No granite guy today.

The foreman called this morning to say the granite guy had other appointments and would not be coming to the house until Monday.

Which is fine.

There has been a lot of progress in the past few days and I am happy to have a break from it.

Not that I got to sleep in today.

I took the car in for an estimate.

They said it would cost about $480.

That seems very low to me, especially considering they have to put in a new grill.

But really, like I told the claims adjuster, I don't really care how much it costs as long as they do the job right.

So I am dropping the car off at the body shop Monday.

Anyhoo... back to the kitchen.

They did get the oven and hood installed yesterday. They look awesome!

There is still a protective plastic thing on the hood, which makes it look white. But it is the same stainless as the oven.

The fridge and cooktop will also be that stainless. One of the reasons I wanted to get all the same brand of appliances was to make sure the stainless finishes were consistent.

Also, they left a sample piece of the countertop material. So I took a picture of that, too.

With all the activity this week, things are pretty dusty in the house, so I will need to spend a little time cleaning this weekend.

But it will have to wait until at least Sunday.

Tomorrow is my nephew's first birthday party (he turned 1 Wednesay). There is a fairly large party for the little guy, so I don't anticipate getting much done tomorrow around the house.

Rolling, rolling, rolling along

The kitchen is taking shape much faster now.

They got the upper cabinets in and did part of the plywood for under the counters yesterday. The uppers on the side by the bar will have the glass doors.

Today they did the plywood for the bar area and the counter surface over the new cabinets along that wall.

They also were starting the installation of some of the appliances.

The double oven and the hood should be in when I get home tonight if all goes well.

There was a little hiccup with a light fixture.

Since I already have nice, simple recessed can lights, I decided to just keep those and not have new fixtures put in.

But one of the cans is right at the point where the cabinets above the new fridge will go.

I guess this is because the new fridge is wider than the old fridge.

They asked if I wanted it moved.

But there are six lights right now and they all line up in pairs. I think it would be odd to have 4 of them line up and then two of them be off.

So I told them to just take it out.

The kitchen gets plenty of light and sometime down the line I may put in under cabinet lights anyway.

It just peeved me that the designer came out three times to measure the space and it never occurred to her that the light might be in the way? Or maybe it did, but it never occurred to her to mention it to me.

Whatever. My goal now is to keep this project moving forward.

Supposedly the granite guy is coming tomorrow to measure the counters so the slabs can be ordered and fabricated.

Also tomorrow I am taking my car in for an estimate and to see the claims adjuster.

So that, like the kitchen, also is moving forward. Finally.

Finally, changes I can see

At the top is the kitchen in its patched, plastered and primed state.
Yay. We have progress.
We are in the middle of week 3 of the kitchen remodel and I am finally seeing cabinets go in.
George likes the new cabinets. I wonder if he will like them as much when they are covered by countertops.



















More cabinets in, including the big one, above, that will house the double oven, below.
















There was a huge pile of cardboard in the driveway from the boxes the cabinets came in. And that isn't even all the cabinets. Plus there are still giant boxes that hold the appliances.
I sure hope my workers recycle that stuff.
Turns out I don't really like the drawer pulls I bought.
I mean, I like them (they look like mini versions of the oven handles), but they are too wide for some of the narrower drawers. So I will take those back and may just use the brushed nickel knobs on everything.
Speaking of my oven, isn't the new double oven beautiful?
I can't wait to bake two things at the same time.

It's merely a flesh wound

Good news on the car front: The claim is filed and has been approved by my neighbors insurance company.

I really wanted to have it in the shop already, but hopefully I can get that done by the end of the week or early next week.

They still need to have a claims adjuster come out and look at the dent, but they have agreed to cover the repair and my rental car. Which is good. I would hate to have to use my bitchcraft on them.

I know what you are thinking... What bitchcraft? She is a marshmallow.

But I find it easier to be bitchy with people over the phone rather than people I have to actually see. Like the kitchen guys. More on that later.

Anyway, at first the dent in the car seemed HUGE. But every time I look at it, it looks smaller and smaller.

But that doesn't mean I don't want it fixed pronto.

Not to mention the fact that I can't get the hood open.

And given the car's recent history, I really want to be able to get the hood open.