The quite lovely (as my mother would say) gentlemen from the cabinet shop came to put in the kitchen cabinets.

Our kitchen was completely stripped of the old cabinets in preparation for their visit. For as long as we have been thinking about this and putting it together (in our minds, at least) it felt surprising that they could come and put in all the cabinets in just one day's work.

My children took a little artistic license with the bare walls and tried to express their gratitude. (I'm not sure what the reference is to the knife. I typically don't let my kids play with them.....at least the big ones.)

And so, quietly and diligently, the men came. They hefted. They assembled. They meticulously leveled and measured. And measured and leveled again--a requirement in any 100 year old lop-sided house.

And as they attached the last knob, and used their little soft brushes to clean everything up, I was missing those men already.

Like little quiet elves, they came, did their job, and left wonder in the form of cabinetry behind them.

And they were in. So fresh. So blisteringly new. So smelly of newness when I opened the doors.

And shut the doors.

And open and shut the doors again.

Just to try out that "soft close" special latch system. I bellied up to them and pretended to wash dishes and appreciated their custom extra tallness, a back saver for this slightly taller than average mom.

But it really is just the beginning. There is still a lot to do. The countertops are a huge question mark right now. I'm praying the new dishwasher I bought for next to nothing and then stored away for years will still work. Then there's the sink. The backsplash...

More to come, folks, more to come.