Big changes this week and though there’s a long way to go, it’s nice to see things taking shape.

The work that was done this week:

++ The dumpster was picked up at the very end so half the driveway is back in business

++ The unpleasant surprise (sewage pipe) discovered last week was resolved. The plumbing is rerouted to be in the adjacent wall and that opened up the area since the remnants of the partition wall are gone now.

++ Most but not all of the electrical wiring was done. In many areas the walls are opened so the inspector can approve the new wiring before it’s covered up. The recessed lights were installed.

++ New plumbing was added (rerouted) for the kitchen sink, which will be on a peninsula now, and the laundry sink. Like the electrical, it’s open and visible for inspection.

++ The kitchen cabinets were installed except the damaged one. The contractor took the doors off of it since they’re fine and the cabinet company is sending a new cabinet. The laundry cabinets are still in the garage. The contractor wants to get the kitchen finished so we can use it and then focus on the laundry room.

++ The laundry sink arrived though it won’t be used for a while.

I didn’t realize that dishwashers don’t have a cabinet. I thought that since refrigerators did that dishwashers would too. The contractor gave me a funny look when I asked!

The challenge of the week was accommodating the oven stack I want with the oven cabinet. The cabinet is made to be somewhat modified to accommodate different oven configurations but after measuring and researching ovens brands & types, I couldn’t get it to accommodate the configuration that I want. The distance from the bottom of the top cabinet to the top of the lower drawer was about 50” and I needed at least 53” for a microwave-oven-warming drawer configuration of any brand. DH suggested that I give up the warming drawer. Gasp! I should mention that our former kitchen had a self-contained stove/oven so just having them built-in is an upgrade for us. But I did have my heart set on something like this:

When we entertain, that’s when a warming drawer would be nice.

After talking with the contractor, we came up with an acceptable solution. He is going to modify the cabinet to move the bottom of the top cabinet up 6”. That’ll be enough to fit in the three appliances. That means that I’ll need cabinet doors that are 18” tall instead of the 24” ones that are there now. It would be nice if the cabinet company would swap them but they may not do that so I may have to purchase 2 doors. Ugh.

I think it’ll look nicer with 18” doors since that will line up with the 18” tall cabinet above the refrigerator.