Kitchen Story

I went back and reread some of my blog posts the other day and realized that I had not given my kitchen enough credit when I posted about my house.  I say this because of the sheer amount of man hours from both Eric and myself, that went into this kitchen.  I want to put it down in words before I can't remember anymore.  Here is the whole story.  At times I might brag a little about the world's most awesome husband but the guy has skill!!!

Go back more the a year and a half ago, October 2011.  We had signed the papers on our new house and had a relator walk through our old one.  It was clear we were going to loose money.  Our way to balance the two out was through sweat equity.  Building cabinets was Eric's crazy idea.  Our agent told us he had a couple of people start with that in their contract but gave up because the task is overwhelming, and it really, really was.  But we went ahead with it any way.  We stopped by every place in the valley that had anything to do with cabinets to get ideas.  He learned one detail that shocked his little wood working heart: "Real Wood Cabinets!" means that the door and face frame are solid wood everything else is a composite material with a tiny wood veneer.  Painted cabinets are completely composite material.  He threw both those options out the window almost immediately, which meant hours more of planning, joining, gluing, and sanding per cabinet.  When we say we have "Solid Wood cabinets," it means every side, top, back, bottom, and shelf is 100% wood. 

Next we went about designing the kitchen.  We kept mostly to the design in the model home because we liked the flow.  We then added tons of stuff inside like pull out pan drawers, spice racks, cookie sheet dividers, etc.  I also had a whole list of aesthetic stuff I wanted to add but time got the better of us. We moved in and things like dance studio and yard took over.  So this year when Eric asked me what I wanted for our anniversary (two days before, he is awesome but still a guy!) I said I wanted some of those design elements that we always planned on doing.  Since we had the wood sitting there waiting, he got to work.  I think I can honestly say I love my kitchen more then most people, not just because of how it looks but because I can see all the love and hard work that was put into it!

Things we got in the beginning:
We have 10 of these columns. They are some of my favorite things in the kitchen.  Theses cost the most of anything, not in money but in flesh.  Remember the finger incident?  These were the culprit.

Eric always hesitates to ask my opinion.  When he asked if he could but a little cut out wood on the bottom of the cabinets, I told him make little baseboard instead! Hehe  Not the greatest picture. 

I wanted doors that were a little different so Eric let me pick out my route (the deep grove on the inside panel) and we made cathedral doors.  We also put on extra tall crown around the whole thing!

What I got for my Anniversary:
After he asked me what I wanted I grabbed a sticky note and sketched an over the sink cabinet.  He took a deep sigh and set to work.  Every once in awhile he would ask me to clarify my sketch.  Three weeks later:

 He decide that while he was at it he would add corbels and paneling to the outside of the island.

 

Its not the most spectacular kitchen in the world but its ours.  Designed, built and loved by us.  And we couldn't be happier!