Out with the Old, In with the New!

We finally did it! The old, ruined, nasty kitchen that we were faced with when we arrived has been replaced! 

Michael and I woke up a few mornings ago to find the boys in the kitchen dismantling all the cupboards. They were doing such a nice job that we didn't want to interrupt them, so we went out for coffee.

When we came back, an entire wall cabinet was in its component pieces, and a friend (Alessio) had arrived to help out.

There was a lot of carting items down the stairs, because Oreste (our landlord) wanted to keep the kitchen...because you never know!

Cupboard doors off! More dismantling to go...

James and Michael dismantling the fridge cabinet.

After much fiddling, it's out! We're so happy to see the end of that nasty thing.

Yes, that is SOIL from decayed particle board.

Peninsula out! Time for the upper cabinets!

This is the mess in B, a result of moving everything from the kitchen in our main apartment into the smaller apartment!

The remains of the kitchen, as seen from our balcony.

Cleaning where the stove was. Those girls are saints.

And it's gone! Do you see the pipes leading to the orange bucket? Those are active water pipes. Meaning, we had to shut off water to the entire apartment in order to remove the sink. Thank goodness we have a bathroom in B, even if we did have to take a number!

All clean and ready to go!

Here comes the truck.

Oreste (the little one) and the installer checking out the situation for parking fines at the police station across the street from us.

Technically, they had a dolly. But once they got to the stairs, it was no use. They carried everything on their backs.

Jeremy liked the carabiner closure on the toolbox.

Working on the wall cabinet!

A little bit done on the sink and stove side of the room

The wall cabinets are put on rails for easy mounting and dismounting

Starting to look like something!

We liked the aluminum pan in the sink cabinet...nifty, huh?

Counter installation. A whole lot easier than granite...albeit less durable.

Voilà! A kitchen, complete with coffee cups.

The other side.

The interesting thing about kitchens here is that they are considered furniture rather than installations. As a result, if you buy a house, it comes WITHOUT a kitchen. The only thing that will be in the room will be pipe stubs. Therefore, kitchens come with a variety of price tags (obviously, the sky's the limit) and can be bought for rather modest sums. We priced a similar kitchen at Ikea in Atlanta just for curiosity, and it came to about 2-3 times what we paid. Go figure.

Love,

Alexandra

p.s. We changed out the ugly light fixture today. Michael has hated it since we moved in, and I had the new one delivered and installed for a $20 surcharge.