Day 47 - Monday (cabinet doors)

The cabinets are finished! A couple of thoughts I didn't mention on Friday:

I have been worried about the doorway to the stairs from the beginning. Here is what it looked like before (minus the graffiti):

In order to accommodate the trash cans, the cabinet to the right of the sink had to be 4" bigger than the old one that was there. (in the picture, those are the cabinets on the left) We tried to compensate by making the cabinets on the other side of the "corner" 6" shorter, and also by opening up the doorway a couple of inches. Still, I worried about the opening, and if it would feel wide enough. Here it is now:

I don't know if you can see the difference, but in person, it is much better now. Honestly, I think it looks - and feels - great!! I really don't see a problem any more!!

Secondly, I've been concerned about the other doorway - the one into the living room. I didn't want the counter right next to the doorway to feel isolated from the rest of the kitchen - like it is in a little hallway, not really in the kitchen.

Again, I'm pleasantly surprised. I actually think that the orientation of the two walls of cabinets adds a little bit of interest here. You can tell it's not a typical corner, and I think you wonder what is over behind the pantry. And standing there, you really don't feel crowded or like you are off in a hallway. If anything, you feel like you are right by the living room, which is what I intended. The space there is a little tight, but it would only be a problem if there were a group of people congregating there, and someone needed to get by. And actually, because of the pantry, I don't see groups of people hanging out in the doorway. When you stand there, you are drawn to walk into the kitchen and join the action.

Also, you may or may not notice the knobs, but of course, Pieter and I debated and debated about those. I ended up getting the pewter ones instead of the oil-rubbed brass, mostly because the "rubbed" coating seemed to be rubbing off, and I didn't want to worry about that. Now that I see the handles on the cabinets, I am very pleased. They look like they belong there!

So it turns out that we forgot to mention to our contractor that we are thinking of a countertop in the desk area. Oops. Apparently he has to build something that will hold the countertop. Yeah, right. Should have thought of that . . . I guess tomorrow he and I are going to have to figure out the best way to build a desk. Never a dull moment!!