Kitchen finished (more or less)

Finally, the builders, electricians, plumbers, fitters and decorators have departed and we have been able to clean up and start moving things into the cupboards. Modern fittings at last! When a door or drawer is slammed, the "soft closers" prevent them from banging, and the close themselves with a gentle movement every time. It is such a pleasure to have a space like this, and to be able to cook again. We have reorganized the layout completely and now have a much better view of the garden and more of a feeling of open space and brightness. A successful job! We await one final light fitting and one final door closer, but there are always bits and pieces to deal with after a job of this nature, and we are just thankful that these things are trivial.
The next thing is to get a table and chairs to suit the new kitchen, and fit out the pantry with shelves and a stout new door. The table we already had is too small, and the chairs in the picture are from the dining room, and we want them back in there. There's always a "next thing", though. Hard to believe, but the company who did this said that there was plenty of time to get it done for Christmas, and it turned out that there was. Why don't all kitchen companies manage to do this kind of job in a few weeks? This lot have been so impressive, right from the design through to the co-ordination of the installation and building work. I recall that before the job started, the builder and the structural engineer cam to the house to look over the job and decide the best way to do the work, so that the engineer would understand what the builder had in mind, and vice versa. At the time, I thought this was very impressive because they did this quite spontaneously, figuring out that it was the best way to get a co-ordinated approach. Its impressive to me because I read so much research and policy guidance designed to get people in the building industry to do just this kind of thing. Clearly, the lack of co-ordination and communication is not a problem in all parts of the building industry.

Nearly new kitchen

The completion of our new kitchen is tantalisingly close now. The installation was delayed by one day, so the fitter started on Thursday, and in two days has most of the work done. At the close of play on Friday, the electrician and the builder were also here, ensuring that we had something that was useful over the week-end. The new hob is working, but so far without the electric ignition, and the sink is plumbed in. It was a great relief to have access to a cooker in order to do a stir fry. The wok burner is great for generating the right kind of heat under the wok. And life with a sink is much more civilised than life without. The washing machine was half set up, but the hot water connecting hose was unusable as it had cracked, and the fitter did not have one with him, so I picked one up Saturday morning after dropping Dan off at the bowling alley for his mate's birthday bash. We're expecting the fitting to be completed on Monday, with some tidying up and a final coat of paint on the walls on Tuesday. Is it going to be possible to get the whole thing finished in 30 days (they started 3rd Nov)? At the moment, it is still looking likely, strangely enough!

Kitchen in progress

Plenty of progress to report on the kitchen. The new back door has been fitted, the new ceiling is in, new window board, new lights, tiled floor throughout, and nearly all the walls plastered. All the electrics and plumbing are ready. Tomorrow, the paint goes on the walls, and next week the units start to be fitted. So far, all is going to plan, and the workmanship is first class. Meanwhile, we are still cooking with one microwave oven, and washing up in a small hand basin in the downstairs cloakroom. This is the third week of the project, and it is on target to be completed end of next week. Fingers crossed.

The old kitchen won't be around for much longer

Having moved one large wall cupboard from the utility room to the garage, we can start storing stuff in there that isn't needed until the building work is finished. The builders are coming on Monday morning to start removing the wall between the kitchen and the utility room, giving us a larger kitchen and ripping everything out that is currently there. Today we chose the tiles that will be delivered a couple of weeks from now, and that was the last thing to choose. The layout is designed, the finishes have been chosen, everything is ready. The coming month is going to be awkward with next to no cooking facilities. But all of this will be finished before Christmas (where have I heard that before?) So far, this is a really effective way of burning up money, but with any luck, it will all be worthwhile. The final tour of tile shops being over, I've settled down for the evening with a beer and some Norwegian jazz (Nils Petter Molvaer - Khmer), with the log burning stove driving out all thoughts of the cold, wet, dark outside.

End of the week

Just the thing for a cold evening. And some pizza and fries. And some red wine. The stove is a couple of months old. The fireplace was ideal for this kind of thing, with plenty of space for keeping logs beside it.