Some Necessities

It's been nice having a 3 day weekend to celebrate Independence Day! It gave us much time to get a few more projects done around the house before diving back into work. The biggest project continues to be our kitchen, which is improving daily, yet won't be complete for about 1-2 months at the earliest.

But after this weekend, storing items and making meals will be so much easier. Joey and his dad worked on hanging a few of our upper cabinets - the few that can be hung prior to countertops being installed. This gave me much more storage space so that I could continue to unpack the boxes that sit around the house.

Here's a snapshot of the cabinet progress...

These are the 3 cabinets above the stove (we're waiting to receive the last lower cabinet that sits to the right of the stove). The guys screwed all 3 cabinets together and then hung them as one unit.

Here they are with the shelves added. The side cabinets are 42 inches high. The middle cabinet will have a microwave under it eventually.

You can see I've begun placing items on the shelves. Although they are not in their final home, they're at least put away for now, which means a few more boxes out of the house! I'll have to reorganize everything once we get the rest of the cabinets hung and have even more space.

This is the cabinet to the left of the sink window - also 42 inches high...

...it stores a lot of dishes! The crown molding above the cabinets and the cabinet hardware will be some of the last things to be added when the kitchen is done.

The other project Joey did for me this weekend was set up temporary countertops and a kitchen sink. I never realized how difficult it was to do kitchen duties without a sink. And so until our quartz countertops arrive, Joey laid down some white boards for us to use as countertops, and he cut a hole in one to set a kitchen sink. Since the sink is also temporary (the sink we really want won't be bought for a couple months), we bought a a really cheap stainless steel sink that came with a faucet and sprayer (the basic model that most apartments have). Joey put in all new sink plumbing too, since the original pipes were clogged, and now it works like "new".

So, that's the latest update on our kitchen. I cleaned out the old fridge and stove that came with the house so that we can use those until our new appliances arrive. It sure feels good to have a usable kitchen again!