Well maybe not snakes per se, just cables that used to service the island. Actually, it reminds me of Medusa's curls* but I digress. Five electric cables plus that huge black insulated one for the halogen cooktop. If you're counting that represents one for the built-in toaster, one for the electric can opener, one for the outlet and one for the range hood... and a spare.
With the island out of the way you can really appreciate the size of the kitchen - we've lived in apartments with less square footage.
*Medusa may be female but I got a preview of the stony glance that The Guy will be using on the carpenter next time he sees him. It's also the face of a man who gets back from a business trip with a case of Montezuma's revenge and finds he has to rip out a kitchen in 24 hours because said carpenter phoned in sick. If looks could kill...
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Great snakes alive!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Drastic but effective*
The Guy is in Mexico, the carpenter let me down three straight days in a row, the floor guy starts Monday and the kitchen needed to be out before he can rip up the carpet/vinyl/plywood. Someone had to do it and it might as well be the woman with the sledgehammer and a raging temper.
*For full-on rage I recommend cranking the volume to 50 and playing Eamon, Green Day, The Fratellis and Macy Grey until the windows shake. And no, I'm not quite over it yet!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Kitchen Inspiration
The inspiration for the kitchen is simply the original kitchen here. If it weren't for the chewed up cabinet interiors I would have just replaced the couple of pieces of cracked laminate, installed new Corian/Caeserstone/Cambria/Silestone counters and replaced the floor with something more eco-friendly than stick down vinyl tiles. As it is the shelves are warped and the hinges have been re-screwed to the cabinet sides so many times it looks like a moonscape inside the high cabinets. So it's time to let go and start afresh.
We were also struck during our tour of the Racquet Estates in Palm Springs by the pairing of inexpensive laminate cabinets (mostly ikea, which I love) and high-end appliances and countertops. The laminate in our kitchen has stood up well to 40+ years of kids, dogs and cooking and today's finishes are even better so this is the way we'll go. I'm also very taken by this kitchen I found while trolling the interwebs - from TurningHouseIntoHome - that has similar window configuration to ours.
After the four month long master bathroom renovation, I want the kitchen to go much more smoothly. This is feasible because there will be no wall tiles or wall board to remove - it's simply a matter of unscrewing the countertops and cabinets, stripping a layer of marine board off the floor, re-flooring, installing the new cabinets and counters and wheeling in the wall ovens, cooktop and island hood. Wheeee! It'll be that easy! I've set a schedule that will be take no more than two months beginning as soon as the replacement window goes in - you know, the one that has the mock travertine formica interior sill that's higher than the outside window frame...
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Laundry Reveal
Shussssh! Don't tell the master bathroom but I'm cheating on it with this room. I find myself in here more often than is necessary - and for reasons that have nothing to do with laundry...
If I find my hands are a little dirty I'll run here to wash them - even if I'm at the other end of the house and have to pass a bathroom (or two) on my way. There's something about this Grohe K4 faucet that keeps me going back and stroking it every single time I go in the room. Lest you think I'm a crazy sicko, Nancy at the marble fabricator's office also has a fetish for it. It reminds her of a baby's bottom...
Speaking of marble, this is the same marble we used in the master bath and I just want to LICK it, it's so gorgeous. This piece over the Bosch undercounter washer and dryer will be finished when the fabricator cuts me new backsplashes - the installer used the long piece to make a 2" backsplash for the vanity upstairs - oops!
As for the Ikea Applad cabinets, they hide everything neatly away - including the vacuum and the ironing board - behind the softclose drawers and doors. At the moment most of the cabinets are empty but the plan is to use this as a mini-kitchen while we are undergoing the kitchen remodel. Oh, yes, I did just casually throw that out there; no stopping us now - we're on a roll!
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Sneak Peek: Straight On
Because Why S asked for it, the straight on shot of the Atlas Centinel pulls. You can see the Porcelanosa Eidos Grafito porcelain mosaic tiles reflected in the shiny, sleek chrome. The cabinets are Kraftmaid vanity units in cherry with a peppercorn finish. As Nadine remarked they are masculine enough to appeal to The Guy and shiny enough for the girly-girl in me... or is it the other way round?
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Sneak Peek: Cabinet Hardware*
Atlas Centinel 3" pulls on the bathroom vanity. I had no idea the carpenter had put thses on Friday afternoon because when I went upstairs to check on him he was helping The Guy put the big-ass but slimline TV on its stand. The Guy is in love with his TV while I want to LICK these handles they are so damn good-looking. Looks like we both got what we wanted...
