The Cabinets are in!

This week has been marked by lots of wood work at the house.  The trim carpenters, Jim and Chad, completed their work and it looks beautiful.  They are both artisans ... master Craftsman with a capital "C"!!  They exceeded our expectations and, probably, our budget.

Also, Chuck began installing our kitchen cabinets this week.  He has been working with a design we provided him and, according to Brenda who took these photos, he has improved on our ideas.  He chose to make the cabinet boxes from maple for its stability.  He told us it does not warp and takes stain evenly.  The front surfaces (drawers and doors) are made of quarter sawn red oak.  I love how straight the wood grain is and that it occasionally has checking which adds character.

Looking towards the left wall of the kitchen as one enters, the refrigerator space will have a narrow broom closet on the left and an upper cabinet above.  The Pantry door has thick rain glass as its pane to partially obscure any mess that may be in there.

Also, the wainscoting will end at the kitchen entrance.






The gas cooktop will be in the middle of the next wall.  The vent hood has lots of detail, including dissimilar wood pegs placed in square peg holes.  When they are stained, they will add an interesting detail.  Chuck also built an appliance closet (on the left, hanging under the upper cabinet) which will hide the bread machine or mixer.  It is hinged so as to open to the left, revealing the appliance whenever it is needed.

On the side opposite of the cooktop wall is this cabinet for the oven and microwave.  The appliances will be installed in the lower and middle openings with vertical separators in the upper section of the cabinet.

Here are some more photos of the cabinets as they were being installed.

There has been so much more trim work during the past three weeks. Jim and Chad did a marvelous job installing wood trim around all the windows and doors. They covered the lower half of many of the walls with tongue and groove boards which will have the knots covered with bond-o and painted white. Each edge has been finished with rounded molding to give it a finished look.

Here are two photographs of the installed stairs.  The raisers will be painted white. The treads, hand rail, banister, and balusters will be stained to match the Kitchen cabinets.

In the Game Room upstairs Jim constructed a daybed under the window. It is a design we found online and modified only slightly to fit our space. There are cubby-holes on each end and drawers and cabinets under which will provide plenty of storage for games, dolls, and toys for the grandchildren.  The platform in the middle is the perfect size for a queen-size mattress.