The refrigerator is installed

Izzy the cat contemplates the new refrigerator. Hmm, looks a little big for the space thinks Izzy...

Range, granite not quite right

As you can see the granite isn't exactly cut correctly for the range, so the granite folks have to come back out and fix it.

The range arrives

And the range arrives.

but will it slide into the space? Well almost is the answer.

How we picked our new fridge

After months of reading consumer guides and browsing through store after store gawking at refrigerators, we basically relegated the task of selecting the new fridge to Jillian (our 11 year daughter). She picked the one with the best wiz bang feature she could find at our price range - The Samsung 29 cu. ft. French Door Refrigerator
It has an LCD display with calendar, nutritional information and more. It even plays slide shows, so all that magnet art we use to hang on our coolerator can now be uploaded via a USB stick to our ice box door.

The Old Refrigerator

We did not need a new refrigerator, the old white Whirlpool works just fine. It keeps cold food cold, frozen food frozen and the ice maker (the Achiles' heel of refrigerators)  has functioned flawlessly for the last ten years. Not only that, it also doubles as a message center and wall of magnet memorabilia.

And the top of the fridge is also a handy dandy storage shelf for salad spinners, cake cases and a box containing who knows what. Why we felt compelled to replace this multi function ice box I can't explain, but replace it we did.

The New Range

As I mentioned before the old range was a mess and we almost replaced it a couple of years ago out of sheer frustration, but decided to wait until we could afford to renovate the kitchen. While we were waiting our eyes kept being drawn to the GE Cafe Gas Range, I'm not sure why, it just looked good, like a sports car. Dual  "fuel injected and steppin' out over the line..."

Back splash

We picked the back splash prior to selecting the the granite counters. Karina wavy travertine subway tile, with a small glass tile insert.

Counters

So, the floors are in, the cabinets are in, the walls are painted and the ceiling repaired. What's missing? Counters.
We've selected granite counters, spent hours looking at slabs only to select a mundane Santa Cecilia.
Oh no, 2 days later the granite company sells all their Santa Cecilia, so we go with our second choice - Giallo Napole and we're glad we did.

Tawny Birch is the winner

Still not sure we like it, but Tawny Birch is on the walls.

Still no decision on wall color

The bar is built, the counters are up, painting the walls comes next, but still no decision on wall color. How many samples can we put on the wall? Cornsilk,Stable Hay, Tawny Birch, Toasted Pinenut, Beeswax....

And the Cabinets Go Up

The Cabinets arrive

Happy day, the cabinets arrive.

Dining Room Door Way Before and After

Before...

and after

We widened the passage from the dining room to the kitchen to open up the floor plan a little and also to allow for walking space as the kitchen becomes longer.

What color do we paint the walls?

When it comes to selecting colors my wife is an expert. She sees details in colors I never of think of, this leads to hours (and hours and hours) of indecision.

Ballroom dancing anyone?

And the new floors are stained and 1st coat of poly applied.

The Vinyl Foors are gone

Every night at dinner Izzy the cat brings us my mandolin strap for playtime.

You can't see the nails popping up in the vinyl flooring but they're there.
Here's the old transition from the dining room to the kitchen...

Izzy inspects the new floors...

The Breakfast Nook

Did I introduce you to the breakfast nook on the opposite side of those ugly oak cabinets? Well as you can see in the picture below the  breakfast nook was surrounded by floor length bay windows wrapped in annoying tiny wooded shutters.
This is where we eat most of our meals, watch Giada, Ina, Spice Up My Kitchen, and read the paper. It's also Izzy's favorite spot to surf the world wide intertubes.

We decided to appropriate the space used by the breakfast nook in order to make the kitchen larger.  We plan to have a  bar and stools in it's place. I hope this is not a big mistake, I can hear future buyers squawking "why did they do that."

My odd Den

Why my odd den? Because it's not on the ground floor or the second floor, it's not even in the non existent basement. It's in the attic! Behold the temp kitchen:

Ashley in tear down mess

She's smiling, I'm not sure why or how...

More demo pics

Most of the wallpaper is gone in the kitchen.

