Kitchen Remodel- Week 5

Week five really consists of only Monday and Tuesday - our contractors will not return until the granite is ready to be set in place (they measured for it Tuesday).  Today, the boys and I returned from a road trip to D.C. (more on that later) to find most of my appliances hooked up and working!

Front and center is the huge hole in the center of the kitchen where we need to fill in the missing hardwood floor.  I had to special order the floor and it is scheduled to arrive the week of June 11th.  Then it has to be installed, sanded to blend in with the other flooring, then stained and sealed. 

This little guy is my new love though; The GE Advantium Speed Cooker Wall Oven.  It can operate as a convection oven, microwave, or roaster in addition to a speed cooker, but I doubt I will use it in those capacities much.  My old neighbor got two of these when they redid their kitchen and she highly recommends them.  They bake just like an oven, but this one does it 8 times more quickly than a traditional oven (hence the speed cooker title).  I rolled in from 5 hours on the road and threw 4 fish sticks and half a bag of tator tots in, picked the "frozen fish stick" setting, and hit start (no preheating).  They were crispy and perfectly done in 7 minutes, 30 seconds.  I then made Tom some Gorton's fish fillets in 6 minutes, 30 seconds.  And for a late night snack, I turned the knob to "appetizers", then "mozzarella cheese sticks" and  had crispy, evenly cooked hot mozzarella sticks in just over 4 minutes.    The oven knows how much time for each item based on a huge selection of food items in it's stored memory so I don't have to figure it out.  So far, I am quite impressed with it after day 1.

I also arrived home to find my new sink in the family room.  Tommy of course deduced that it must be a boat of some sort and climbed in (I should have grabbed my camera). 

I am anxious to have counter tops again, but grateful for the temporary sink and especially a working dishwasher.  Life is getting easier.