Too Many Options!

Most of the small projects are complete (yes, for the 100th time...I realize I have lots of blanks to fill in). The big one looms ahead however. The kitchen.

To put it shortly...we've got to start from scratch. While the house sat empty for a year (after the original owners left), someone got the bright idea to break in and take what they could. The entire kitchen was stripped. I don't mean just the appliances and fixtures...but even the cabinets. Who steals kitchen cabinets? Even the real estate agents said that is rare. Mainly, because of their size and the effort it would take to remove them in the first place.

The culprits did pretty well. They broke two of the units and were kind enough to leave them in the garage for whomever might eventually buy the place. One of the countertop pieces cracked and was no good for them either so that currently lays against the interior garage wall as well. Now mind you, even with the entire kitchen to rebuild...this house was a steal. We did our homework and even the senior agent from the real estate company we used was quite impressed with our find.

So we've mapped out our design. We decided to save a few bucks and go with unfinished cabinets. Staining them on our own will take some time, but at 50% the cost...what else can I say? It was a 3-day ordeal trying to figure out my layout. We wanted to mostly go with the original plan of the house, being that the flooring is decent and we didn't see the need to change it anytime soon. It is cut where the old cabinets were set so we decided to use that as our guide. Determining how to work within that outline was harder than I thought it would be.

We measured out the walls of course to confirm how much space we were working with. Than we had to choose the puzzle pieces - the individual cabinets - for both wall and baseline. I didn't realize how many options we'd have when filling in the blanks. I tried shopping and browsing online for ideas, but this only led to a road of anxiety...TOOOO many options! It gave me a headache. I didn't like any of the virtual kitchen make-over tools either. Not a single one allowed me to actually input my dimensions, so while they were fine for playing with color and style,that was about it.

Finally, we went to Lowe's and decided to just make a list of the cabinet sizes & prices. I wished they had a printout like Menard's does. Menard's has a form that is spreadsheet style with all the information pre-populated. This makes it much easier to select and estimate your cost. With pen and paper...(and OMG!) the two-in-diapers along for the ride, we went up and down the back aisle of the store and made our own list of each cabinet's size & price. It took us nearly an hour...OUCH!

Later that night, I sketched a blueprint of our kitchen. I know I have grid paper somewhere - this would've made it simpler and I could do my drawing to scale - but I wasn't about to go dig for it amongst the mountain of moving boxes, so I just used a plain sheet of paper and did the best I could (at 11 o'clock at night).

I penciled in each wall, then went about choosing the cabinet width. See, that's what I learned through this process. It's funny how we often don't pay attention to simple details we brush with each day until we find ourselves undertaking such a task as this one. I never knew that a single cabinet for instance, could come in 9 inch widths, or 12 inch, or 18 inch, or 30 inch, or 36! I figured I'd just plan for single cabinet here, double over there, 2-door base on that side, and single width base and silverware drawer on this. No! I'd have to plan by width to complete the design...duh!

Then the trick was to utilize every bit of the space available. This too was difficult...correction. Not difficult, but time consuming. With so many options to consider and the need to remember where the stove would sit, where the plumbing for the sink was, etc., etc., I found myself erasing and re-sketching again and again. It was 2am when I was finally satisfied that I had stayed "within the lines" and not wasted any space. I included the price per piece on the drawing and added it up. Wow! We were going to spend less than I thought. Not sure if this is because I'm particularly clever in optimizing the space with a budget in mind, or if I simply got lucky :)

We had already bought our refridgerator & over-the-range microwave, but now I'm struggling with dishwasher and range options. There are sales everywhere and each time I think I've made a choice, something else catches my eye. I nearly reached panic mode yesterday. I should just jump in and make my purchases today. Already, the stress is eating at me. I'm buying things I've never had to buy before and I find it thoroughly aggravating. Who ever knew that too many options could be a such a headache?!