We did a dry run on the counters, cabinet, and stove installation today to get a reality check on how everything looks in the space. I’m sure there are people with the visualization skills to make final choices on paper but I’ve always needed to see how things look in real life.
The first thing we noticed was that the counters are too high at 35 inches, making the space feel crowded and imposing, so those are going to get cut down to 33 inches which will make a huge difference. This means doing some surgery on my newly placed kitchen drain pipe and replacing the refrigerator we bought but both of those things are very doable.
The antique table leg that I painstakingly modified to support the corner of the back wall counter looks out of place, so that’s going to get tossed and replaced with a leg detail that mirrors the opposite counter.
The counter that leg is sitting on is too long and needs to get cut down somewhere between 4 and 8 inches. I’ll decide on that and the final counter height sometime in the coming week.
The little concrete hearth that we cast is perfect and was deliciously warm from sitting in the sun which lets us know that it’s going to do its job well. We are both a little bummed that we have to wrap a heat shield around the stove because it will block the view into the open counters.
Overall things look good, no major surprises or disasters. It’s cool to see the space coming together.
– Brian
