Everything but the kitchen sink

The kitchen, she is not quite done yet. What remains to be done:
*Installing the end floor cabinet
*Installing the cabinet over the fridge
*Installing the trim at the bottom of the cabinets
*Installing the panels to cover the side-most cabinets and the side of the fridge
*Wiring the garbage disposal
*Permanently mounting the sink
*Laying the backsplash tile
*Mounting cabinet handles
*Grouting some of the floor tile
*Painting

And there is a huge fancy hood that will go over the stove when Uncle Sam gives us a correspondingly huge refund in the new year.

We are a bit over budget. What is a home improvement project without such a statement? This is mainly because I insisted Dada buy us a new gas stove, not wanting to hear his inevitable whining and moaning about how skanky and mouse-poop-ridden the old stove that came with the place is, and that it looks so horrible with our other appliances.

But 3 weeks into our do-it-yourself remodel, the transformation is quite astounding. After we got off to a great running start, courtesy of the help from Dadaw, Dada is now working on the kitchen himself most weeknights and at least one full day a weekend. It's not as bad as it sounds, really, except for the constant admonitions of "don't touch that!" or "don't let the baby play there!" The worst part is the mess and the disorganization, but with almost all of the cabinets installed, there is less and less of an excuse for that.

Again, we are not done, but the major things are done enough that one can appreciate how insanely beautiful and functional it is now, as opposed to the grody, cracked, and dysfunctional kitchen we knew before.

Before, from the Stairs of Death:

After, from next to the baby-proofable wall that now contains the Stairs of Death:

Dishwasher...fixed underneath a countertop! What a concept! And to use the sink and dishwasher at the same time. It's, like, space-age.

A full-on view of the old kitchen on its wall:


As close to a full-on view of the new kitchen on its new wall, centered around the corner opposite that in which dwelt the old cabinetry:


And, the Dada coup de grace, the luscious marble countertop: