It’s been quite a while since I posted photos of the kitchen progress. We basically came to a standstill two months ago, when we ran completely out of money to do more work. Fortunately, very nearly all of the work is done. Some painting touch-ups, painting the base board, and a couple of similarly little things. We’ll be getting them done in September.

It also took us forever to really finish bringing things back into the kitchen, and arranging them to our satisfaction. Two weeks ago we bought a new kitchen storage unit at IKEA, and that has made all the difference in being able to get things organized enough that we can work well in the new room.

The peninsula is cobbled together from three pieces of furniture: our old steel kitchen work table, the new IKEA kitchen storage unit, and a vintage seed cabinet that Rochelle found in an antique store about a year ago. It’s been moving around the house looking for a final resting place. The kitchen isn’t it — we’ll replace all of this in a year when we put in the real, permanent cabinets — but it’s working well in the new location.

The reason the new IKEA piece was so important to getting the kitchen settled was because we lost a huge amount of storage space when we rearranged the pantry by moving the door. We’ll get the pantry space back when we do the real cabinets, but for now, it’s holding less than half what fit in before. The Metro shelving that used to hold things we didn’t use often is now holding mostly things we use every day, i.e. all our pots and pans, cooking utensils, all our spices, etc.

The refrigerator in the back corner is still creating lots of dead space around it, because it’s so deep. Replacing it is the next major expense. And we’ll likely do it sooner rather than later, since all the manufacturers and stores have 12-month interest free loans and other incentives. We’re looking at getting a counter-depth unit, with the freezer on the bottom, and French doors for the refrigerator compartment. That will let us push it more fully into the corner, and better use the space around it.

These last two photos are stitched together from two shots each. It’s pretty easy to see the seams, unlike some of the earlier panoramas I did. I’ve got to get the hang of taking the shots from the same perspective, height, angle, etc. Might also try getting Preston to come by with his fancy camera and wide-angle lens; our little PowerShot isn’t really up to this kind of photography.

This one is the previous two stitched together:

And this one is of the kitchen entrance and our display shelf with all our champagne bottles:

Note: All of these photos can be clicked to view larger versions.

You know that “oh shit” moment at the top of a roller coaster, when you’ve just finished the slow climb up, and haven’t really started the first drop. The point where you’d really like to take just a couple seconds to summon your courage, but it’s too late, out of your hands, and carrying you away whether you’re ready or not?

That’s what buying our new stove was like tonight.

Rochelle found a terrific deal on craigslist.org for a used Viking 48” stove. Six burners and a griddle, two ovens, black finish. Huge is not the word. (Though, actually, it’s only 8” wider than our existing stove.) It’s a $6,000 stove when new, and not something we even had dreamed of getting, it was so out of our budget range. We went and looked at it Wednesday night, and wrote a check on the spot. Gulp.

Rochelle’s going to see about finding someone to help us with transport and delivery to our house (hopefully it will fit through the front door!). And we’ve got a lot to do in the dining room and kitchen to get ready for it. But things are in motion now, and we’re too committed to stop until it’s done…

“Look out Michael, here comes the kitchen remodel!”

It started innocently enough. Rochelle’s mother very generously offered to buy us a new range, after we complained about our current oven during Thanksgiving. And, if we could have just done that, it would have been a great kitchen improvement that would have cost us almost nothing.

But, we started looking into options, researching in Consumer Reports and in cooking and food resources. Rochelle eventually found this article, A Range of Options, by David Rosengarten, which blew away both the Consumer Reports mantra of low cost, high value appliances, and our gift budget.

But, once you commit to getting a centerpiece-style range, is it even possible to just do that? Not if you’re Rochelle or me.

The next obvious requirement is to get a new stove hood, because we currently have no ventilation in the kitchen, except opening the back door and window. And, well, looking at the wall it would be mounted on, it’s actually a fake wall, built (by the previous owner) to hide the brick chimney behind it. Let’s take that out!

And, when we measure the chimney in the basement, it’s clear we’ll be getting a lot of space back. And when you combine that with the need to conceal the ventilation pipe, you come to the inevitable conclusion that we need new floor-to-ceiling cabinets in that corner.

After doing all of this, is there any doubt that we’ll need to paint the entire room afterwards? Especially since we’ve been planning to take the over-sink cabinets off the wall for over a year? And that horrible fake tile siding that lines the lower half of most of the room?

And these are the plans we haven’t quashed. Because taking the cabinets off the wall is really the first of many things that should happen to that side of the room.

But, since we’re not really remodeling, those will have to wait. Hopefully…