The kitchen is complete!

At least mostly complete . . . here's a partial view:

I wish I'd picked a darker gray for the walls. Coming sometime in the future: stainless steel between the oven and the microwave, and tile backsplash between lower and upper cabinets.

Granite countertops installed!

Today provided one of those extremely rewarding moments of a home renovation. The cabinets, finally secure, level, and attached to the walls, were ready. The free granite my friend Leon found for me in November had been cut and prepared. The installers arrived and in about an hour they had the new counters installed. The cost was the cost of the prep and installation ($600) which seems pretty inexpensive for solid granite counters. They mounted the sink under the counter, which I didn't even think of asking for but love.

I can't stop staring at these new counters! It's the kind of finishing material that really makes a place.

If you live near Salt Lake City and have a need for granite (they also do window sills, table tops, etc.) call Harry of Distinctive Marble and Granite at 801.750.5720. These guys are great.

Next to refrigerator:

Close-up of sink:

During install:

Prepped for install:

About that Ikea kitchen . . .

Last Saturday I had three generous and talented friends help me begin the installation of my Ikea kitchen. We made a lot of progress.

Much remains to be done.

On Sunday, two other friends helped me raise the upper cabinets. Since then, despite significant effort, I've felt over my head and have accomplished little. I have a new helper arriving tomorrow to see if we can move this project forward.

Here's what it looked like at the end of last Saturday, and what it still looks like now. There are MANY hundreds of parts remaining to put together to finish this job.

The whole process is overwhelming and I am beyond my skill zone and stretching point. Hopefully there will be some progress tomorrow.