The Kitchen Diary: Day Two

[Jenise]

Day two: my kitchen for the foreseeable future!

DSC03883.JPG

Kinda like mine, except I have cabinets.

Have any dinner parties scheduled? You could always do sausages on sticks over the fire.

I'm glad the project has advanced this far though! How long do they anticipate your kitchen being ripped apart?

[Jenise]

Realistically we're probably looking at four months.

Jenise, do you have a garage? During our remodel, Gene moved the old cook-top there, set it up on two sawhorses. He put the old refer out there, as well. The old microwave sat on his work bench. I spent eight weeks out there, cooking and doing dishes in the bar size sink he uses to wash his hands. Not ideal, but it worked and we even had a TV so we could watch the news while eating. It was in our super hot months of Aug.,Sept and part of October and way too hot to dine al fresco by the pool. I was thrilled to be at home during the process.....the contractors have a million questions and if you are not there, occasionally they make the decision for you. I fed our crew ice cream cones every afternoon.

[Jenise]

Karen, I do have a garage but that's the staging area for all the packed stuff and new appliances etc, plus it would really be too cold out there to cook.

We're redoing the entire first floor and have essentially moved upstairs into our bedroom. There's almost nothing left down here except my office. We're cutting a bathroom in half, enlarging the laundry room, and removing a huge planter from the entry, as well as removing an old wet bar and pantry in order to double the size of the kitchen (to 25 x 13). Here's a picture of the guys removing the former wet bar about an hour ago--the ceiling over it goes, too--the kitchen will be open to the second story ceiling now.

DSC03896.JPG

[Jenise]

Definitely too late to back out now!

DSC03897.JPG

Great photos!

It will be great fun to follow this, Jenise. Especially since I don't have to live in the mess.

(An artist I know has been building a studio addition to her house (which required ripping most of the house out) for months now. Again, fun to watch the progress... from afar!)

I'm not sure whether I should be following this thread or not. It may further delay the long-awaited remodel of our own kitchen!

[Jenise]

Mike, I thought it would be fun to post periodic pics of the progress. Today is only Day Two. However, I'm already aware that I could start a whole 'nother thread called Design Bust Diary, and have something to post there daily too. That one you'd definitely want to avoid.

When are you guys starting?

We'll start on it when Mardi decides she's truly comfortable with a design. That may be 2015. As I've probably mentioned, we have some unique design issues with the room and it's been hard to come up with something that she is willing to risk the time and money on. Personally, I'd just go for new cabinets, counters, and a couple of other relatively minor changes. I think she'd like to do something more radical, but only when she comes up with something she knows she'll be happy with.

Come on Mike, do your part. Stimulate the economy.

Jenise, some advice - buy plenty of disposable ware. Cindy spent a lot of time huddled over the bathtub, washing dishes. She never looked particularly delighted while doing so.
Good luck, it will all be worth it.

[Jenise]

Come on Mike, do your part. Stimulate the economy.

Jenise, some advice - buy plenty of disposable ware. Cindy spent a lot of time huddled over the bathtub, washing dishes. She never looked particularly delighted while doing so.
Good luck, it will all be worth it.

Have already done so; actually, I would probably have deluded myself into thinking that a bathtub as washtub in a conventional bathtub was fine--at least for the first week. But here I am not so much foresighted as moved by the fact that the only bathtub in the house is something of a party tub (house was built by a bachelor Canadian pro hockey player) and that washing dishes in it would probably involve getting in there with them, and I couldn't see that.

[Jenise]

We'll start on it when Mardi decides she's truly comfortable with a design. That may be 2015. As I've probably mentioned, we have some unique design issues with the room and it's been hard to come up with something that she is willing to risk the time and money on. Personally, I'd just go for new cabinets, counters, and a couple of other relatively minor changes. I think she'd like to do something more radical, but only when she comes up with something she knows she'll be happy with.

I'm very sympathetic--I thought we'd be doing this job three years ago, but there were so many obstacles to work out because we, too, have some very unique design issues. Half my kitchen will have a nine foot ceiling, the other half (where the stove will be) will have 20 feet. How and where to vent the stove, how to get sufficient task lighting without filling the sky with wires--considerable dilemnas. We finally built what is just about the only design we could and keep the open view, but boy it took three years and a lot of iterations to achieve clarity about that.

Jenise, this will be fun to follow the creation of your new kitchen.

Your house looks very beautiful!

[Jenise]

Jenise, this will be fun to follow the creation of your new kitchen.

Your house looks very beautiful!

Well, it's different. Very interesting (to my contemporary tastes, that is) and in a fabulous location/setting, but there's so much about it that's weird or was badly built in spite of the fact that it was a custom built home. We're trying to fix all those weird things with this remodel. Like, there are no bedrooms downstairs, but there's a shower in the downstairs bathroom. HUH? Also, that bathroom's so cold it's unpleasant to use in winter. More insulation!

(Like, there are no bedrooms downstairs, but there's a shower in the downstairs bathroom. HUH?

So when you come in from frolicking in the (chilly) ocean you can rinse off before sitting down to dinner? Or maybe you play a lot of beach volleyball with your professional athlete friends and everyone needs a shower at the same time?

[Jenise]

Cynthia, that argument would work in Santa Monica, but not here. Hypothermia sets in in about 20 minutes. Next idea? Bob's pretty sure it has something to do with group sex.

Bob's pretty sure it has something to do with group sex.

Darnit, I am just too sheltered. I never thought of that!

[Jenise]

Cynthia, you're forgiven. Such concepts are not exactly in my universe, either!

Cynthia, you're forgiven. Such concepts are not exactly in my universe, either!

Huh?? Weren't you living in SoCal in the '70s or '80s, Jenise? I mean, even in my cloistered Bay Area upbringing I still heard a few rumblings about such matters (as in ABC's notorious "documentary" on Marin County "I Want it All Now" )

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Cynthia, you're forgiven. Such concepts are not exactly in my universe, either!

Huh?? Weren't you living in SoCal in the '70s or '80s, Jenise? I mean, even in my cloistered Bay Area upbringing I still heard a few rumblings about such matters (as in ABC's notorious "documentary" on Marin County "I Want it All Now" )

Mark Lipton

Yahbut I was growing up. By the time I could have considered it, it was all over.

Very interesting (to my contemporary tastes, that is) and in a fabulous location/setting, but there's so much about it that's weird or was badly built in spite of the fact that it was a custom built home. We're trying to fix all those weird things with this remodel.

That indoor hockey rink is probably impractical for you and Bob as well. Will that be staying or going during the remodel?

[Jenise]

Very interesting (to my contemporary tastes, that is) and in a fabulous location/setting, but there's so much about it that's weird or was badly built in spite of the fact that it was a custom built home. We're trying to fix all those weird things with this remodel.

That indoor hockey rink is probably impractical for you and Bob as well. Will that be staying or going during the remodel?

You know what, we've gone back and forth on that....and the electrician has just informed me that my computer has to go down. More later!