Kitchen Update | pt. 2

We said a bittersweet farewell to our condo of 6 years in February and moved into 818 - as progress still continues. The term weekend warrior has taken on new meaning to Garrett and me, as to do lists still grow and we anxiously await breaking ground for the addition. We have another new addition as well - a baby girl coming in August! So needless to say we have been busy and an update is long overdue.

The kitchen is mostly finished, but I wanted to share the progress we made pre-move in. 

First up - counters! Shortly after Thanksgiving our counters were installed by Stone Crazy. Initially I had wanted a lighter gray quartz, but we opted for Caesarstone 2003 Concrete, not wanting the counters to feel washed out in an all white kitchen and also wanting them to hold their own against and balance the black floors. 

We couldn't be happier. Once the counters were in we set our sights on tiling the blacksplash, or rather walls. I have always been partial to counter-to-ceiling tile, eliminating any awkward material changes. 

We spent a couple weekends tiling and then my brother leant Garrett a hand grouting. Wanting a clean look, we opted for white grout, making sure to seal it to protect against staining. 

With the tile in, it was time for doors, drawers, and pulls - more Ikea fun! It became systematic and not too bad. We even had my cousin and her husband lend a hand over Christmas. 

And making this kitchen, err house, livable -- appliances. We purchases these during a Labor Day sale and had them packed in boxes, sitting in our living room for an embarrassingly long time. Needless to say, it was very satisfying to have them installed. 

There are still quite a few finishing touches to add as well as the corner banquet, window sills, and a bi-fold door to hide the washer/dryer -- and yet -- so close!

Planning an update soon with more on our dining room plans and screenwall progress.

Kitchen Update | pt. 1

House progress has been a little slow, but steady, as Garrett and I have both been traveling for work. It seems ages ago that we demoed our kitchen with the help of a few friends!

A couple weeks ago we pulled the trigger, rented a Uhaul, and bought our Ikea cabinets! Like anything with Ikea, this too was a process. We first transferred my plan drawing into the Ikea system to generate our shopping list and be verified by an employee. We came back the next day in the Uhaul to purchase and pickup the cabinets. We had to go back 'upstairs' to complete the purchasing. This was followed by an hour of waiting for our many, many boxes to be collated - indulging while we waited in froyo and a cinnamon bun! We checked each box's SKU number as we loaded them in to the Uhaul to make sure we had every.last.piece.

Once home we organized and labeled each box per cabinet, using our initial printout from the Ikea system (not our purchase list, which is arranged per like item). We used the dining room as our staging and assembly area.

The next step was marking our level lines for the suspension rails. For anyone wondering, as I did - the suspension rails come with their own washers but not screws (as wall types vary), as well as guidelines for heights.

We ended up having our handyman, Dave (if you are in Orlando and need a recommendation - he's great!) help secure the suspension rails to our concrete block walls. As an extra measure we backed each rail with a bead of Liquid Nails. 

Dave going to work trimming down the rails!

Assuming all is level and plum, hanging the cabinets themselves is the easiest part. And just like that we have the base of our kitchen:

Up next: counters, backsplash, and a million more boxes of drawers and doors!

818 Kitchen Inspiration

Things have been moving at 818. If you've been following along via Instagram you've seen we've painted the wood paneling, demoed our kitchen, and tile is going down! Once the tile is complete we can start putting (back) together our kitchen. 

After laying out a few different kitchen floor plans (island? peninsula? bar seating?), I settled on a U-shaped work space with a corner banquet. A big factor was the windows. There are 4 - which is awesome but also tricky to work around, as there are only so many spots the appliances can fit. Additionally, the kitchen is relatively isolated from the living spaces, so I wanted to make sure to incorporate a comfortable space to hang out - enter the corner banquet. Banquets are a great way to maximize space and tuck in some hidden storage. 

You may remember the washer and dryer were somewhat alarmingly plopped in the middle of the kitchen. We'll be stealing some from the garage's water heater closet and adding it on to the existing pantry to allow for a stackable washer + dryer. 

We've decided to go with white Ikea cabinets, gray quartz counters, and a white subway tile backsplash. The overall vibe is somewhat Scandinavian and definitely modern. I plan to warm it up with some natural elements, such as a rattan pendant and have my eye out for an antique butcher block island. Also thinking a pop of kelly green, maybe on the back wall?

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So excited for this to become a reality! A bigger kitchen means I'll cook more, right?