Sunday, April 21, 2013

Kitchen Remodel, Week Eight: Stairway to Kitchen Heaven


Progress inside the new kitchen was slow this week.  There was some more cabinet work, not much.  But enough to see what the upper cupboards will look like.

The heavy hauling was on the outside, where they tore out the old, crumbling staircase and set the stage for the new, as seen in the rebar jungle above.  The plan is for a new series of stairs, retaining walls, and garden beds that will connect the street-level garage doors (to the bottom left of the photo) to the terrace on the garage roof (top left in the photo, with the black railing) and a large stoop outside the kitchen door (top center in the photo). 

Now that I see it in progress, the whole outside part of this kitchen remodel seems like a far bigger undertaking than when I saw it on paper.

Since it is still chilly and drizzly here in Portland, I spent some time yesterday finally finishing Independent People, the novel about WWI-era Iceland sheep farmers by Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness.  There was nothing food-related in that book. The people were often half-starved through the Iceland winters. They ate grass.

I also finished Alice Waters and Chez Panisse: The Romantic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution by Thomas McNamee.  That book was all about food -- cooking, eating, and changing the way America thinks about food.  I hope to get a review written and up soon. 


WEEKEND COOKING


8 comments :

  1. I've probably said this before -- but loved Independent People. It was a great book. Every week = progress and that's a good thing.

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  2. Hi Gilion,

    We did a huge remodel of our bungalow a few years ago, both inside and out. Our plans were carefully drawn up and costed, however, still one thing tended to lead to another and by the time we had finished, what started out as a relatively modest operation, had turned into a transformation of epic proportions, which saw us living and sleeping in one room in the place for nearly three months!!

    Never Again!! Although it did look great when it was finally finished and we are so pleased that we made the decision to do it when we did ... hang in there, things will be fine in the end!!

    My blogging and reviewing have had me reading books from so many different places in the world, yet a book set in Iceland is a real find and it does sound so good!

    Look forward to your review,

    Yvonne

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  3. Wow! That's going to be great when it's done!

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  4. That does look like a big job!

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  5. I cannot wait to see this kitchen finished. It is going to be fantastic.

    It is freezing cold and drizzly here in Iowa as well.

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  6. LOL - projects like this never seem as large on paper, do they?

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  7. boy, that's some kitchen remodel! Food luck with it.

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