Doorway to dining room, drywall removed. Doorway will be widened.

Cabinets and counter are gone

what a mess

Tear This Kitchen Down

So I've explained why the old kitchen has to go, it's time to tear the kitchen down...

Blind Willie Johnson

Range Hood

By the way the "vent" that sits atop the old range pictured in the post below is a harbinger of problems ahead...

The Range

15 years old, white with 3.5 working burners. Boils pasta water in 45 minutes flat.
Say bye bye.

The kitchen floor

The floor? Vinyl, nails popping up, squeaks as you move from range to fridge. The main motivator to do something/anything to the kitchen.
Adjacent to the kitchen in the living room and dining room are narrow red oak hardwoods. The question - do you run the red oak into the kitchen, use a laminate, or tile? The answer is obvious and the most expensive and disruptive of the choices. Red oak in the kitchen, sand and refinish the living room and dining room.

Izzy, after a long day of sneaking into our new odd kitchen in progress, decides to take a cat nap.

The wallpaper must go

In the kitchen, in the dining room, where there is wall paper it must be removed.

Izzy the cat in the Dinning Room

Izzy (short for Isabella Tonks) the cat inspects fresh vegetables on the dining room table. Izzy the cat should not be on the dining room table, but being a cat she is not exactly obedient.

The veggies are from Atlanta's Moringside organic market. The heirloom tomatoes were great, but the tiny eggplants were amazing. We sliced them in half, brushed them with olive oil, grilled them (just a couple of minutes) and served them on a salad with the tomatoes, and crumbled goat cheese.

More Songs About Kitchens and Food

These cabinets above the old cook top peninsula served to obstruct vision, light and conversation. They had to go. Also note the lovely white exhaust fan that, like most fans of this type, isn't an exhaust fan at all, just an inept air filter.

Reverse view with white refrigerator. There's nothing wrong with this refrigerator, except that it's white - a cardinal sin in these days of stainless steel and honed granite. Good lord look at those pictures hanging from magnets! Some where in the hither lands Donna Freeman is rolling her eyes.
Yes, this refrigerator will be replaced with a soulless stainless steel french door Samsung. But don't fret the white fridge will soon have a new home in the garage where it will be used to chill chardonnay and freeze unlabeled mystery meats (honey, are these the spare ribs from 2 years ago?).  

One of the fun things about kitchen renovations

Eating out. Tonight our daughter went swimming with a friend, we went to Leon's Full Service in Decatur.
Yummy!

Hey, what's so odd about my old kichen

So what's so odd about my kitchen? Nothing really other than it's narrow, not narrow in the galley kitchen sense, but narrow - 11.5 feet with no where to expand. There's a load bearing wall with plumbing and electricity that divides the living room and the kitchen and to reconfigure the space would have been very expensive. Also, my lovely bride was not keen on the idea of a totally open floor plan.

Here's a picture...

So no, my odd kitchen isn't really odd, it just feels odd because everywhere we turn there's an obstacle (physical and/or financial) to expanding the kitchen.

Daughter Jillian's 10 reasons why you should never renovate your kitchen!

1. 
   
   it's stressful
2. 
   
   it's noisy
3. 
   
   it smells bad
4. 
   
   you can't go barefoot for fear of stepping on a nail
5. 
   
   you can't eat anything except for microwavable food and takeout 
6. 
   
   you have to keep the cat food and litter box in your bathroom
7. 
   
   the handymen forgot how to clean up
8. they always seem to mess up
9. they get there at the crack of dawn
10. they don't leave (no exaggerations) till one a.m.

Stratocaster Knobs

Although you can buy knobs that look like a Stratocaster, I find it hard to keep knobs on my Stratocaster.

White knobs on red oak

Question, I know it's small in the grand scheme of things but how did I live with those white knobs for so long?

More importantly, how can I live without stratocaster knobs now that I know they exist?

Welcome to My Odd Kitchen

Hello and welcome to My Odd Kitchen. This little blog will chronicle the transformation of my old odd kitchen as we throw gobs of money at it and transform it into my new odd kitchen. Kind of like HGTV's Spice Up Your Kitchen, without the designers, budget and  falderal.