Gourmet Kitchen

I wish I could hug it.

Daily Update, August 20

Refrigerator and wine/beer cooler came today, but since the cabinet hasn't been fixed yet, they're sitting in the garage in their boxes. I'm dying to see them, but will resist the temptation to open the boxes until they're ready to put in place. Only a few more weeks now. But very likely the week after labor day.


Gary has started on the fireplace. He's got quite a lot of figuring to do and I guess these are his notes and practice runs with scrap wood.

More lighting fixtures. And I can't resist posting pictures of Amber's room. Miles is already tired of the pink and wondering when we can paint it.

Hall fixture lights.

Tyler's room.

Cory's room

Master fan.

Master shower. The tile is grouted and it looks awesome.

Linen shelves in the master bathroom.

Tile entry. He just set this today so the tile is dirty and hasn't been grouted. It's amazing how much better the tile looks after the grout is in.

Viking Hood Installed

They installed the hood for the range on Friday. I think they wanted to get it out of the way, mostly, but it looks very nice. I don't think the appliances are coming for awhile. The refrigerator and wine cooler are coming on August 20th. Not sure when the rest are, but they're finishing and putting a first coat on the wood floor this coming Friday, August 14th. Fingers crossed for labor day weekend. Miles thinks we will, I am doubtful.

Under Contract

I haven't updated in awhile, but the house is coming along. They have steel beams in place to support the second floor, finished framing the garage and are now starting to sheet the garage in. They also completed pilaster columns for the back porch and should have the front porch poured by Friday. We had to make some changes to the master bath and after a few times having to tear out the walls, I think we have it nailed. I also changed my mind on the refrigerator based on feedback I've gotten from friends on the KitchenAid. We decided to go with the GE Profile. We chose stucco, stone and roof colors today and are now just trying to determine how dark to do the stucco frames around the windows.

I will try to post some pictures this evening.

So now for the real news and the title of this post. We sold our house!! Or, at least we went under contract today.

Appliance Update

I was sure I liked the GE Monogram stuff better than Viking, but the appliance center we went to had Viking floor models they were selling. The price was too good, so we ended up with Viking range (48" with 6 burners and a griddle), Viking vent hood, Viking dishwasher (made by Asko) and Viking microwave (made by Sharp). I'm very happy about the appliances and know that I will absolutely love them.

We also got to buy a new dishwasher for our Bluestem house. Our dw conked out on Christmas day - oh joy! We've got to stop spending money on the old house! (Look, I'm already calling it our old house and we haven't even put it on the market yet!)

We also took a trip to the lighting design center to start looking at lighting - so fun! But, we took the kids with us and they didn't like the movie they put on for them. So, I ended up sitting with the designer while Miles took the kids for a drive. We've only done the preliminary stuff though, so we still have lots to decide.

The Current Schedule

Wayne really wanted to get started again today, but the weather for the weekend is looking really cold again. They didn't want the hole to sit for over the weekend, so have decided on the following schedule:

Monday, December 22: Digging for basement
Wednesday, December 24: Pour footings
Give the long Christmas weekend for the footings to dry
Monday, December 29: Start putting in forms for the foundation walls

We won't be here when they start doing the forms, we are leaving December 26 for North Dakota, so Bumpa and Grammie will have specific instructions on where to take the pictures during the week we are gone.

We are not closing on the construction loan tomorrow (Friday) because there are a few last things the bank needs. We have been approved, I guess they're just finishing their files. I don't know when we will close, perhaps Monday, but I'll need to call them. It's ok, because we have another form of funds we are using until we can use the construction account.

Tomorrow we are going to the Builders Appliance Center to check out appliances. I am pretty sure I want to go with the GE Monogram stuff. We get a good discount direct from GE at work. Wayne wants to go with Viking stove, but I do want everything to match, so I'm still leaning to the GE stuff. The only concern I have is that the refrigerator with the configuration that I want (french door refrigerator and 2 drawer bottom freezer) I think is too small. Only 20.7 cu. ft. I have no concept of how big that is, so I just have to go see it. I love the GE Monogram 6 burner stove with the griddle. It has 2 ovens side by side, a large one and a small one. I think we'll do this instead of the two 4.4 cubic feet stackable ovens.

I've also spent quite a bit of time thinking about the kitchen. I think I know how I want it designed. We are meeting with 2 cabinets places on Monday since we have the day off. We received a preliminary layout from one of the places today and it is horrible - not even close to what we want. Since I now have a better idea we will show them our concept when we meet with them on Monday and then we'll have a better idea about what it will look like. We will also need to go back to the original place we went to in order to give them an opportunity to provide pricing on the same design.

So far I am having fun, but the kitchen is a big deal!! I want to make sure we get it right. Update on appliances probably tomorrow since there will be no construction progress.