Today’s the day! It’s kitchen cabinet delivery day! Yep, almost a year after moving into the house, this day has finally arrived. Even though they aren’t going to be installed until the first week of December, we’re still super excited about seeing the end in sight. Oh happy day!

Yep, now that song is going to be in your head all day… you’re welcome.

Today, most kitchens are filled with cranberry sauce, stuffing, pies and a big turkey. Ours, well… it’s empty. But that’s okay with us because we’re already looking forward to and making plans for next Thanksgiving. Last night, we prepped the space by laying down plastic to protect the floors…

We moved all of the kitchen boxes and temporary counters tables to the dining room…

It looks like a mess, but it’s an exciting mess!

UPDATE The KraftMaid delivery guys just left…

… and our kitchen is now FULL of boxes and boxes – all the way up to the ceiling:

We asked that they place them a few feet from the walls because my dad (who is a licensed electrician) is going to be moving a few of the outlets for us over the next few days.

We’re leaving the boxes untouched until the installers arrive in a few weeks but you can catch a glimpse of one of the corner base cabinets:

Needless to say, we’re beyond excited to get the ball rolling in the kitchen. The next t0-do’s on the “ASAP List” is to pick out the final selections for the sink, faucets, countertops, backsplash, and light fixture for over the sink – and in that order. Phew. 

Okay, so we may not have come up with 639 concepts for the kitchen layout, but it sure does feel like it. Before we placed the order for the kitchen cabinets a few weeks ago, Greg and I sat down and went through every single detail with a fine-tooth comb. We wanted to make sure we were thinking through every aspect of our everyday. We even turned to my mom and Grandma for advice. They’re a lot more “kitchen savvy” than I am. After a few hours days of kitchen-planning, we finally came up with the final final final kitchen design.

If you’re just tuning in to the whole kitchen-planning process, a while back we came up with the original concept using the Ikea kitchen planning software (see that design here). After way too much thought, we decided to check out Lowe’s. When we met with the Lowe’s Kitchen Designer (a cool guy named Gaylord), we took him our original Ikea design. Once he got an idea of our wants/needs, he was able to polish our original design into something perfect for us (see that design here). Since then, we’ve gone back and forth with a bunch of details and last week, we finally settled on The One. We took those decisions back to Gaylord and he plugged them into the design and then placed the final order. Finally!

Without further ado, here’s the final layout – or as we’ve affectionately been calling it, “Concept #639″…

1. This cabinet previously consisted of drawers, but after a quick consultation from mom and grandma, we deciding we would have more need for base cabinets. So we switched it out. We also upgraded all of the base cabinets for the dual pull-out shelves. This will help us utilize every single square inch of storage. I know I’ve said it before, but I cannot wait to FINALLY unpack the kitchen stuff!! I’m going to feel like a kid on Christmas morning!

2. Another small yet noteworthy switcharoo is the chimney range hood. In the previous design, we had a cabinet-ish enclosure. We like the look of a chimney range hood much more – it’s something I’ve wanted in our kitchen since day one but now it’s finally final on paper. Holla!

3. Okay, so this is probably the one aspect of the final design that took us the longest to come to a decision. We wanted the tile to go from the backsplash, around the window to the ceiling. However, because of the cabinet sizes, the cabinets could only butt up right against the window frame. Knowing we weren’t striving for a cookie-cutter kitchen, we were open to doing something a little out-of-the-box. So we decided to shorten the cabinets on the right, so there would be 3″ from the cabinet to the window frame. The only thing was, because of the available cabinet sizes, that would leave 9″ on the left side of the window. Not good. So, why not install some floating shelves? Who doesn’t love open shelving? Then I found this photo here on Pinterest…

That’s exactly what we were thinking about doing! Each shelf will be 6″ wide – perfect to display small bowls, my favorite white ceramic cow creamer, and such. Kraft Maid actually doesn’t offer floating shelves this small, so we’re going to have to DIY it (or find a cabinet-maker-friend to help us out). We ordered a quart of the cabinet paint so we can paint the shelves to match the cabinets perfectly.

