The last two weeks have been busy, as we get ready for the demolition of the existing kitchen. All of a sudden, the project is upon us! Yikes.
We've been working on the plans for our new kitchen since January. At our initial meeting with architect Rob Fisher, we started creating a vision for the new space. The current kitchen sits in the back corner of our house, away from the living and dining 'social' spaces. It's disconnected from the rest of the house, and as a result, the kitchen is a dead-end. So one of our primary objectives with the new space is to open it up to the rest of the house, and create that 'connection' that's missing. It means a wall has gotta go!
However, taking down a wall in a 1920's bungalow is no small matter. Enter stage right: Dave Blair, JVA Structural Engineers. Dave crawled around the attic, peeked through closets and cracks, knocked on walls, and generally gave our house its much needed physical examination. The results? As we expected, the wall is structural, and holding up the back of the house. Bummer.
Of course, this complicates things a bit. Taking down the wall is possible, but it means supporting the roof with a structural beam, and reinforcing the foundation and floor in the basement below. Our kitchen renovation project now just moved down to the basement. Thanks a lot Dave.
So while Rob and Dave drew up architectural and structural plans, we were shuffled off to Morgan Ferguson with Caruso Kitchens. Finally some of the fun stuff. Cabinets and counters and tile, oh my! 
In the last several months, we've spent a lot of time with Morgan. It's pretty exciting and overwhelming to walk into a showroom like Caruso Kitchens. She has guided us well in choosing all the details of the new kitchen, and am duly impressed with her precision and knowledge. She has been eternally patient with us, as we hemmed and hawed about the (I'm not exaggerating) thousands of decisions to be made. "Should we have knobs on doors and pulls on drawers, or should we have pulls on doors and knobs on drawers." My head hurts. 
We've examined hundreds of granite slabs and tile samples. We've researched dishwashers and stoves and refrigerators. And we found the most beautiful kitchen sink in the whole wide world. In the end, I think we've designed a kitchen that's really gorgeous, very functional, and blends nicely with the style and character of our arts-and-crafts bungalow. Now if we can just decide on the kitchen backsplash.
With Rob's help, we've also chosen a general contractor for the project. Stonebridge Builders comes highly recommended, and has previously worked with Rob and Morgan. They'll be at our house bright and early Monday morning to start tearing down walls.
The plans are complete. The team is in place. And we've pretty much moved out the main floor of the house and are camping out in the basement. If all goes as planned (Ha! Right!) the schedule says we'll be done on October 4th. We're on our way.
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