This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I'm taking care of the rest.

If you'd like to be brought up to date, check out the archive in the sidebar for previous posts. I posted recently about the arrival of the appliances and some other odds and ends, and now for the completed lighting.

The lighting and wiring in my new kitchen is FINALLY completed. Everyone always says how key lighting is in a space and guess what? They're RIGHT!! The kitchen looked great once the cabinets were in but now that it's properly lit, WOW - the cabinets look even more fabulous. What a difference from the old kitchen, with one ceiling fan with 3 lights, and a lamp on the counter. Now I have 9 potlights, 3 pendants, 2 wall lamps and under-cabinet light strips. Funny thing is now that the kitchen is so well lit, all the other rooms have such crappy lighting in comparison.

Here are a few photos of the kitchen taken right after the electrician finished up (hood fan was mid-installation).



The pendants I bought at Crawford Alexander turned out to be a perfect fit with the look I was going for. They are industrial and fun and quirky...and since I have no dining table yet, everyone is cursing them because we've all bashed our heads on them numerous times. I have regular bulbs in them but because of the shape of them they give off hardly any light so I have to pick up some floodlights to use instead.



I am so happy I finally decided to purchase Tolomeos. I have always loved them but never splurged until now. And I am SO GLAD I did. I love how they look on either side of the stove and they provide great task lighting. The following photos also show the stove in place, the hood fan and the stove's backsplash installed.


Note on the backsplash: The one I had seen at the appliance store was over $500. I had this one made for $150. I need to find some shelves to attach to it to hold spice jars, utensils etc.

Potlights are a must, as I quickly learned. I had no clue on where they should go or how many I should have, so I got alot of help from my electrician. There are 9 in total, strategically placed over the sink, the stove, the fridge, the pantry and a few others. They illuminate the cabinets and appliances beautifully. They were a headache to install because the drywall and wood panelling in the ceiling had to come down so they could go up, but it was well worth it.


There are also lighting strips installed under the upper cabinets that are great to illuminate the countertop on that end of the kitchen where I will probably end up doing the most prepping. The uppers are not built with an overhang so my contractor has built a simple valance to hide the lighting strips and wires but hasn't completed it yet because he has to re-stain it in the hopes of matching the cabinet colour. There are 2 strips, and they have a low setting that gives off a yellowish light and a high setting that gives off a bright white light. Hard to photograph but here's the idea.




Later on this week I'll show you what all this looks like with the countertop installed. All I can say is WOW. And WOW.

Labels: lighting

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I'm taking care of the rest.

If you'd like to be brought up to date, check out the archive in the sidebar for previous posts. I posted recently about the arrival of the cabinets, and now for the arrival of the appliances and some other odds and ends that have been completed.

Since my last post things have been moving along in my kitchen. The end is near and I could not be happier with the way the space has turned out, and I am dying to cook my first meal in probably 6 weeks. This post is going to be a bit random, of different projects that have progressed, and next time I'll show you details of the lighting.

Let me start with the arrival of the appliances. I was so stoked to see them in the kitchen. To finally have a fridge that has a freezer in it...to be able to have ice in my drinks without having to go down to the chest freezer in the basement and bash a bag of ice on the ground. It was a scary sight to see them being moved into the house though, let me tell you. The movers removed all the packaging and then carried them into the house, through my narrow front door in the pouring rain up my rickety steps. I held my breath. The stove, I was told, weighs about 500 lbs. Amazingly, it survived the trip into the house. It was left in the middle of the floor while it awaited the gas guy's visit for the hook up.



The uppers were installed, in about 15 minutes, while I was upstairs locked in my bedroom with the cats. LOVE EM.


Here is a photo of the kitchen with the uppers in place and, well, at least the fridge in place.


Unfortunately, when there's plumbing involved, there's some cutting of cabinets involved. Made me almost want to cry to be honest. The cuts turned out to be not too bad in the end.




Here is a photo of the corner where the plumber made use of the empty space.


The window was finally installed above where the sink will be. I LOVE it - the view isn't the greatest, but I'll have to do something to the side of my shed to make it a bit more appealing. The best part is the contractor said he could install it so there is a nice 8" or so ledge where I could put a plant or the cats could perch. He did such a great job on the framing. It's already cat tested and approved.



The hatch has been made and installed over the basement stairs. I haven't had a chance to paint it out yet, and we're having a hard time finding a shock or something that will make it stay open (and avoid loss of fingers or tails), but it's looking really good. Imagine it gray.


One last minor item - I found the coolest vent covers at Home Depot that work perfectly so I don't have to attempt to paint any the floor colour.

Labels: appliances, cabinets, hatch, plumbing, window