Cabinets are go!

Despite the interruptions endemic to the winter holiday roundabout I managed to get enough time in the workshop to complete the carcasses for all five kitchen cabinets. That’s not the end of the work of course since I now have to make eight drawers and four doors, but I feel reasonably content with the progress. Bridget has been working hard on cleaning up the tiles, which is a non-trivial job all of its own.
We need to get some counter-top sorted out pretty soon and the appliances are ready for delivery as soon as we’re ready, which all adds up to a near-ready kitchen. The counter-tops are going to be a mixture of Ikea Beech wood butcher-block slabs and Formica for the wet/hot areas around the sink and cooktop. As previously mentioned on this very site the prices for quartz and Corian are insane, so unless some smart manufacturer steps up to sponsor the kitchen it will be the Formica.

Five carcasses ready to paint.

Some seriously cold weather has left us unable to complete the backfilling around the septic system but Glen did manage to install the field and plumbing for it before the sudden freeze so we do now have a route for water to get out of the house as well as into it. We’re also hoping for Glen to be able to do some grading to help keep rainfall away from the house, particularly the foundations.
Helping us fight the cold is the newly commissioned heatpump; on Thursday we had a visit from our heating guys to fill, wire and fire-up the pump. Even in the below-freezing temperatures of the last week it has been able to warm the house and nothing - so far - has exploded, leaked, flown off or otherwise caused any problem.
All in all as we slide over the nine-month mark things are pretty close to completion. We have power, heating, ventilation, water, sewage, floors (mostly) and now the structure of the kitchen. It shouldn’t be too long before we can move in!