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So I managed to do some proper cooking last night 😊😊 its going to take a bit of getting used to this grill and I might need to upgrade the motors in my extractor - they were fine with the smaller kitchen and no chargrill, wish I’d thought of this before having everything refitted and boxed in! But, what a relief it’s been to be able to cook properly again. We we had a mixed grill of pork chops (need some work), lamb chops (quite good) and a 1+lb rib steak (alright). It’s been four months since I’ve beem able to put any sort of browning or crust on a piece of meat and I’ve missed it! 😂

Oh to cook again!

Fingers crossed there are about three days of cabinet work left to do. Although I’m a little sceptical of this as I suspect they are going to have to undo quite a lot of bad work that the previous fitter did... After that, the stone people are back to fit the wall cladding near the dining area, a small worktop in a breakfast cabinet and the tops near the bbq. A few small electrical jobs and we’ll be done! It finally feels within our grasp. It might, and I’ll whisper this, even be starting to feel worth the pain!

Another really good day! The stone guys pretty much finished the island today and were able to get the splashback in early enough that our plumber could get the rangetop connected - look, it works! We dont have taps yet, and the bank of units around the fridge is miles off being done. But it finally feels like I’ve got a kitchen back 😃😃 I will never again have to cook on that horrendous induction piece of c***! Our furniture arrived too, so tomorrow morning we’ll be unpacking that, trying to get stuff vaguely in order before we go away for the week to see family over Christmas. First thing though I’ll be queuing at our butchers for the festive meat order, I’m looking forward to having a bit of space in which to get the turkeys ready. I’m so much happier today than I’ve been for weeks!

Alas no, it’s just a gap at the moment but will be filled with another of the regular drawers either side. The rangetop has slotted in where the top drawer of those middle pair used to be.

It finally feels like we are edging nearer the finish line! The first of the worktops went in today, I’m really happy with them so far - great attention to detail with them, such a relief after our stress with the cabinet people. Speaking of which, they are finally taking things seriously and want to make things right with the cabinets. Just trying to agree a plan to get a new fitter that we trust in to fix everything. The worktop guys guys are back tomorrow to fit the splashback behind the rangetop and (very exciting!) the island. All being well the Wolf will get connected up to the gas and I can actually start cooking! I may even have cooked my last meal on the awful induction plate 😁 (though I’ll believe it all when I see it after the last few weeks!)

Keep the updates coming - you’re tempting me to try one of those machines!

Things have really broken down with the kitchen company. They are now over three weeks delayed (on a fit which was meant to take just two). They sent their workshop manager out to inspect things at the end of last week - his view was pretty damning, doesn’t seem like the fitter has done anything that he should have 😡 I’m sure we’ll get it all sorted but it definitely won’t be done before new year now. Grrrr... If only things indoors were going as well as outside, the builders have pretty much finished now, the resin floor got poured at the weekend and the last of the electrics have been done out there:

I saw a woman obliterate her nose on a plate glass window in a local shopping centre a couple of ears ago - not pretty! will definitely look into these

I’ve not come across distraction marks - what do they look like? They sound a very good idea if they don’t get in the way of the view too much

Funny you should say that... while trying to fix a lighting issue yesterday, the electrician drilled through and alarm cable 😣

More progress and more frustrations this week. The floor is all finished and looks amazing (though now it’s covered up again to stop all the other trades damaging it!). Most of the lighting is in, including our copper pendants (currently our shopping bag pendants!) But, and it’s a big BUT, the kitchen cabinet people continue to let us down. Progress has been really slow with their work and I’m just not confident any more that they’ll get things right I’ll be having a big unpleasant conversation in the morning to try and get some sort of plan from here... we shall see how it ends up. Better news is that outside is nearly done, the bbq area is almost complete, my Kamado Joe has been put in place so all we are waiting on is the final floor finish and the countertops out there. The really good good thing about getting used to cooking with no space is that it’s made me love ingredient bowls even more - they are now the only way I can prep food for a meal, no longer can I just chop things and dump them down: I have to plan! It’s getting to be a real slog but this next week or so should see things get better. If we’re lucky we might have kitchen countertops and a working rangetop by next Friday... if we’re lucky!

Beautiful. Great technique 👍🏻

I could have written this entire post 😂 ive treated myself to some DARTO pans as per the thread on here, otherwise we’ll have to see what Santa brings

I’ve not had it in ages but have a bit of a soft spot for canned corned beef: Served cold, in cheap white bread sandwiches with Branston pickle is something I’ll always love. The other childhood memory I have of it is corned beef rissoles which my grandmother used to make - mashed potato, corned beef and onions; made into patties and fried in butter 😋

I’d never heard that song before 😂 id cheerfully move in next door right now!

They're basically a safety feature 😂

Funnily enough, that’s exactly the plan! My other half has wanted a “birdwatching chair” for ages, one of the key parts of the brief for this extension was to give her somewhere to sit and have coffee while looking out into the garden.

Its amazing to see - I’m so pleased we went all out on it. It’s been such an up and down day but I can’t wait to go down tomorrow morning and actually see daylight.

Two steps forward, one step back with this update. Today was a pretty momentous day as the glass has finally been fitted. It was pretty hair raising watching them manoeuvre the two panels into place but everything went to plan and we are finally fully watertight. (forgive the mucky glass!) in other good news, the rangetop has arrived: and the floor is going down: But, unfortunately, more delays to the kitchen cabinets mean that we won’t be in in time for our party ☹️ The kitchen people have made yet another mistake with some of the new cabinets so we are looking at not being fully complete until the new year. Very, very frustrating but there’s not much to be done about it, we’ll just have to grin and bear it.

I’ve had plenty of bad experiences with Drop it, Hide it, Lose it 😨 hope you get your pans soon, Rotuts

A little light at the end of the tunnel, we should be getting the glass fitted on Saturday and the floor starts getting laid tomorrow. Also, the Wolf rangetop has arrived in the country early so should be with us on Monday 🤤 Fingers crossed this will all be over and done with soon and I can get back to cooking! A bit more of the kitchen furniture has gone in, we’re starting to lay out the TV area and we finally have most of the lights in (nice neat job of the lighting control units by our electrician deserves a pic):

Not sure if you can get them in the US, but on the recommendation of an Indian family I know I tried some laziza spice blends recently. They are really excellent and much better than any other pre-made mixes or pastes that I’ve tried. Couple of examples below but there are loads to choose from. In the UK amazon sell them so might be worth checking amazon.com out.

Only on updated picture to share, a little progress on the kitchen cabinets. But overall a pretty frustrating week 😏 EVERYTHING has been delayed: The main glazing units had a fault inside the glass panels so are being remade. The new kitchen cabinets were the wrong size, so are being remade. The concrete infill to the window frames has dried incorrectly, so is being... remade 😡 Basically, nothing has gone right this week and it’s all getting a bit stressful. Plans for a 15th December party are looking a bit hopeful unfortunately. For the first time in the whole project we are starting to question why we even started... I’m sure this will pass but it’s been a hard week. Hopefully we’ll look back on this part and laugh!

Just had a very sad email from broadbents - their website was messed up and shouldn’t have allowed me to order as they don’t ship outside the states 🙁 no ham ham for me