* Yes, I know these weren't on the list when I asked for your opinion interwebs, but when I wanted to look at those in real life one was too shiny, one was too dark and one was unavailable. This pull fitted in the budget and in my hand and looks even better on these vanities than on the board in the store.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Laundry Update: Cabinets
I wrote this post before I went walkabout:
Some weeks ago I promised an update to the failed initial laundry room plan. I drew and redrew the plan and eventually came up with something I could live with: 2 x 24" cabinets over the washer/dyer, a high cabinet next to the dyer and oak countertops. On the adjacent wall there will be one 18" and one 24" cabinet next to the laundry chute. Underneath the laundry chute a 15" cabinet, next to it a 24" sink base and then an 18" pull-out drawer unit. That will mean we only need a 2" filler, so no wasted space, and I ordered 39" tall wall cabinets so I'll have lots of room to store cat food.
The floor will have the same porcelain tiles we are using in the powder room. They are really low-maintenance, as easy to clean as the white Applad cabinets we've chosen. It should be a breeze to get this room finished.
Unfortunately, when we went to Ikea to buy the cabinets the high cabinet was out of stock so we ended up just getting the wall cabinets, which we have had neatly stacked in the garage for a month now. The plan was to make one cabinet per evening in the hopes we could have hung them by the following weekend but plans tend to get postponed in this house. Sometimes indefinitely.
Then I came back from Boston and to my great surprise I found:
Boxes assembled
and boxes on the wall. With doors. And handles. I'm totally impressed, maybe I should go away more often.
It's looking very shiny and clean, and much bigger than before. I can't wait to get the rest of the laundry room finished.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The Kitchen as Art
I a big fan of Leicht kitchens. I've had their catalogues for years. When we lived in Europe I lusted after one and I'd order one today if it were raining money. They're sleek, warm and generally not as expensive as other German and Italian kitchen manufactures.
But this Largo-FG Highline? What travesty of form over function is this?
Beautiful cabinetry, don't get me wrong, and I love the idea of a floating appliance wall but you see that box thing on the floor? Now imagine the scene: modernemama is carrying a large tray of dirty plates back to the kitchen after a fabulous meal. The guests are at the dining table waiting for their espressos and digestifs, when a crash resounds through the house. Guests rush into the kitchen to find modernemama out cold, surrounded by shards of broken glass and china (some of which have caused massive bleeding, possibly severed an artery) and the remains of the Pork Stroganoff with Three Mustards dripping from the walls and ceiling. All because she fell over that stupid piece of walnut "furniture art" in the foreground of the photo.
Beautiful? Yes. Practical? Not so much.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
I'm Classical Trendy
I've fallen in love with a new kitchen and in the process defined my style. The modular Fiamma kitchen by GED Cucine has gorgeous, tactile walnut cabinetry designed to blur the boundaries of living and cooking areas, or as they put it
"System Kitchen, Fiamma leaves the limit of the kitchen to continue in the living-room, recovering a material of memory: the walnut in sepia-grey tone."
That's what I want - walnut "the material of memory". I can't imagine how much it would cost, but the copy on the website does say that it's a "valuable soft-finish wood" that they combine with "shining steel" and "natural cut stones", so I'm thinking somewhere between very expensive and prohibitive. The kitchen seems to be sold only in Italy so I'm unlikely to find out. But "Classical Trendy" is the tag-line and it seems to fit me and the things I like so I'm going to adopt it.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Vanities
We made the decision that the bathroom vanity is toast so I took a break from tile destruction today to check out a few vanities in the local showrooms. I know I swore I would never set foot in Expo again but I was desperate and willing to explore any option.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was that the new Kraftmaid Venecia kitchen displays were finally open. Last time I was there they were waiting for the granite countertops to be installed and I asked the "Can I help you guy" what the cabinet price per linear foot would be. I was told they were very expensive (the doors come from Italy, you know) so they would run $1800. Well guess what? That was another price pulled from the ether by someone who didn't know what he was talking about and couldn't be bothered to find out. The prices on the vignettes ranged from $440-$998. Pricey but half what I had been told. This lack of attention to detail (aka customer service) didn't surprise me but it didn't put me in a positive mood for vanity shopping either.
Of all the vanities on display, and there are lots to choose from, only one would work in the space. This simple square box from Kohler's Purist range is a whopping $1450 for a 24"x22"x16" box.
.
So, practically speaking, to hold toiletries and towels you would need two, plus a countertop and then the sink and faucet. At least $4000. Crazy money.
I didn't find anything I liked anywhere today but at least when I got back home, I found that the garbage fairy had been, swept the bathroom floor and taken all the boxes of debris to the garage.
It's a slow process.