My Kitchen Makeover Is On Again
Kitchen Inspiration, Five Years Later, 2020 Style
In 2014, I was excited to embark on a two-part project to upgrade my older, dirty, ugly kitchen. At that time Mary was living with me and she took an active role in working with our builder, Steve, and choosing the paint, the granite etc.
We got a good deal of work done, about half the kitchen was renovated, we made a giant hole in the wall and a grand peninsula of sturdy black pebbled granite called Laurentian stone, and added seating. It was marvelous–we could finally see the woodstove from the kitchen and people sitting in the living room were no longer cut off from the rest of the party.
Fast forward five whole years. Jesus, I can’t believe it’s been that long. But I’m back on the renovation trail and eager and psyched to bring the rest of the kitchen up to the high standard we started.
This time I’m bringing my old friend Bill in as my general contractor, and he has created a plan and we’ve already started.
I had Bill make a drawing so we can get it all down on paper and we can adjust, and we are working with a local cabinet maker Tom who is building uppers as we speak.
I took a ride up to Swanzey New Hampshire in the drizzle on Saturday morning and looked through their big yard of granite samples. I think I found a few black pebbled slabs that will fit the bill.
Cory the owner is an affable and friendly man, and I look forward to getting the estimate and having the guys come down to size it all up. I have Tom already building two of the uppers, and he’s completed a beautiful lower already. We have a heating guy coming down to set up a toe-kick heater to replace the radiator we have to move that’s behind the cabinets.
Some of the highlights of Bill’s design are three large deep drawers, a pull-out trash/recycling drawer, lots of space for my sheet pans and oval pans, a new dishwasher and more sensible places to store my dishes, glasses and food.
