The Lake House Renovation: Big Changes

Our kitchen is starting to look like a kitchen for the first time in about two and a half months.

Just a reminder of where we were in November...

Then, we had demo.  Here's where we were in the last week of December.

Things started looking better in early February.  

And here we are today...

One of my favorite parts of the new kitchen is the spice rack!

Next up is granite, lighting, appliance install.  The end of phase one is in sight!

Our faucet also arrived today!  Yay.  Check out which one we chose! (Presley was listening to Lady Gaga in the background!)

The Kraus faucet can be found here.

The Lake House Renovation - Paint Color, Lighting, Appliances Purchased, and a Flooring Update

Yesterday, we got a lot accomplished.

We started the day by checking out flooring at The Floor Depot.  Of course, I totally forgot to take pictures.  We found some great options.  They are coming to our house Monday to give us an in-home estimate.  I'll try to take pictures.

This is the one picture I did get.  I love this tile, but I'm not sure if it will work in our house (mudroom and bathroom) or not.

The Floor Depot is right next to Seth's Lighting which has some incredible light fixtures.  We saw a lot of great options that will help us achieve the look of our inspiration kitchens.

Here are some of our favorites that we saw.  We are also hoping to find a coordinating one that will work over the dining room table that will be to the right of the kitchen.  

So many choices!  So much money!  ERR!  Hopefully we can find something we love that's not too expensive.  

We also finished shopping for our appliances last night.  And yes, we went with Frigidaire, but we decided to go with Frigidaire Professional.  We are very happy with everything and did research to make sure we were getting what will best suit our needs.  We also got the Sharp drawer microwave, which I am so excited about!  

Lastly, I think we confirmed our paint color choice last night for what we will paint the majority of our house...

I believe we are going with Edgecomb Gray.  It's technically Benjamin Moore, but Lowe's can match it.  It's the middle one.  I do like the green and blue color for possibly the restroom or a bedroom, but overall, I think we are going to use mostly the gray.

Have a great long weekend!

The Lake House Renovation - Designing the Kitchen

Though I don't have much proof, there has been a lot going on this week.

Michael and I have been spending about an hour each night trying to decide on appliances.  We've been emailing back and forth with our awesome kitchen designer as we put our kitchen look together, and we've been taking almost EVERYTHING from the first floor except for our master bathroom contents and laundry room contents down to our workshop area.  

Appliance decisions are tough!  There are so many different stores, so many different brands, and so many thoughts that it's overwhelming.

I'm so grateful for Facebook.  After almost thinking I didn't want to go with wall ovens, my Facebook family quickly responded to my request for advice, and we will definitely be having double wall ovens.  

Another one of the major dilemmas is whether or not to match our current refrigerator or buy all new. 

Our current refrigerator is a Whirlpool Gold that is NOT counter depth.

I think this is our current refrigerator.  It came with the house.

That's not a huge deal, as our kitchen designer can build something that will keep it from looking crazy big, but if we go with it, it will take up a little more space and we will probably need to stick with Whirlpool Gold appliances for the wall oven and dishwasher.  I'm not finding a lot of options with Whirlpool Gold, so I'm leaning toward Frigidaire.

We would want to stick with Frigidaire for the refrigerator, dishwasher, and wall ovens.

FGHF2366PF

FGID2466QF

FGET3065PF

For the microwave, I'm sold on this incredibly expensive Sharp drawer microwave. 

SMD3070ASY

Yes, it's very pricey, but we need something that can go on our island.  This has the control panel at the top, so it's perfect.  I THINK I've convinced Michael to spend a little more here.

We are adding gas to our kitchen, so we will be purchasing a gas cooktop.  I think I've settled on this Maytag.  

MGC7536DS

Now, I have to figure out where to buy these.  I see some with one of these items for super cheap, but then everything else is crazy expense.  Then, some places offer 10% off or 24 months 0 percent financing.  Just while I've been typing this blog, I've come across even better deals than I've got on my spreadsheet.  It's making my head spin!

Our kitchen designer is incredibly patient with me.  He sends me designs, I tell him what I like and don't like, then he emails back with the modifications.  Our current design appears to be the following:

This is the bird's eye view.  Our living room would be to the left of this picture.  The oven goes in the corner.   

Looking at the refrigerator and coffee bar.  This is the top part of the bird's eye view picture.  

This is the oven, sink, dishwasher, and pantry.

These are the island cabinets.  

One thing I recently changed my mind about was the island.  At first, I wanted a bar height and counter height island.  So, we were going to go with something that looks like this...

Then, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted a gigantic island that would handle any project, whether it be cooking or school related.  I just want a huge space that is all one level.  So, I'm liking this look more...

Now, I'm also checking to see if we can get some shelves put in on the part of the island that is not cabinets.  I think that would be a cool thing to have for cookbooks or supplies that aren't necessarily related to cooking.

I actually just found a discussion about this topic on Houzz.com.

So, there you have it.  Lots of confusion, but progress is being made!