher block and stainless steel.  Each chosen for their different purposes.

The butcher block is for the working side of the island.  This surface allows for easy cutting and food prepping.  It's a great surface to roll out cookies and knead bread.

We have stainless steel for the counters flanking the Viking Range.  This is great if you have a hot pot and need to lay it down quickly.  It scratches easily but does well against heat and it's stain resistant.  It's for all the tough, messy, greasy, cooking that come from the stove top.

They have been installed, but we won't remove the sticky film until all the backslashes have been removed.

For the bar seating and other countertops, we chose the Ceasarstone quartz, because it's clean and pretty and looks freaking amazing as a bar.  It spans 15 feet across and is flanked to the floor on both sides.

The bar is a few inches above the butcher block.  This separates the work from the play area, and you don't see any of the butcher block mess from the dining room and great room.  People seated at the bar also get a great view of cooking without getting dirty.

Butcher Block aka "The Butcher"

A few weeks ago, after the island cabinets were installed, they came to measure for the butcher block.  Our butcher block was custom made by Concept Giroux.  Today it is being delivered.

Here is it in all it's beauty.

The circular hole is for the compost bucket.  So now we can chop and throw with ease.  The rectangle will house our island sink.

So pretty.  And yes we cut on the butcher. It does not show our cuts.  The colour of the butcher is the actual colour of the wood.  It is protected by mineral oil, which is food safe.

Appliances

Electricity.  It's a good thing.  We were living in the dark for a few weeks while the pot lights were being installed.  This week the electricians came and installed lighting in many shapes and forms.  We have pot light, under cabinet lights, and in cabinet lights.

We also got our appliances in today.  These bad boys were ordered back in March 2011 and it's now November.  They are not installed yet. But they are all shiny and happy in their new home.  This here refrigerator will be best friends with my 4 children who are constantly hungry. 

This is my husband range.  It's a 6 burner Viking.  We ordered it in racing red and it came in stainless steel.  Interesting.  It was really to much of a pain to reorder a new one in red.  5-6 week delay and we would have wait for it to install the back splash and it would be one delay after another.  So stainless it is. Plus the company we ordered it from gave us a cash compensation for the error.  But they have yet to pay for the scratches on the floor the delivery guys made during installation. Just saying'.

More lighting photos and my two double dishwasher.  Super silent ones.  I love them as much as my kids love the refrigerator.

This is my steam, convection, microwave combo.  Pretty.

 This is what happens when an overweight electrician stands on your cabinets to install lighting.

This is how they cover it up.  Then they tell you the appliance delivery guys did it.

Don't worry the cabinet guy fixed it.