All I Wanted Was a Dishwasher

Our house is about fifty, sixty years old. Solid bones, but lots of outdated areas. We’ve done a lot in the four years we’ve lived here but there is still plenty to do. The kitchen is a galley, with an L shape that wraps around to an eat-in area. There was nowhere in this kitchen to put a dishwasher. So, we had to reconfigure the existing cabinets. The first contractor who was here said it could not be done.

Never listen to people who say it can’t be done.

The second contractor said the first contractor probably was trying to sell us a whole new kitchen. But I didn’t want a whole new kitchen. We have really great solid cabinets. No need to replace them (though I would like to refinish them and add new hardware, maybe next year).

Like most renovation projects it is adding up to more than we expected. We needed to cut the counter top and cabinets, so we of course would replace the old severely outdated counter tops. But the new counter tops we chose do not go with our current back splash. So we either had to rip out the existing tile/drywall and start over, or paint the current tiles. I chose paint. It’s a cheap alternative to a $1500 new drywall overhall. I’m having fun with it. Chocolate back splash. Cappuccino walls. And green accent. The color scheme will be something like this, but with the beige being the walls and the chocolate being the smaller backsplash.

My back splash looks like a giant Hershey bar. And the walls will look like a cup of coffee (with cream) next to it. And the counter tops will be a light, brownish granite. I hope it all works.

Reconfiguring the cabinets allows us to fit a dishwasher, and also mount the microwave on the wall. So I am somehow ending up with more counter space than I had. We previously had a wall oven and a separate cook top, which took up a lot of counter space. My galley now has more room to move in since I can get rid of the stand I had the microwave on which jutted out a few inches into the galley. The kitchen already feels more spacious. 

The counters have been cut. The dishwasher is in, but not mounted to anything yet so we can’t use it. Our house is a total wreck. All of the kitchen stuff is displaced into the dining room. I’m in the middle of painting the tile. It will be a couple of weeks before the counter tops are here. It’s a little unnerving to have everything everywhere for such an extended period of time. But soon, this phase of kitchen renovation will be done.

Bye-bye salmon counter tops with the metalic piping. I’m sure in your day, you were mighty purty. Bye-bye butane lighter needed for igniting the gas burner on our cook top stove. Bye-bye old tile. You’re chocolate now.

Change is good.