Last Renovation Blog Entry

A month has gone by since my last blog entry.  In that time, I have acquired my glass bar top, and I have lost my microwave for repair.  I decided to take the display model from the store instead of waiting a month for a new one, and evidently something happened to it somewhere along the way.  Miele has not been very speedy with parts and repair.  It is supposed to be back and working on Monday.

The bar top is the finishing touch of the kitchen.  It is the perfect place to have a snack or read emails.  I love the look of it with the rest of the kitchen.  The glass is lightly frosted on the back side.  The pendant lights look very pretty and bright over the glass.
                                                                                                      

In the past month I have also made some gallery wrap pictures for the walls.  The three small pictures over the bar are photos I took in Italy and Paris.  The top one is a pizza we had in Tuscany a few years ago on our family vacation.  The middle picture is a lemon tree in Vernazza,  Italy.  The bottom picture is a raspberry tart from our trip to Paris last year.   

On the wall on the other side of the bar is a picture of Vernazza, Italy also taken on our trip.

 In the bathroom, since it is red and has a copper light fixture, it reminded me of Tuscany, so I made a gallery wrap with a photo taken at our hotel there.

When I began cleaning our old chandelier in the foyer, I realized that some of the light bulbs would not screw back in.  The electrician suggested we buy a new fixture for the foyer, and I was very happy because I no longer cared much for the old chandelier and it didn't go with the new style of the downstairs. I picked out a bronze chandelier that is very large and fills the foyer in size and light.  I also bought a large mirror for over the black chest in the foyer.

So I have been living and cooking in the new kitchen for over a month now and the choices we made for the new kitchen are being put to the test.  I can already say that all of the hundreds of hours of time spent planning and designing a kitchen that would be efficient for our family's needs and habits has paid off.  It has made such a big difference in how I feel about cooking and cleaning up afterward.  In the design phase I tried to eliminate everything I hated about the old kitchen - even little things that would grate on me such as lifting a stack of dinner plates to the upper cabinet.  Storage was very important to me too.  Choosing appliances that would make cooking easier was also at the top of my list.  But one of the most important aspects was to make the space inviting as well as functional.  I wanted it to be a place that our family would want to spend a lot of time in, both now and in the future when our grandchildren come to visit us.

I LOVE how the kitchen feels.  It is bright and cheery, both during the day when I can look out to my gardens in the back yard and the kitchen is filled with natural light, and at night when the LED lights are very bright and functional.  The abundance of color makes me happy too.  The lack of clutter is calming. 


Everything has a place to call home and is easily accessible.  Keeping the dishes and glassware in drawers next to the dishwasher makes the job of unloading so much easier.  Keeping all beverages in the small beverage refrigerator is soooo much better.  You just open the drawer and lift whatever you want out.  There is no struggle to fit things on the door, or worse yet, trying to get drink bottles out from behind food on the refrigerator shelves.  The sliding shoji screens are amazing.  They glide effortlessly and give me so much storage that I still haven't come close to filling its shelves.  And I don't have to run down to the basement to retrieve larger appliances that I don't use as often.  Everything is at my fingertips.


The appliances are mostly made by Miele.  With the exception of our problems with the microwave and the ice-maker, I am greatly impressed.  The one appliance that makes cooking so much easier and is sooo useful is the steam oven.  I had read a lot about steam ovens as I was planning the kitchen and almost didn't get one because of the cost.  But last year's display model was on sale for a better price and I decided to get that one. I have used it almost every day because it is so easy to use, clean, and cooks food to perfection. I have used it to steam vegetables, defrost meats, cook chicken, par-boil spare ribs before grilling, and reheat leftover foods such as rice and veggies. The pans are a breeze to clean because food does not get baked on.   It truly is one of the most useful surprises!  The induction cooktop is very easy to clean and heats pans extremely fast.  Being able to adjust the heat instantly is so handy.  But honestly, I don't use it as much as I used the cook-top in the old kitchen because I use the steam oven so much.  The built-in Miele refrigerator is also a favorite.  The air inside the refrigerator is filtered and cleaned so that the gasses that are emitted from fruits and vegetables are taken away.  Everything lasts so much longer before going bad because of this.  The double ovens are also amazing. No more smoke when broiling - you broil with the door shut and any smoke is magically taken away.  The internal roast probe is also convenient.  I haven't tried the rotisserie spit yet.


The whole process has been fun for me.  Everyone at Nutmeg Stairs and Cabinets has been pleasant to work with.  I would not hesitate to send anyone to them.  Jonathan Brown, the designer at Nutmeg, was fun to work with.  He was very good at suggesting things that would look good and be functional.  I never felt like he was too pushy, and he never made me feel like my ideas were stupid.  Being home every day, I actually enjoyed the cameraderie with the workers, and they were pleasant to be around. 

The time we spent living without a kitchen was so worthwhile!  I have been happy to be able to share the progress with my friends and family over the past few months.  I have decided to continue blogging about other events in my life, so if you are interested, stay tuned!

Here are some final images.                                                     
                             My Grandmother's step-stool.

 My happy cutting board!

And Momo, who loves to shed fur on my new rug - but she looks so pretty under the table!

