Kitchen Hood, Driveway Pavers, & Wood Floor

It took almost all day to hang the hood and chimney over the range. It is a pretty simple job and wouldn't normally take so long, but Thomas made some modifications to the chimney that took some time. the chimney doesn't sit totally flush on the hood because the hood has metal grommets on the top. The chimney would sit flush on the hood if we cut openings in the chimney edge where it rests on top of the range's grommets, but we were running out of steam and weren't that picky by the time we realized the issue. Fitting the chimney in over the hood and under the soffit took some pounding, but it's in there tight!

 I cleaned up the cement floors and Thomas has started the wood floor.

I have been looking at driveway pavers. I've attached some pictures of the samples. I like the Holland pavers (4x8 brick shape) in a herringbone pattern the most. I'd also like a light color mix, which isn't so easy to find.

Hanging the exhaust hood

 The chimney and  hood are from Proline. The hood is the ProV 36".

 2 lights, 2 heat lamps, and baffle filters

Cleaning the cement floors before gluing down engineered wood flooring.

The wood floors are the hand scraped style and the color is maple

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I added a second coat of sealant to the tile floor

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Above are holland pavers in herringbone pattern. I think these are too dark and will be too hot in the summer.

Below are tumbled (top) vs. non tumbled (bottom). I think the tumbled ones just look milky...not tumbled

 I like the yellow/gold ones above and below. I am looking for a mix with that shade,

Above are some of the different colors of pavers that Roger the paver guy has brought by.

Trying some wall lights for this bathroom

** The blue tape on the walls are marking areas on the wall that had cracks or damage and have been repaired but now need to be repainted.**

 

Had some rain...

Kitchen Progress

The kitchen is almost done. Just a few details left to finish, but I'm so happy with the way it's turning out. It's just how I pictured it in my mind over a year ago.

Vigo under-mount stainless steel sinks

Cabinet trim added. Cupboard doors on fridge cabinet  were taken back to the shop to get trimmed, they were hitting the fridge and a few pieces of trim are still missing on the bottom of the island.

Installing appliances:

During...

After...

Refrigerator is a Marvel Professional 42". Stainless interior and the glass door are options.

 Above is the Wolf dual fuel 36" six burner range.
The piece of black granite that sits to the right of the range was too wide, it will need to be re-cut.

Thermador dishwasher.

 Microwave goes in the opening to the right with the yellow wires.

 And below is that picture I made on the Ikea kitchen planner over a year ago:

It was so helpful to use that program to plan my kitchen. Even if you aren't going to buy anything from Ikea, most of the sizes of appliances and cabinets are the same no matter where you go. I also used it to plan all  my window sizes and heights.  I can't say enough great things about the Ikea planners, they are so helpful. I'm using the kitchen planner again now to plan the laundry room and I used their office furniture planner to plan the office.

 range hood waiting to be installed

Obviously the arm lights are not installed. They will be hardwired in if I keep them. I just have them hanging to see if I like them.

 A beverage fridge goes in that opening on the left wall of cabinets.

Here's a picture of the kitchen from two months ago:

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Granite Countertops

The granite countertops are in and look great. I had planned on the countertops coming right up to the window ledge, but had the cabinets built just short of the ledge with a 3cm top on them because I thought it would look better to be just below the window ledge vs. higher that the window ledge. Well, for the first time this build, it worked out absolutely perfectly! The granite meets the window ledge EXACTLY!! The piece next to the range is a bit too wide and needs to be trimmed down, but other than that everything looks great! All counters are 3cm thick.

This is the second time I've used black granite. Besides the fact tht it shows every speck of dust, I really like black. Even though all black granite essentially looks the same, every piece is unique and different, this particular piece had a lot of mica, or small pieces of minerals in the granite that polish differently and look sometimes like water stains if you look at it from a certain angle. I really like the inconsistencies of having a natural stone but I wanted to lessen the water stain look so I used a black polish to take some of the glare away.

Below is the granite before the black polish. The bits of mica are  dull and  look like water spots.

After the polish.

I used kiwi black shoe polish. Rubbed it in everywhere and then buffed it off with a soft towel.

Window ledge and granite

The island has granite called Bianco Montahna. I really love the look of carrera marble, but I know how fragile it is and how easily it stains and this island will be used a lot and need to hold up to some abuse. Bianco Montahna is a close alternate to marble. Up close it has some reddish pink spots and greys and browns.

Here's a picture of it magnified where you can see the reddish spots: