Kitchen Project: It Is Really Coming Together

The drywall is up and now so are some/most of the cabinets. 

Letmetellya ... I am now a PRO IKEA builder! 

That's right, I have assembled all but maybe one of our cabinets and had help on only two or three. I have a system. It works. So, Nate leaves me alone. Yes, I'm a bit of a control freak. 

Cabinets going up! Funny (but not at the time) we hung the first cabinet and I could not reach it. Had a freak out moment and realized I had built the wrong upper cabinets. Those were for a different space.

All in, except the dishwasher doesn't fit. Doh!! It was about an inch or two off of fitting. Fortunately my brother in law was going to Dallas the next day and could make a stop at IKEA. He brought us a new smaller cabinet.

Love our new sink!

Thought I'd keep it real...this is the mess we are living in. Yikes! I am not much of a cleaner anyway, but this is crazy. I survive knowing there is an end and it is getting closer. Also, we have a den we can escape to and often do.

Much better! All in. Sink and dishwasher working too. 

Friday and Saturday we painted and painted. I hate painting ceilings! But it had to be done. I had an awesome little helper too! I do think paint adds a clean feeling to the space. I walk in now and it just makes me happy to see color on the walls. It's actually the same color as before. We originally picked these colors based on a tile we have had since our old house -- we've always planned on making it a backsplash.

We had to build a frame for the island/peninsula. The frame replaces the IKEA legs and keeps it from shifting. It is secured to the foundation at this point. We had to rent a hammer drill for that part. But a 4 hour rental is motivation to get stuff done!

We hung our new vent hood this weekend too. It's stainless but right now we are leaving the protective film on.

And this is where we are now... We have unwrapped the oven and set the cabinets on the frame. 

The oven is not plugged in but will be soon. The refrigerator will go next to the tall pantry cabinet and a small cabinet will hang above it. We bought the wrong size for the over the fridge cabinet so we need to make an IKEA trip. We won't do that until we have a list of everything we may need. We also are adding a cabinet to the island area but have not purchased it yet. It's on the list.

Now to put on doors, buy/install flooring, pick out countertops and make a trip to IKEA. Maybe it will be all done by March (trying to be realistic). It should be fully functional much sooner.