 

 

Renovation - July 17

AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT! The lighting fixtures finally came and Tim from Constant Power hung them last week. He also put my bathroom mirror up for me. The fixture over the table is from Hubbardton Forge and made from wrought iron. I LOVE it!



















The mini pendant light which will hang over the breakfast bar are from Tech Lighting. They are on a dimmer switch because they are really bright.














The light fixture over the mirror in the bathroom is also from Hubbardton Forge. The back is a copper patina look, with half moon white glass bowls with a strip of black wrought iron holding them in. It looks very pretty and kind of takes the edge off the contemporary look a bit, as does the distressed mirror.






















The rooster is a new addition to the kitchen. It's home is on top of the oven cabinet.














Adam bought this picture for me for my birthday in Burlington. It is a somewhat abstract watercolor of Church Street. It looks very pretty on the wall next to the entrance to the bathroom!



















In the coat closet area on the upper shelf I added some red baskets.













And now the foyer is getting a new look too. We were not using one of the cabinets that used to be in the family room. It was newly refinished in black. When I was putting the rooms back together, I asked Adam and Kerry to carry it in from the garage for me so I could try it in the foyer. I liked it. Then Jonathan from Nutmeg Cabinets came over and said he has the perfect lamp for the top of the cabinet. He was right. It has a nice shape and gives a more modern look to the foyer. Still to come is a new chandelier in the foyer and upstairs hallway (one thing leads to another when you are remodeling!)

Still waiting on the glass bar top - hopefully this week sometime! Then we will be officially done!

Renovation - July 7

Almost done! The dining room table, chairs, and bench arrived today from Now Furnishings. The chairs are covered in red and gold leather. The bench will be used for extra seating when we have a larger gathering.


We got the bar stools yesterday. They are made my Calligaris. The seats are a cushiony polyurethane foam and they have a lever on the side that lifts them up or down. The seat is a charcoal color.

















And Nutmeg delivered our newly repainted oak pieces that we had in the family room. They were honey colored oak prior to the paint job. They look much better now. And they match the kitchen cabinets.
















I got the pillows on the couch from Company C. This is where I bought the area rug for the dining room. They have very pretty things! The storage ottoman has a top that flips over into a table. They are from Crate and Barrel.













I LOVE my new clock. After literally hours online searching for a clock that would make a statement, I found it. It is easy to see from the dining room, kitchen, and family room.



So the whole downstairs is coming together. I have been putting things away, trying to find a good home for everything that is efficient. The dishes are very easy to reach in a drawer next to the dishwasher. Since there are no upper cabinets, the glasses and mugs are also in a drawer right next to the beverage refrigerator. And all of the utensils and knives fit in the top drawer next to the dishwasher for easy unloading. I have a few things on the counter, but I want to keep it clean for the most part.

Renovation - June 29

We are getting closer to the end. Yesterday and today brought us a lot closer to the finish line. Our new refrigerator was put in place and a green panel replaced the cabinet that was in the original design. I am kind of glad the other refrigerator didn't work out because this one looks so much better.

In addition to the main refrigerator, we have two refrigerator drawers that we will use for beverages next to the bar (which isn't installed yet).




















The hood was installed yesterday. It is made by Faber. I liked it because it isn't big and bulky like some hoods are. It has 4 bright halogen lights and 3 fan speeds. It vents to the outside.





The faucet was put on the kitchen sink at the end of last week.


The steam oven is in, but they are having some issues with the trim kit that are yet to be resolved. Here is what it looks like inside. There is a container (on the right) for water and many steamer bins to hold the food.

I can't remember if I talked about the induction cooktop by Miele. It heats up the pans using magnetic energy, so we must use pans that are magnetic. But otherwise, it is very similar to electric but has the favorable qualities of a gas stove. There is no warm-up time for the burners. You can adjust them instantly to a new temperature, like gas, and when you turn off the burner, it is instantly off. In fact, you can put your hand on the burner after it has been on high and you only feel the residual heat left over from the pan. Only the pan heats up, not the cooktop. This is nice because food cannot burn onto the burners. Here is a link to watch a demonstration:

http://www.hgtv.com/videos/induction-cooking/9488.html

Also installed today were the Shoji screens in the dining room to hide my entire wall of storage. They can glide back and forth and nest behind one another. I think we will have a small tv inside so we can watch the news in the morning when sitting at the table, or when doing craft projects and things.





Annie finished painting the musical staff that my dad made and we hung it on the wall in the entry way. We also hung the picture that we bought in Middlebury in April on the wall in the dining room.


There is a roll-top hiding a cubby with outlets and a phone jack that we will use to keep cell phones and things that are charging out of sight. I really want a clean, uncluttered kitchen.



And a cabinet with vertical storage:



Here is my trash and recycling bins (I used to recycle in a paper bag under my sink)




And a personal favorite - the baking center. I am short so I find it hard to roll out pies and cookie dough on the counter. I used to use my kitchen table, but our new table will be wooden (instead formica) so I needed a lower counter area. But I didn't have room for a really large island. We designed a pull-out baking counter that extends the low counter-top for baking and pushes in when not in use. The cabinet below the counter is on wheels. I love it! It actually extends much farther than the picture shows, but it is not finished yet and we cannot extend it all the way, but you get the idea.



That's all for now! Annie and I are headed to the William Sonoma Outlet in Wrentham, MA later in the week to look for odds and ends.