Kitchen Complete!
by Roberta Scher

For a larger view of this photo, click here

Kitchen Done! Four months of boxes, dust, disorganization and workmen have finally come to an end. Time to move back in to our beautiful, updated new kitchen. Are we happy, yes! Is everything perfect, no.

1st steps: Organizing and Maintenance
Moving back into the beautiful new kitchen is certainly a lot more fun than moving out.  However, be prepared for many more decisions – and be sure to allow for the "after" items in your budget.
Where does everything go? In which drawers and cabinets? What types of organizing inserts are needed for each space? Should we line the drawers and cabinet shelves? The shopping and research continues... Container Store, Ikea, Home Depot, Lowe's, Overstock.com, and searching additional online resources as well. A recommendation to make the move back easier: Prior to the start of your remodel, we recommend opening all of the drawers and taking photos. This will help in the after-the-project organization process.

We decided to line all of the cabinet shelves and drawers. We chose Easy Liner brand shelf liners which we found at Lowe's. They were easily cut to size, and are both wipeable and washable. For the dinnerware drawers and several accessory drawers, we installed the Rev-A-Shelf Peg system. Since I am a kitchen tool collector, the utensil and flatware drawers were a challenge. We decided to use flexible deep drawer dividers from The Container Store. We purchased a "stepped" can shelf at Wal-Mart, and used flexible bamboo dividers from The Container Store in our knife drawers.So much shopping!

Maintenance
We love, love, love our new quartzite countertops and our stainless steel appliances, but have discovered that they require a different type of cleaner than our old appliance fronts and our previous Corian countertops. We also found an unexpected challenge - fingerprints on all the stainless appliances. What to do? Our OCD immediately clicked in - how do we keep these areas clean? We called several cleaning supply companys; their customer service representatives informed us that none of their standard cleaners and wipes are recommended for granite or quartzite. We also read that ammonia and bleach should not be used on these natural stones. So, we had to research what to do, and have discovered new types of cleaners. We are using Granite Gold (granitegold.com) products on everything. They have an "everyday cleaner" that works on stainless steel appliances and on natural stone countertops.  In fact, one of their spray cleaners works on almost everything in our new kitchen. (See our Granite Gold Featured Kitchen Tool article!)

Our glistening cabinet knobs and handles (From Hickoryhardware.com) make us happy too. The design and shine add just the right amount of sparkle and style to our cabinets.
And as for the cabinet color choices. . . we are pleased with the color of the simple white wood cabinets (Benjamin Moore Simple White) contrasted with the rich dark espresso wood island and the clear glass backsplash.

We splurged on the three pendant lights (Restoration Hardware) which hang over the island - but they truly complete the ambience. (We did wait for the sale!) And speaking of lighting, we added shiny silver flush ceiling cans to surround all of the recessed lighting.

Kitchen Results and recommendations
Finally Finished! Our new kitchen delights and excites us, and it is pleasingly functional too. Our contractor was and still is very accommodating and lovely to work with; his subs were pleasant and skilled. Although we cannot say that the experience was enjoyable, it was "as good as it gets".

It has been 6 months since we began, and there are a few minor adjustments still to be made. We are still reading our manuals and learning how to use each of our new appliances. We are hoping that our choices were right (more on that in future months!).

The bad news: We are now thinking of remodeling our master bath. FYI: A bathroom remodel yields a 62 percent return, on average. OY, here we go again!

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have- just email Roberta@koshereye.com; or contact us on Twitter: @koshereye.com, or on Facebook: Facebook.com/koshereye

This is the third part of a 3 part article. For part 1 and part 2, click here: Part 1  Part 2.