As you may know from following along here, the kitchen chaos we are currently living in (more on that here soon, promise) has always been part of the remodel plan. When we first talked about staying in this house by making the basement more functional, we decided that the someday dream of tearing out the wall between the kitchen and dinning room to gain much needed counter space just needed to happen at the same time (*gulp*) because so much of the plumbing and whatnot was already going to be touched, so, why not?

We thought a majority of the work would be done by March. Or, at least, we thought most of the basement would be finished by March and the kitchen started.

As it went down, though, a lot of pieces in the house got started and none actually completed, so with the new month, we decided to go a new route with builders. In a total leap of crazy faith, on the day we let the previous providers go, we did not have new ones ready to come in and start working.

That was March 1.

On March 4, 5, and 7 we met with potential new hires. We walked them through what had been done and what was left to do (i.e.: a LOT).

By March 6 we had interest from a local building company, and I spent all of last Thursday (the 7th) in a mad scramble to empty out my kitchen because that is where they wanted to start.

Which leads me to the aforementioned cart and horse.

You see, part of the appeal to these new folks in starting the kitchen first was that we didn’t have to wait for 6-8 weeks for our cabinets to come in because they are already living in our garage and have been for almost a month.

Begin Rant: Our previous provider encouraged us to order through a different local company before price increases with the new year which turned out to be a huge mistake because said cabinet company totally bowled us over with a change to our upper cabinet height that was neither asked for nor approved nor caught by us until after the magical window in which to change the order disappeared. And then they refused to work with us to fix it. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of them (the company), but we had already gone too far with financial investment to back out, so I am hoping and praying the cabinets either A) look OK even though they are shorter what my previous kitchen had or B) can be fixed with some extra installments on top of them by someone – anyone – else later on down the road. But please, if you are ever doing kitchen work in your house, I’ll be glad to tell you who NOT to patron with your business and your dollars. End Rant. 

So that’s the long way of explaining why it is that we’ve come to start work on our kitchen before finishing the basement. Because, we can. And we need to, because having that much cabinetry living in my garage is NOT good for my anxiety levels for multiple reasons.

Instead, my anxiety gets to focus on keeping a family of seven going with no access to several major parts of our house, plus no oven, stove, sink, or dishwasher, which is bonkers making but so, so worth it because the new builders are amazing and doing such great work, so quickly for us.

I’ll post more about living in our living room soon, and if you have favorite tips for cooking with just a skillet, microwave, and toaster, trust me – I’m all ears.