It’s been a while since the last post.  Progress has been steady all this time, but it’s been incremental, with not that much that was exciting enough to show off.  After all – one wall’s worth of additional baseboards or crown moldings does not make thrilling photos.  But now that it’s all in I can give everyone a peek.

The last is first – the stone countertops have arrived, and the copper sink has been placed (although functional installation is still down the road).  These pix were taken by The Resident Male, and were posted on Facebook yesterday.

We chose soapstone.  Yes, it does scratch more easily than granite, but we liked the look.  Plus, if it’s good enough for lab benches, it should be good enough for us.  The piece we ended up with has a lot of character.  Many people opt for more uniform slabs, but I really wanted the grain and inclusions to show:

Here is the area on the left side, away from the window, with the sink placed.  The dishwasher will go in the open area to the sink’s immediate right. (Finally!  A sink on the ergonomically correct side for a right-hander!)

And here’s the main workspace under the windows, where the sink used to be.  The stone is on both sides of the rangetop, also slid in but not functionally installed yet. That’s an ocean of prep space, enough for tag-team cooking and baking.

There’s another small bit of stone, on the other side of the fridge (which is to the right of the dishwasher).  That’s about 18 inches wide at most, and is a necessary place to plunk cell phones for recharging.

Now that all of the stone is in, the next thing the team did was cover it all up with protective cardboard so additional work would not harm it.  In these dawn-this-morning shots you see all of the cabinetry is now up, along with all of the crown molding, door and window frames, and baseboards. 

Here you see the lineup from the door to the dining room, with the opening for the wall oven and microwave next to it, past the sink and on to the big opening for the fridge (with the tiny counter just peeking out on the other side of the fridge space).

Yes, the upper cabinets are HIGH.  We’ll keep a stepstool in the kitchen for easier access.

Here’s the other side of the room, showing how the work area near the window flows.  There’s a small counter area to the right of the rangetop, and on the side of the prep area you see the pantry cabinet.  A real pantry with actual usable space and rolling, lipped shelves; instead of the narrow, near unusable bit we had before!

Finally, here is the view back towards the kitchen door, showing the laundry area, with its folding door reinstalled, and the utility cabinets opposite the entry door.  There will be a hanging bar beneath this, like there was before. While there are upper tier cabinets here, too, they are wood front, without the glass that’s in the main kitchen area.

The molding surrounds for the windows and doors are simpler than that in the rest of the downstairs, but coordinate with it in size and contour, as do the baseboards and plinths beneath the door surrounds.

All of the pale poplar woodwork you see (doors, windows and baseboards) will be painted.  It would very difficult to match the color of the cabinets with stain.  Also bring those linear elements forward would bring a heavier look to the room – very ‘70s, in fact.  Instead, when we paint the remaining walls a very pale dove grey, we will paint those trim elements in a very slightly darker, glossier grey, so that they visually recede.

We haven’t decided yet, but we may also paint the radiator cover under the entry way window.  Not sure yet about the folding door.

So that’s the progress for the past eight work days or so.  Remaining work includes the tile backsplashes behind the sink and stove/prep areas, install of the ovens, all supporting final finish electrical and plumbing work including the faucet, disposal, and filtered water tap, some tinkering/reinstall of the room’s radiators, and the lighting fixtures and ceiling fan.  After that comes painting. 

And then we can FINALLY move back into the kitchen, and cook our first celebratory meal.  I am so looking forward to it!