4. Some of you might remember in the last design, there were some top-hinge cabinets here. After thinking it over, we decided with the style we were going for (classic, Martha Stewart meets Sarah Richardson), it would be best to go with the classic side-hinge cabinets instead.

5. Aside from the floating shelves mentioned above, this is my favorite addition to the kitchen design. I’ve always wanted a place to store cookbooks out in the open. With our small cozy kitchen, I knew it would be difficult to find a place. Until I came across yet another Pinterest inspiration (found here)…

Perfect solution! Yes, it’s going to take up a smidgen of what would be cabinet storage, but I’m totally willing to part with a little bit in order to have a home for cookbooks and whatnot. The shelves are 15″ deep – deep enough to house other things like recipe boxes, bowls, tea boxes, and even the stand mixer if I wanted to. Again, cannot wait to unpack!

Gaylord also gave us a overhead view of the kitchen…

We’re so pleased with the overall layout. And check out the 85″ peninsula! I was shocked we had so much room for such a long work surface. And there’s still room to spare for the pantry door directly across from it – 41″ to be exact.

Lowe’s is coming on Wednesday to deliver the cabinets, but they won’t be installed until the first week of December. The suspense is killing us! After almost an entire year of skillet-cooking, using the grill outside and Outback takeout, we’re more than ready for a full-functioning kitchen. Just a little bit longer!

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Today is a very happy day at our house! It’s official… the kitchen cabinets have been ordered! Yes, Greg… I’m going to say it… Holla!

As you know, we’ve gone back and forth… and back and forth… between Ikea, Lowe’s/Kraft Maid, and custom cabinets. But last week, we finally bit the bullet, made some decisions, and placed an order. Before we get to the “who”, we’re going to talk about the “why”. Through the entire process, we’ve considered pretty much all of the ins and outs of each option. Seriously, give us a pop quiz. We’ll ace it. It was decision making time, though, so we did what we always do: We made a pros and cons list!

Our pros and cons won’t be the same as everyone else’s, so this is just what we came up with when we considered our specific needs and wants for this project.

IKEA. First up is Ikea. This was our first stop in the kitchen “reinstall” project. When I first came across photos of their 2010 kitchen catalog, I immediately became smitten with the idea of Ikea cabinets (read that post here). Ten months later (10 months!), our pros and cons go something like this…

PROS:

• Super-affordable. Literally a fraction of the price of the other options on our list!
• Customizable storage. Every single customizable option under the sun.
• Kitchen Planner Software. Fun, easy to use software that helped us “see” our kitchen design and even compiled a list of the parts and pieces we needed when it’s time to go to the store with a rental truck.
• Reader’s Comments. When we first talked about possibly going with Ikea cabinets, many of you guys talked about how you loved your Ikea kitchen. We even featured an Ikea kitchen Reader Reno. Check that out here.
• Warranty. Ikea’s cabinets are backed with a 25 year limited warranty. Always a good thing when making a big purchase.

CONS:

• Lots of work. We’d have to put each and every piece together ourselves (or pay a company $100 per cabinet to do it). We welcome the challenge, yeah, but we’ve heard it’s sometimes not so easy peasy.
• Missing “puzzle pieces”. As far as the cabinets themselves, they aren’t as customizable for our kitchen as we originally thought.

KRAFT MAID / LOWES. The second stop on our journey to kitchen cabinet land was our local Lowe’s. When we met with the kitchen designer for the first time (which is a pro on the list!), we easily decided on KraftMaid cabinets. Before I start gushing, let’s get to the pros and cons…

PROS:

