Kitchen Remodel weeks 3 and 4 and hopefully this is the 2nd to last post!

So as with any home improvement project, there have been delays and days with absolutely nothing happening around here which is why this post is 2 weeks in the making versus my usual weekly update. Week 3 showed little to no progress other than the range going in which was a wonderful thing in and of itself! That Wolf dual fuel range is absolutely the BOMB! I think food might actually cook itself on this thing!

this range is my dream range! Oven and a half with 4 gas burners and a French cooktop!

The french cooktop is in the center and is another form of burner. In the center

it has a very high heat and you can boil anything or use a big stockpot there.

As the circles in the middle go outward from the center you can place pans there to simmer.

So it's essentially like having another 4-5 burner on the range!

Fabulous new custom order counter and bar stools arrived! Love these chairs from Arhaus!

Solid handmade cherry and match the rest of our cabinets and flooring beautifully!

New light fixture installed in the dining room

legs stained and the rest of the island installed for the countertops 

You can see where the sun has bleached the cherry flooring and where our carpet used to be

BIG line from dark wood to lighter color wood which is how it looked when we installed it

One of the bigger pains for these guys in this entire project was trying to find the same

Brazilian cherry flooring that we had installed 8 years ago. Not an easy task.

They finally found some in Canada and patched in the flooring

in front of and under the range. The thing I like most about the cherry is that no two pieces are alike

and there is a lot of color variation in the floor which is pretty cool.

Final installation of the fabulous Kitchenaid microwave/convection oven

there will be a drawer for vitamins and other things like that at the end of the island here

One of the more tedious tasks was to remove the grout from the existing tile backsplash. We decided to continue the tumbled marble tile all the way flush with the countertop rather than having a granite backsplash. Easier said than done...

This was the day I've been dreading... kitchen sink comes out along with the countertops!

No sink or dishwasher for at least a day, possibly two. Waaaaah!!!

(Friday update: make that two...ugh!)

we are getting closer!!

I absolutely can't wait to see these countertops when they go in!!

Hole in wall by the garage door is all patched and waiting for it's beautiful custom built-in

locker and bench area!

It's supposed to be 84 degrees today... here's hoping that ever elusive bay window FINALLY gets installed! (I'm not placing any bets on that one...)

(Friday update: no window in sight dangit...)

GRANITE DAY!!!!!

SO happy with our choice!

The final "Behemoth" as the guys called it. Weighs over 800 pounds. Better them than me!

It went right here! Took them a bit to hoist that thing up there but it's not going anywhere now!

HUGE island! About 18 1/2 feet in total!

I guess I'm finally getting that counter space I've always wanted!

Looks beautiful!

look at the wall by the garage door! The decorative painter came 

and matched our faux painting perfectly!

Huge island and huge bar area seen behind it in the dining room. 

I guess we have the ultimate party house now!

next week the cherry built-in bench and locker area gets installed

FRIDAY:

tile is installed and a perfect match which was challenging as the original tile

was also as difficult to find as the hardwood floor! But my fabulous kitchen designer

from McDaniels found it!

And I have a working faucet and water! More importantly the dishwasher

is hooked up again and choked on 2 days worth of dishes in this house!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FROM LONDON, ENGLAND!!

Yippee!! My beautiful Simplex Copper kettle arrived

just in time to be installed on my range top as I unpacked the kitchen!

If it's good enough for the Queen it's good enough for me! :-)

I should have taken a pic when Jen and Drew had the horn section over for pizza night

after their rehearsal for the Pops concert next week. But the island was broken in properly with a bunch of teenagers on Friday night!

Great seating for everyone except for one small problem...

the valance under the counter is WAY too long and you can barely squeeze your legs

underneath when sitting down. Working out the solution next week...

the remains of pizza night! I should have taken pics of the fabulous pizzas I turned out

but believe me when I tell you they were fantastic!

Next week is the FINAL week!

Let's hope we see installation of a Bay window, installation of a bench and locker area,

final touch ups and solution of the counter valance and the installation of 

my second choice pendant lights. The ones I ordered over 2 months ago

seemed never to have been made so I had to settle for a different pendant.

Hopefully we like it as well.

Kitchen grand opening party in 3 weeks! We will give it a proper break in then!

Kitchen Remodel week 2!

Well I have to say so far this entire process is far and away exceeding my expectations! Good grief I hope I didn't just jinx us! Mike Carducci and his company Homewreckers construction is the contractor we hired through recommendation from McDaniel's kitchen and bath designs, probably the best kitchen design in the Lansing area. They have done more in a week and a half than I can even imagine and the quality of their work is top notch! Jordan Chemanski is our trim carpenter that works for Mike and man oh man does he do amazing work! If you need a great trim carpenter he's your guy!

Jenna Way, our kitchen designer from McDaniel's drew up the entire plan and did a fabulous job! We are going to LOVE our new kitchen! Fortunately the process has been relatively painless for us living in construction since we have a full bar area off our dining room with a full sized refrigerator and bar countertop. We moved our little counter top Breville convection/toaster oven to the bar and microwave as well which pretty much gives us everything we need. We just can't do anything on a range but thank goodness it's starting to warm up enough to grill so we've been doing just fine.

Week two has the hole cut in the ceiling and the GINORMOUS fan and duct being installed for the hood. Good grief it's so powerful I think I could blow dry my hair in the morning while making the kids breakfast!

Mike put up a plastic perimeter wall for us blocking off the kitchen from the rest of the house 

to protect us from all the drywall dust and debris from the hood installation

getting the duct in place

week two also involved a bit more extensive electrical work putting the new convection oven/microwave in

We got a sweet deal from our friends who work at Whirlpool on a fantastic KitchenAid oven!

OK - I sure wasn't expecting THIS outside!

Getting the ductwork in for the hood and blower. Giant blower fan will be installed

in the outside wall

Bamboo from Teragren cut to size for our butcher block in the counter. We will use the rest

of the bamboo slab for bench tops for our custom bench/locker area that Mike will build for us at the garage entry

Putting in the frame for the mammoth hood

Wolf hood - it's a MONSTER!

There might have been a few profanities while the guys brought the

1000 pound Sub Zero in to install! Happily I was at a meeting in Detroit and missed all of the action!

Just...shove... it in!!!! Haha!

ANA granite from Flint was here to do the template for the counters. Crazy what they

do with an iPad, laser pointer and a tripod!

Sub is in... well almost

My beautiful new KitchenAid micro/convection oven. Butcher block will sit above it right next to the range. The door opens down like an oven and looks like a small oven rather than a microwave. I've gone from a one oven kitchen to three now!

Thanksgiving at the Hokes!

There it is - that GIANT blower fan all installed like it's been there all along!

Thinking maybe we should install one in Drew's bathroom... haha!

So this is the island before it was demoed but you can see in the back by the garage door there is a little partial wall. That came out and that is where we will put in the bench and locker storage area

so that I don't have to see 9 pairs of shoes by the door in a house that 4 people live in!

(insert eye twitch here...)

Wall is out 

It definitely opens the room up so much more

beautiful trim work above the Sub Zero

and above the hood. Looks fabulous!

Supposedly the range will be moving from the garage into it's new home today but I'm not feeling overly confident on that one so we will wait until next week's edition to post the pic of that!

Granite install in 2 weeks followed by tile backsplash. Next week the bay window goes in the kitchen where the large picture window currently is. Bench and locker area sometime between now and then!

Looking like mid May for completion and move back in!

Can't wait!