Kitchen Nightmares: Somerville Edition

In the past couple of days our home has zipped through the 19th and into the 20th century with the re-addition of running water and refrigeration.  The kitchen sink works, as does the fridge including water filter and ice maker, which means that plumbing is done.

Insert angelic chorus here

Today it was the electrician’s turn to finish some things off.  Recessed lights got new collars (cats were jealous) and some of the outlets and switches were installed, but most interestingly, the pendant lamp was hung over the sink.  Finally some light in the corner!

Bright spot in the corner

More stuff happened with the cabinets too.  A lot more of the crown molding is in, as you can see on the far-right cabinet in the photo above.  For a better view, here’s a close-up of the upper cabinets above the laptop station (along with the finished-off recessed light):

Finished crown molding and light fixture

Tomorrow more cabinetry work will be done, including hopefully some of the finish work on the dry bar.  Thursday and Friday should be the last days for the electrician, after which all of the appliances should work.  I am pretty excited to have a dishwasher again.

Tonight I really wanted Chinese food, which is just a terrible idea if you have to eat out every night.  We should be focused on healthy options because most take-out is decidedly unhealthy.  But we’re not.  I got General Gau’s Chicken.  When this is all over we’ll have a brand-new kitchen but eat nothing by salads for a month.

Uncategorized cabinets, electrical, lighting, plumbing, refrigerator, sink

It’s the night before they’re coming to remove the old kitchen, and we’re packing everything up in boxes and moving it to the basement.  Despite our need for more storage, we actually have a ton of stuff in the kitchen.  It’s amazing how much you can cram into cabinets.

Plus, we need to figure out what to keep upstairs so that we can eat food we order, clean dishes, store leftovers, make coffee, etc.  The cats are here supervising and making sure we don’t stow away any of their food or catnip.  It’s daunting to think how much we use the kitchen and what it will be like not to have one for two months.

It’s also just strange to see the room empty:

Empty room #1

Empty room #2

Empty room #3

Uncategorized before, cabinets, countertop, dishwasher, oven, refrigerator, sink, stove

Here’s a look at the kitchen before the renovation.  It’s not bad, but you can see how everything useful is along one wall.  The other wall is where we’ve added a small pantry cabinet, a butcher block, and our trash and recycling.  There’s a also a chair, which is mostly used by the cats.  Just go ahead and try to take it from one of them.

Main wall with counter, sink, dishwasher, stove/oven, refrigerator, and all cabinetry

Other wall with furniture and a window

Another view of the main wall

The other wall looking back through the dining room to the living room

Our weak lighting situation. Also note the water-damaged ceiling.

Uncategorized before, cabinets, countertop, dishwasher, lighting, oven, refrigerator, sink, stove