We finally received the call; the cabinets were in! After months of working on the kitchen, planning the layout, the design of each space and finally pushing the “build” button, the long awaited cabinets had come in!

It was during this time we actually had family visiting. My mother, son, brother and his wife were all here for a wonderful week. At first we were not anxious to interrupt a family visit with unloading a truck full of boxes, but fortunately, thought better of it and had the family help! Everyone, grab a box! Don’t worry, my mother and sister-in-law were not included in that. Actually, not even me, I simply checked off the shipping order. ha! As for the men, we were very glad we had their help. The sheer number of boxes caught us off guard a bit. Every upper, lower, every special long panel, front panel and kick board came in a separate box. The off loading took quite awhile as boxes kept coming but we got them all! Now all we had to do was interpret the codes and figure out the rubics cube of how to put them together. :-/

Fortunately, I saved printouts which had codes on them, so after a bit of deciphering and puzzle unscrambling, we figured out the system and now it was time to begin. After a days, boxes were sorted into sections for those belonging to the laundry room, the kitchen area, the kitchen island and the butler’s pantry. BTW, as you can imagine, we chose not to have the cabinets installed and we would do it ourselves. Had we ever done it before? Nope! But after watching a few videos online and help from my brother with the first one, this too we mastered.

We are planning on attempting the counter tops ourselves using an epoxy, which we’ve worked with before for a table top. A few other items are more pressing at the moment, so for now, we placed MDF fiberboard down over the counter tops so we have a working surface. We need to make the counter tops before we can install the sinks and the stove top, so that is coming next. For now, we can finally see the beauty of the kitchen design begin to really come to life. And while we were at it, we added more details to the columns in the kitchen, the over head beam and the ceiling! All trying to keep the design delicate and intricate and fitting this old beautiful home.

We know it still has a ways to go, but we so clearly remember what it was when we bought the home. For those of you who didn’t see it, below are a few pics of the before and then pics of the after. Another reminder, the area we called the butler’s pantry is where there a bathroom was at the time we bought the house. Again, after discovering the home’s original blue print, obviously that bathroom and technically the kitchen were nothing like what it was when we bought it, therefore, it was okay to go!

BEFORE:

A few pics during the reno…

A few pics of the installation….

And the appliques we found! We love these. I found them online but once we received them, I still needed to sand, then apply primer, two coats of paint, then an antique glaze. We used these on the beam as well as in the ceiling. Another little item we did was find a shelf bracket, paint it with matching pain for the cabinets and attach them under our wall cabinets in the pantry. We think it makes it look a bit more like furniture. We love them!

A few more pics as it is now.

We still need the gas stove top, the rest of the butler pantry cabinets in, REAL counter tops and of course flooring but can you see it now? We love how this is turning out. We truly are trying to make this kitchen fitting for the home. Our plan is light white marbled appearance counter tops with hard wood floor. Although this kitchen it’s nowhere near being finished, the vision is coming to life. We hope you like it, too!