So close we can TASTE it...

The kitchen is so close to being completed, we can taste it (*pun intended*). The cabinets are officially painted and have been delivered to our house.

Newly painted cabinets, fresh off the delivery van.

I'm not sure that we'll wrap everything up by this Saturday as planned, but it will be - for the most part - a functional kitchen. One with running water, countertops (let's call them "work surfaces" for now), and appliances. You know - things you take for granted when you have them but desperately miss when you go without for a few months.

The first wall cabinet hung; two floor units awaiting installation.

We will (hopefully) finish the plumbing under the sink and install the last of the cabinets tonight. Blair's dad came over last night and helped us for a good 7 hours. I'd say we have another 3 to go.

The first three units and the sink in place. The garbage disposal installation has begun.

After that, we have to get our counter tops ready, install the trim atop the counters, and then install the backsplash. I don't want to give too much info away (the materials we are using are TOP SECRET) - so you'll have to check back to see the final product.

The whole shebang on our main wall. The dishwasher will go to the right of the sink, and an 18" cabinet that we repurposed will go on the opposite wall next to the stove.

Brand new faucet over our newly refinished vintage porcelain sink. Good stuff.

A long time coming...

After working through a few scheduling conflicts, the painting is finally under way. Hold ups in my company's production schedule and a sick friend in the painting department pushed our project back about a week and a half. Luckily Chris has agreed to stay after work the next few nights to help me wrap them up before the weekend. It's a little hard to tell how the finished product will turn out at this point, but I'm LOVING the color so far.

The final coat won't be quite as glossy as the photos below (we went with the "Satin" finish as opposed to the "High Gloss" - which were our only two choices). These photos were taken mid-process before everything had a chance to dry.

We've got three gallons of lacquer paint called DuraLac that we picked up from Benjamin Moore to do the entire job. Total cost: about $97 bucks. I don't know the name or number of the color off hand (so don't ask ;)). I basically walked up to the color swatches, saw it and told the guy behind the counter, "THAT'S THE ONE!"

NOTE: A little birdie told me that the wood shop is working on a little "somethin' somethin' " for the counter tops. Keep an eye open for progress pics on that. Also, custom tiles for the backsplash come in this Friday. BIG weekend ahead of us!

Our lovely cabinets, pre-prime and paint. (Don't you just LOVE the color? Ha.)



First coat on the bottom-side of the drawers. All red and sexy.

Backside of the doors, looking a little glossy in the gleam of the flourescent paint booth lights.

NEW! Custom Cabinet Emblem

Big thanks to our friend Ray who runs the router here at my company. I showed him the design I created a couple weeks ago, and he ran with it. He created the paths in his spare time and used some scrap materials he had laying around.

Ray watching over the delicate mirrored acrylic.

One of the three routers our company uses.

Closeup of the tiny router bit doing it's job.


Computer programs used to create the paths.


All of the white you see was plowed from a single piece of 1/4" "Pure White" acrylic. The metallic border and letters were routed from 1/8" mirrored acrylic and inset into the white piece.

Individual pieces of the puzzle.

The pictures don't do it justice (taken with my camera phone) - this thing is SEXY in real life. Can't wait to see it installed on the newly painted cabinets. Thanks Ray.

The new piece fully assembled = *BLING*