Our New Kitchen - Have a blessed Holy Week

Well, it's finally done - every last detail. Well, except we just today decided on the hardware for the cabinet and drawer pulls so Ric will install them over the next couple of weeks. He's worked SO long and SO hard that he truly deserves time off. Thankfully, the next three weekends are just for "play". Of course, next weekend is Easter, the following weekend is Gabrielle's 1st birthday (where did the time go?) and the following weekend Ric and his small men's faith sharing group is going to take a well deserved long weekend in Alpine. The wives are going to spend the weekend in Prescott - YIPPEE!!! I can only imagine the "stories" that will come from that weekend!!!! I want to publicly acknowledge some very special people who helped us out tremendously (donated their time and talents). I don't think we could have done this enormous project without you. Matt & Cindy Vandiver, Mark & Lila Wiemann, Jim Roe, John Huppenthal, Sheila Adamo, and my wonderful children Daniel and Rachel. Of course, there were also a few "paid" workers I want to acknowledge as well: Matthew Barnhart, Dean Lapa, Bob (the plumber), and Lance Hollyfield. My dear daycare families - thank you for your patience throughout the process - organized mess/kaos and all!

So, this next Saturday night right after the Holy Easter Vigil, we are holding our traditional late night party to celebrate Jesus' resurrection AND to inaugurate the kitchen. It will be our "grand opening" so to speak!

Enjoy the pictures, Happy Easter (early) and will post pictures of Gabrielle's 1st birthday after the 19th! Wait until you see the "gift" Nani Jane made for her - about 60 man hours later, it is complete! You'll just have to wait until she opens it!


At long last (3 months) we (mostly Ric) has completely renovated our 30 year old kitchen. He has worked non-stop and tirelessly since the middle of January to bring to life our vision of an updated kitchen. Here are some pictures of what it looks like!



Lots of working space and storage space. Notice - no lower cabinets - that's because we put in all deep drawers with full extension hardware - I LOVE IT!!! No more digging to the recesses of the abyss to find a pot, pan, or cookie sheet.




The side bar - Ric was thinking of me. He added an electrical outlet at the side bar so that we would be able to use this shelf top when entertaining for such things as a crockpot, coffe pot (if we needed to move it from the bar so that we had room for the blender at the wine bar)!



Good shot of the new light fixtures - got rid of that old ugly ceiling light and replaced it with these beautiful recessed cans. Also got rid of that ugly light above the sink.



Notice the arches over the sink and walkway to the back room - Ric did an awesome job constructing these to mimic the profile of the upper cabinets.


The Wine & Coffee Bar and pantry. Also note the small, narrow cabinet - that's for all my cookie sheets and trays - love all the storage I have (and YES, there is room to grow - I did NOT use up every inch of space available)!