It’s been a damn productive week here.  The kitchen remodel started on Tuesday, and it’s kind of amazing where we are only 4 work days later.

On Wednesday, they tore down the ceiling.

Thursday, the electrician spent 11 hours here. AEJ figured that he ran wiring for something like 28 new things — everything from recessed can lights to undercabinet lights to wall sconces to pendant lights to undercabinet (and hidden) power strips to island power to inner-pantry power to the new dishwasher, garbage disposal, (240V) range, hood, integrated fridge, built-in coffee maker, and combination (240V) microwave-warming drawer-toaster-convection oven. He also re-wired a bunch of circuits so that the living room lights are no longer on the same circuit as the master bathroom’s overhead light — since they’re on opposite sides of the house. The kitchen lighting got a new dedicated circuit so it won’t dim when we turn on other things. Then there was all of the measuring to make sure all of these outlets go exactly where each appliance specs the power to be. For the fridge, for example, the outlet is centered above it — and it’s a tall, 80″ refrigerator.  Since we’re basically acting as our own general contractor on the remodel, we had to be in the kitchen for all 11 of those hours.  It was a long day.

There’s been a good deal of reframing, too. We expanded the doorway between the kitchen and the family room. Here, the guys cut out that large piece of wall.

And here they remove the old header to make room for the new (much longer) header.

Before long, we’d gone from this…

… to this.

They started hanging fresh drywall yesterday, and by last night, we had this:

Today is mud & tape day.

Watching a show on HGTV the other day, we heard homeowners say that the four most expensive words in the English language are “while we’re at it…” It’s true — and they’re hard words to avoid when you have a really great crew at your house every day. So, AEJ and I asked our contractor on Thursday, “while we’re at it, what would it take to also gut and resurface this adjacent laundry room?” Oops.

The laundry room is between the garage and the kitchen, and this is the room we come through every time we return home. It was tiny — not much we could do about that — but it was also ugly, and not climate controlled. We’re going to run HVAC into the laundry room, insulate the room (it wasn’t even insulated), put in new tile flooring, and move the plumbing to a better place so that we can reposition the washer & dryer in a way that won’t trap AEJ in there if she has the dryer door open. We also ordered a new washer and gas steam dryer, replacing the old ones that came with the house. We are so friggin’ weak.

I’m hoping every high school in America wants to license bunches of my pieces for their fall marching shows. Otherwise, the Mackey house will be really pretty, but we won’t be able to afford any food for that fridge. Maybe I can get a part time job at that new Panera Bread…

This was our kitchen this morning:

And this is the kitchen right now:

This morning:

Now:

This morning:

Now:

So far, so good. They opened up a wall that has our master bath shower on the other side, and there was no water damage. (It’s the original shower, so I didn’t know what to expect.) The best thing so far: there’s already a gas line EXACTLY where we need one. Why the previous owners replaced a gas kitchen with a friggin’ electric cooktop is beyond me. Damn fools!

Next up, they’re taking out the partial wall that goes between the family room and the kitchen. Now the real dust begins…

I’m drinking my last cup of coffee from the old kitchen. This afternoon, the old coffee maker will be packed away to be donated to Habitat for Humanity, and tomorrow morning, our contractor will come and start demolishing the old (well, current) kitchen. Bye-bye, old coffee maker. You’ve started many a mornin’. Bye-bye, old toaster. You’ve toasted many an English muffin.

The intention is that there won’t by anything on the new countertop. No coffee maker. No toaster. Not even any nicnacks. (Sorry, old ceramic friends.)

The schedule is for demo down to the studs starting tomorrow, electrical and plumbing on Friday, and fresh drywall and paint starting on Saturday. I’m flying to Virginia next Wednesday for the premiere of “Aurora Awakes,” leaving AEJ here to deal with the remodel alone for a few days. The cabinets will go in on May 11-12, and the countertop will be ordered then. The counter will take at least 10 days, during which time the kitchen will be pretty much in limbo. (We can’t install the range, sink, or dishwasher without the countertop.)

I don’t know what it’ll be like to be entirely without a kitchen for more than three weeks. We’re putting the refrigerator in the garage, but in order to get into the garage, we’ll have to go out the front door and around the house, because the only other way to the garage is through the kitchen, which we’ll have completely blocked off with plastic. We don’t cook much now, because we hate our current kitchen, but there’s a big difference between not cooking much and not having access to, say, a sink.  There’s no utility sink in the house, so the only sinks we’ll have are our slow-draining bathroom sinks. Fine for a glass of water, but not so okay for washing a plate.

If our last major remodel was any indication, this could get messy.

We’re using the same contractor for the kitchen who did the rest of the house before we moved in. We like him a lot, and his price was fair. Here’s a note for homeowners considering a kitchen remodel: Saying “kitchen” to a contractor is like saying “wedding” to a floral designer. Holy $hit. One of our contractor’s estimates came back over $25,000. Just FYI, that’s only labor. That doesn’t include cabinets, appliances, tile, tile installation, or flooring. This is the same guy who questioned our request to smooth every wall and ceiling (he wanted it to be textured, because that’s easier — WTF?), and suggested that our island was a bad idea. He, uh, didn’t get the job. (It didn’t help that his quote was significant multiple higher than our guy.)

So, in 24 hours, no more kitchen. Thank god the new Panera Bread just opened…