(Here are the links to part 1 and part 2 of this series if you haven’t read them yet!)

On our “stay-cation” my husband has been hard at work doing some of the tear downs, such as this bulkhead above our old cabinets.  There was another type of bulkhead that created a partition between our kitchen area and the breakfast nook that was removed, an old built-in ironing board and another built in cupboard that was pretty much just wasted space.  That particular cupboard will be covered with a new pantry cupboard.

The house is very well built;  in fact, we bought it from the original owners who had it built by the woman’s father whose construction company also built the house across from us and the Bay Street Bridge. Somewhere in the basement we have the original blueprints for the house, not something every homeowner has, certainly not from 1944!  So the construction is very solid, and a lot of work to remove.  On top of that, everything is plaster and lathe, which is pretty messy stuff to work with.

Aside from the tear downs, we have pretty much finalized the choice and number of cabinets and we are now just waiting for the final tally before the order is put through.  It will take 8 to 10 weeks for the cabinets to arrive, and we’ll be given a heads up as to when the time approaches so we can time whatever other work has to be done before then.  Yes, timing is everything.   And I’m very well aware that it doesn’t always go that smoothly.  In fact, I’m counting on it!

In order to get the proper measurement for the cabinets, we also had to order our appliances. We had been mulling about different appliance stores, trying to get an idea of what we wanted and what we needed in the past few weeks.  Of course we were also looking for the best deal!  My husband needed some convincing to take the final leap…that’s a lot of money!  But he did and we will have them delivered when everything else is more or less ready.

And finally, today we met with a handyman who was highly recommended and who will be doing the wiring, plumbing, flooring, some of the tear down and removal of the old cabinets, and any other bits and pieces that have to be done.  He’ll be giving us an estimate of his labour costs within a few days so that we can make that commitment as well.  He didn’t looked too surprised or phased at anything we were asking him to do, so I hope that’s a good sign!

So!  Two more things to finalize, then we wait.  All I can think about is that I still have to clean the crappy kitchen, and next I will have to figure out how to live without one for heaven knows how long. And finally, without too many bumps, we should have our new kitchen.  Can anyone out there just knock me out for about ten weeks so I don’t have to live through the mess?

IJ