Ronald got the sink in, and the veneer to the side of the pantry.  He also trimmed the edge of the countertop, but hasn't applied the edging to it yet.  The toe-kick area hasn't been applied due to problems with the vinyl flooring.  We are trying to think of a way to cover up where they had split the flooring and then just covered it up with a molding.  We might have to do the same.

We will be working on the upper cabinets later.  I might paint the kitchen first.  After getting the countertop in, I realized I really don't like the color of the walls in the kitchen.  I am also going to look for some blinds or different curtains.  The ones we have in there are from the old place in Alvin and they are pretty well worn out.

We bought these cabinets unfinished at the Huntsville Home Depot.  While there, we looked at many cabinets, some with marble tops, etc.  I looked at the prices of those items (some are over $12k) and thought there was no way we could afford to upgrade our kitchen.  But by buying the unfinished oak veneer cabinets, we have kept the entire project (which also includes a cabinet on the other side next to the stove) around $900 so far.  It should only cost about another $300-$400 to finish it, and part of the additional cost will be because we are removing the center panel of the upper cabinets and replacing it with wavy, translucent safety glass.

Ronald set up the cabinets as they might be.  I have watched many home improvement shows where all of the wood cabinets are painted white or some such.  I think white cabinets suck big time.  But that is probably because that is what was in the big double wide in Alvin---and they were pathetic.  They were very flimsy, hard to keep clean, and some were impossible to utilize (especially the one right next to the stove--a huge cabinet area, but no way for me to reach back in there to get anything).

We bought these self-install and self-stain and varnish cabinets at Home Depot.  My daughters helped me get them stained and varnished.  The two upper cabinets are coming down (of course).  They are actually the same kind of cabinets, but the idiots who installed them did not put veneer on the sides--they used horrible horrible house paint on them, and then slopped it on.  On one cabinet, they actually painted a mud-dauber nest on to the cabinet.  I will also be changing the curtains to wood or bamboo blinds.

Ronald has been busting his ass all day to get these in place.  Though this picture shows them sort of in place, he pulled them all out to put in electrial circuits for my new disposal and for the dishwasher.  He also had to fix the floor, since it was incorrectly installed.

I got a spam today where the subject line was "Flush 20 pounds from your colon!"  It came from an email address attached to puddinggavel.com*......

it was a blank website with just an unsubscribe box.  I would have thought it would be a bit more dramatic.....