The Kitchen

We've been in for a while and are slowly getting settled in. There is still much to do, but we thought we would share the finished product as it currently stands. Over the next few days we'll post pictures of each room. So for today here are some photos of the kitchen and dining area.

The cabinets are Ikea in the Nexus Brown-Black with Klippig door handles.

The faucet is from the Danze Parma line in stainless steel.

The range is by Bosch and the range hood by Broan. We had to mount it lower than normal to get by some of the plumbing in the wall to vent it outside. That's why the chimney extension doesn't reach the ceiling. We'll probably get around to buying an extension kit as soon as we don't feel so broke from building a house.

The standard Ikea cabinet sizes makes the fridge situation tricky. We went through two other fridges before we had to redo the cabinetry so that this Bosch counter depth would fit. As you can see I need to do some modification to make the gap between the top of the fridge and bottom of the cabinet less noticeable.

The countertops are quartz from the Cambria Quarry Collection line. We had originally picked out a white quartz, but it wasn't in stock and we were on a deadline. So we picked another, which wasn't in stock, so we picked another and then picked this one based on a 1 inch square photo online. It actually turned out to match everything quite well.

The dining room light is a George Nelson Bubble Lamp.

Rufus, our favorite dog to dog sit was a nice addition to the house for a week.

Pantry door on sliding hardware.

We used Ikea Gorm shelving inside the pantry. We love having so much space for our food stuffs. Maybe now we can work on some food storage.

Time Lapse, sort of.

We decided early on to take a photo from the same vantage point at different stages of the process. I didn't take nearly enough photos to make the cool time lapse video out of it that I had in mind, but here is a little slide show.

Glut of Photos

We've been in the house for a few weeks now and are still working on getting things put away and completely finished, but we are loving it and it instantly felt like home. We haven't really taken any photos since we moved in, but here are a bunch of photos taken from mid November to mid December that shows the process.

Now taking requests

All of our energy over the next couple of days is focused on closing our loan and then moving in. In the meantime, we know that there are quite a few details about the house that we haven't shared (lighting, plumbing fixtures, finishes, etc. etc.). It's not a deliberate omission — we've just been incredibly focused on the big picture instead of documenting the details.

If there is anything you'd like to see photos of or get an explanation for in the coming weeks, please speak up in the comments and we'll do our best to oblige. And if you're in the SLC area and would like to see the place in person, we're pretty open to tours.

Finalizing

As if the finish work were not enough to think about at the end of this process, there are certain people we need to get approval from before moving into this house. People such as Salt Lake City and The Bank.

Our fair city requires not one, not two, but EIGHT successful, separate inspections before issuing a certificate of occupancy. (Slap hand to forehead here.) We have passed all 8 of those 8. We are scheduled to pick up our certificate of occupancy from the city tomorrow morning.

The Bank requires a certificate of occupancy (see the dominoes lined up?), an appraisal, approval by the loan committee, and closing of the loan before we can move in. Our appraiser completed most of his work yesterday afternoon and will be back for a quick check today. Loan review will take place tomorrow and we are scheduled to close on the loan Thursday.

In the meantime, we will be continuing to clean the house (windows, bathrooms, floors, etc.) and will continue packing the condo in prep for the blessed move-in date.

The sealed floors look amazing, our kitchen is awesome, and everything else about the house is done and ready for us. It's going to feel so sweet to move in.

Weekend update

Things that have happened at the house recently:

• backyard graded (landscaping waits until spring, but our mud waits for no one)
• siding continues to go up on the exterior of the garage, in prep for our appraisal this afternoon
• final plumbing went in, including our kitchen faucet and hooking up our stove:


• we gave imaginary gold stars to our family members who spent the day Saturday helping us clean the kitchen and clean and prep the concrete floor
• finished up the last of the baseboard detailing
• Tai and I sealed the concrete floor with a clear sealant that adds the tiniest bit of shine to the floor and brings out all the gnarly variations in the concrete
• cleaning, cleaning, cleaning

We have a major fridge problem. The fridge shown in my last post sticks out from the cabinetry about 9+ inches, which is a huge bummer because we love the bottom-freezer option and that was about the only one available (it also took two weeks getting here). So, we need a replacement asap.

Our limiting dimensions are the width of the space (30") and the depth that feels good in that space (roughly 28", excluding the handle); height is as flexible as we need it. I have run through salesmen at Lowe's and Orson Gigi looking for something that works with no luck. Suggestions welcome. Oh, and we need something as soon as possible so that we're not fridge-less during the holidays. Argh.

Kitchen countertop arrives

In all its dusty, unkempt, unfauceted glory: