We are halfway though the second week of our kitchen renovation.
This grill is the only thing getting us through this.
Last week, I started with the bad news: twelve weeks without a kitchen! This week, there is not really any new bad news. I still don’t have a kitchen and I miss cooking and baking like crazy. But, we knew that already.
In fact, not having any new bad news is actually good news! One of the workmen told me that often, when they tear out a kitchen, they find some unforeseen complication. So far, in my kitchen, there have not been any such problems. Knock wood. They did in fact tear out the kitchen down to the studs last week. (I’m looking at the exterior brick wall of my house when I go in there.) But happily when they did that, there were no surprises.
What has happened since they tore everything out and carted it away last week has been a lot of plumbing and electrical work. That has been complicated because a lot of the existing plumbing and electrical was not up to code (the hell?) and in the new kitchen, the sink will be in a different spot, meaning adding lots of plumbing. But we knew about those problems going in. No surprises.
Only good news, people!
Also late last week, our contractor hooked up the gas line to my husband’s beautiful new grill. The one thing my husband cared most about in this whole project was getting a grill hooked up to a gas line. No more propane tanks! At the end of last summer, in mere anticipation of this project, he bought a large gas-ready grill on sale and he has been waiting to use it for almost a year. For Father’s Day, which also happened to be my kids’ last night at home before leaving for overnight camp, he finally got to use his new grill. Those burgers, hot dogs and grilled vegetables were our first home-cooked meal in a week and they tasted terrific.
The new grill also has a burner on the side, so you can, for example, boil water for pasta while grilling. This comes in handy when you have a picky eater who doesn’t like anything grilled, thank you very much, and subsists on an all-noodle diet. But it also means that even if I don’t have a stove, I have a grill and a burner to cook on. That is going to be really helpful.
An example of a white kitchen with black countertops and white subway tile. I would choose lighter grout than this.
On Monday, after taking the kids to the camp bus — bye kids! — I met my decorator and kitchen designer at the tile store and we picked out tile for the backsplash. Who knew there were so many factors to consider when choosing tile? I knew I wanted white subway tile, but did I want it beveled? Glossy? Crackle finish? Small bricks? Large bricks? And what color grout? What does every choice have to be so complicated?
I don’t always know ahead of time what I want, but I know what I like when I see it. I had spent months cutting pictures of kitchens I liked out of home design magazine and amassing quite a file. A quick glance through my file revealed what I liked even if I didn’t know it. I wanted beveled, glossy white subway tiles with larger bricks and white grout. A classic look. Once that was established, it was easy enough to find the right tile.
I was obsessed with this light fixture but my decorator said it didn’t work in my house.
Finding the right light fixture was more complicated. The plan is to have one large light fixture over the island because the junction box there can only support one fixture. Thus, I was looking for a fixture with a lot of drama. My kitchen designer offered several suggestions, only one of which I liked. My decorator had several suggestions, none of which I liked. I had several suggestions, but at least one my decorator said was too midcentury modern for my house. And this was all from looking online.
It is hard to make such a large purchase without seeing the item in person, so after the tile store, my decorator and I went to a lighting store. Not all of the fixtures we wanted to look at were in stock, but at least we could see something. The store did have the fixture above — that I remain obsessed with, by the way — but we realized it wouldn’t work. The store did not have the fixture my kitchen designer suggested that we all seemed to like, but it did carry something in the same line, so I could see the color of the finish in person. Guess what? It was not the color I wanted. But then something happened. We saw a different fixture that we loved.
This is the one!
We both just fell for this fixture. The dark finish was just what I wanted and it goes beautifully with the more traditional chandelier in my dining room. And I knew I didn’t want any candelabra. I am nuts about these funky Edison-looking light bulbs. And this fixture has drama but isn’t too heavy.
I am also excited about these pendants which we picked out for the scullery. There will be two hanging down over the marble countertop. Doesn’t it look great with the chandelier?
Next choice? Bar stools!
