Kitchen continued

Did you hear something? I didn't either. That's because we installed the new dishwasher that is super quiet! Our master bedroom is just off of the kitchen. I usually load the dishwasher after putting the family to bed, and let it run while we sleep. The dishwasher is about five feet from my head if you disregard the wall in between. The old dishwasher sounded a bit like a fighter jet but I kind of got used to hearing that roar each night. This new dishwasher is super quiet and has all these fun places to hold little plastic forks, bottle parts, sippy cup parts, and other things that the old dishwasher seemed to eat or absorb. It is also the kind of stainless steel that is fingerprint proof. In terms of love, this dishwasher is a close second to my new oven.

We also installed the new counter tops. We've gone from never-was-in-style-marbled- verdigris to granite. Well, almost granite. Actually granite patterned laminate (analogy: granite is to laminate as diamond is to ziamond). The edges of our old counter tops were in the "waterfall" style which means that the under edge of the counter top was exposed particle board wood. Because of this our old counters were crumbling away due to water damage around the sink. Our new counter tops have a curved but flattened edge where the laminate covering goes all the way underneath. That way, the wood base is never exposed to water preventing any potential damage. We also put in a stainless steel sink, a vast improvement over the old white ceramic sink that constantly stained and showed every little speck of grime.

Note that one of the above pictures shows the nasty wall that will be covered soon! When we removed the verdigris marbled wall covering from the wall behind the sink, we found that the wall was in horrible condition, partially covered with mold from a long since repaired roof leak. Layers of paint and wallpapers from each decade since 1940 were cracking and peeling. It is quite disgusting but will soon be covered with a brushed nickel back splash. Unfortunately, the sheets of the back splash do not arrive for another week and then we have the daunting task of figuring out how to install them, making sure that the design pattern lines up and also tin snipping for electrical outlets without cutting our fingers off. I'll be sure to post the pictures of this final step having been completed, marking the end of our modest kitchen remodel.

I couldn't resist posting this picture as well. When I say "we installed" all of these things I mean we hired a plumber and a handyman to install the counter tops, dishwasher, and sink. We did everything we could ahead of time to cut down on the time required by the professionals, especially with a plumber that works by the hour. One of these efforts involved Big Philip unhooking all the lines and garbage disposal from the old sink, in the hopes of saving an extra hour on the bill. Little Philip could not resist getting under the sink to help his Daddy.