Kitchen Completion!

After months of planning, demolition, rebuilding, installations, painting and more painting (the cabinets took six and sometimes more coats)...the kitchen is done!

Here's a brief list of what we did:
- Demolished and removed the old partition that housed the previous exhaust duct work
- Dismantled the existing island and swapped the two cabinets on either side of the stove allowing for larger counter area on fridge side of island
- Removed a cabinet from the southwest corner of the kitchen that we just didn't need and was making the kitchen feel smaller
- Rerouted the gas line to allow space for downdraft exhaust
- Added electrical outlets and plug-in for new downdraft exhaust
- Added new duct work going down from island, underneath the kitchen floor and along basement joist to outside (for downdraft exhaust)
- Installed this Jenn-Air Downdraft Exhaust, it was the only one on the market we could find with a reversible motor box which allowed it to be installed behind a range (rather than under a cooktop)
- Rebuilt island with an access panel for future maintenance to downdraft exhaust
- Removed the old, cracked tile flooring
- Patched and refinished original Douglas Fir floors that we found underneath (score!)
- Refinished cabinets, doors and drawers (TSP wash, sanding, 3+ coats of primer and 3+ coats of kitchen enamel semi-gloss paint)
- Added new hardware to the cabinets and drawers
- Added trim (kicker board) where the cabinets meet the floor and where the bottom cabinets meet the counter top
- Added baseboard and quarter round
- Extended the wall behind where the refrigerator a few inches (the existing cabinets above the fridge used to stick out past the end of the wall...ghetto!!)
- All new appliances: Whirlpool Gold Stainless Fridge, Whirlpool Gold Quiet Partner 4 Stainless dishwasher (with hidden controls!), 30" GE Cafe Range in Stainless (love this range because it includes 4 specialized burners with a fifth large fifth griddle burner in the middle, a large convection oven and a second smaller oven below the first! It has by far the most features we could find in a 30" range)
- Re-plumbed dishwasher
- Plumbed new supply line to fridge for ice maker and water dispenser
- Painted over the bright green walls with a nice, rich blue color
- Installed beautiful matte granite counter tops (we used Black Meteorite Antiqued granite -- not polished)
- Swapped out the busted, leaking sink for a new Ticor stainless steel 16-guage undermount sink
- Installed a Price Pfister Ashfield pull-down faucet in stainless steel
- And finished it off with a matte finish white subway tile back splash

This was a mostly DIY job. We did everything but sand and finish the floors, fabricate and install the granite, and rebuild the island. Phew!

To our delight, it turned out just as we hoped -- nice and new but with a clean, period correct look.

Here are some before and afters (you can click on the images to enlarge them):