• Professional kitchen designer. Gaylord, our oh-so-awesome Lowe’s kitchen designer, did a fantastic job of implementing the plan we originally sketched up using the Ikea Kitchen Planner software. Using KraftMaid cabinets, he was able to help us make a completely functional kitchen that not only worked for our everyday needs, but one that would be great for entertaining – which is something we’ve really missed while not having a kitchen.
• More options than you can shake a stick at. KraftMaid has beyond enough styles, finishes, hardware, and “add on” options to choose from, which would give the kitchen a very custom feel.
• A better fit. Overall, the design using KraftMaid cabinets had a tighter, more integrated feel in our kitchen than the Ikea cabinets.
• Warranty. The KraftMaid backs their cabinets with a limited warranty for as long as you own the cabinets.
• High Quality. Not only are the cabinets made extremely well, their “standard” options are our cup of tea. The cabinet doors include self-closing concealed hinges and the drawers have self-closing drawer buffer systems as well as pull-out shelves.
• Reader Comments. Once again, many of you declared your love for your KraftMaid cabinetry.

CONS:

• $$$$. Going with this option would be the most expensive of our three avenues. Every single detail added, right down to each shelf, is an extra cost.
• Non-DIY(ish). Some wouldn’t really think this would be considered a con, but we tend to think it is. Going with Lowe’s/KraftMaid means there’s not much room for DIYing; they do it all! We like to get our hands dirty. Though there may be opportunities to DIY some finishing touches.

CUSTOM. Our third and final option was having someone custom make the kitchen cabinets. Though we don’t know a cabinet maker personally, and making our own cabinets is a tad too much DIYing for us, we’ve had a few great referrals given to us by family, friends and even a few local readers.

PROS:

• Hand-made. It’s a cool idea to have cabinets like the “good ‘ole days”: 100% solid wood, every piece put together by hand, etc.
• Totally custom! The major perk of custom cabinetry is just that: custom! We can come up with any configuration and customize our kitchen to our heart’s content.
• Affordable. Though this route wouldn’t be as cost-effective as Ikea, it’s definitely proven to be less expensive than Lowe’s/KraftMaid.

CONS:

• Warranty? Through our research, we found that most private contractors carry a “limited” warranty for as long as the company is in business or the life of the contractor. When the economy is good, that sort of thing would be reassuring, but with businesses going under left and right these days, the warranty might only last months, rather than years.
• Blind Guarantee. While you could totally use the free designer tool on the Ikea or Lowe’s website, we still wouldn’t be completely sure what we were going to get until we got it.

Taking everything into consideration (and we mean eeeeeverything), we finally decided on… Okay, this totally deserves a drumroll, don’t you think? Drumroll, please…

KraftMaid/Lowe’s! As we mentioned in the pros/cons list, this option is the most costly of the three. However, by going with Lowe’s, we are certain that we’ll get what we want in our kitchen, and we have peace of mind that there’s a hefty warranty to back it all up. Also, we paid to have the cabinets installed by Lowe’s. In the long-run, we feel that knowing everything was professionally installed and not going to fall off the wall because we missed a screw will be well worth the cost. Oh, and we’ll be sure to get into the breakdown of the dollars and cents once the kitchen is installed and the finishing touches are complete.

So now that we’ve made the decision of the century a decision, here’s how it’s all going to go down… err.. up: We got “the call” yesterday letting us know that the cabinets will be delivered a day or two before Thanksgiving. Because of the holiday, it’s our guess that the actual instillation process will be begin the day after Thanksgiving. I’m sure we’ll get more information on that as time gets closer. That gives us roughly 23 crazy days of preparation. (We have a few projects up our sleeves that we want to get done before the delivery; we’ll talk about them later.) On the second day of installation, the countertop guys will come out and make their templates. Then, we’ll have to wait 5-7 days until the countertops are installed. After a few finishing touches (backsplash, minor modifications, etc), we’ll be on the road to an actual, honest-to-goodness kitchen! And, of course, all of this will be completed just in time for my family coming to town for Christmas! Okay, getting even more excited now!

On top of the projects we’re wanting to get done asap, we’ve got to make final decisions on countertops, backsplash, the rest of the appliances, oh, and the kitchen sink. Yep, we’ve got our work cut out for us for the next 23 days. As usual, we’ll be sure to keep you guys posted on the progress and decision-making. Here’s to decision-making and 23 days of crazy!