Kitchen Remodel: Days 5-6 - the first weekend

Saturday & Sunday, September 19 & 20, 2009

Well, we survived the first week intact.  Lots of destruction and noise and disruption, but really it wasn't so bad.  It was fun, in fact.  So far we're having a pretty good experience.  We really think we've chosen the right GC.  They've been quite personable and easy to work with, which, as we thought, would be pretty valuable when we are all in the same space all day long.

Now our place is a torn up mess, but thye've still kept it liveable.  I think the kids are liking the larger open space already!  We're even still eating on our dining room table, though that is going to stop now.

On Thursday we went over the a local appliance distributor and formally chose our washer/dryer combo.  We're getting a great deal on the Consumer Reports "Best Buy" (and nearly highest-rated) model: GE WCVH6800J & the matching GE DCVH680GJWW.  These have apparently been selling like hotcakes due to their low pricepoint and top CR rating.  Since we're going to stack them, I think that they have to be matching, or at least it would seem like that will work best.  Otherwise we may have chosen a different dryer.  In any case, we're getting it from a respected local appliance specialist (Galvin Appliances on San Pablo Ave.) and we think are getting a decent deal still.


On Saturday morning, we went to Berkeley Lighting to see if we can pick out some pendant lights for over the new peninsula.  More on our choicemaking later, but we ended up ordering an LED pendant to see if it will work.  This style will match several other lights we have in the house, and hopefully the new light over the dining room table as well.  We think it complements the other textures that will be around it, like the countertop, bar, and existing gumwood.

For that center light, we needed to measure where the new overhead light will be above the dining room table.  Now that we're getting rid of the church pew, and moving the built-in to the side wall, the table will move over, and the old exactly-centered light fixture won't do.  Here's Jen and the kids measuring for where the electricians will need to put the new fixture hole in the ceiling.

To make way for other contractors next week, like the electrical guys, we're moving the table out of the dining room.  We put it on the deck Sunday night.  We're lucky we've got a decent, safe, clean space for it while all this is going on.  It looks pretty cool out there, actually - maybe we'll even use it out there!

We had a pleasant weekend in our deconstructed house.  I think this photo represents what we see now in our house: partial destruction and plans for more.