Week 7 - Kitchen Renovation Progress: Cabinets Are Coming & We're Racing the Clock

Every week I told myself the same thing: Next week will be better.

We're going to get so much done. The house will suddenly come together. We'll be ready to move in before we know it.

Then Mom would ask how the renovations were going and I'd say: "Slow...but I'm not really in a hurry to move out anyway."

And honestly? Both things were true.

I desperately wanted to see the house finished, but now that moving out of my mom's house was becoming an actual possibility, I was starting to wonder whether this whole thing had been a terrible idea.

I loved renovating. I loved watching our plans come together. But I also loved having the extra company and help at Mom's.

So at this point, I was approximately 50% FINISH THE HOUSE! and 50% maybe we don't need to rush.

Meanwhile, our kitchen renovation had other plans. Because after weeks of waiting... The kitchen cabinets were finally coming.

The Truth About Renovating Around Real Life

Week seven wasn't particularly productive on our end.

Tuesdays were basically a renovation write-off because Thalia had gymnastics right in the middle of the evening and Grayson usually stayed home with Raiyah.

We were also intentionally trying to spend a little more time at home because Grayson had approximately 4,000 wedding photos to edit for one of his clients.

Yes. Four. Thousand.

He'd photographed a wedding almost two weeks earlier, and somehow every time we planned to prioritize editing, something renovation-related seemed to come up.

It was a good reminder that renovations don't happen in a vacuum. There was still work. Kids. Gymnastics. Family.

And all the other things that needed our attention while we attempted to renovate an entire house during evenings and weekends.

More Progress on the Girls' Flower Wall

When we did make it to the house, I continued working on the girls' flower wall.

At this point, everything had officially been painted twice and it was finally starting to look really good. I still needed to erase some of the original tracing lines I'd decided not to follow, fix a few little painting mistakes and add all of the details with paint markers.

Was this the most urgent project in the house? Still no.

Did I care? Also no.

I was committed now. And every time I looked at it, I was glad I'd decided to start the project before we moved in. Check out this blog post to see the progression and finished mural design.

Basement Progress Continued Too

Grayson framed the new basement hallway this week, which meant we'd finally be able to access the laundry room without walking directly through his bedroom.

A definite improvement.

We also completely gutted the laundry room in preparation for the plumber and electrician. Whenever they were available.

Contractor availability was basically determining our renovation schedule at this point and there was nothing we could do about that.

But the basement wasn't the project I was most excited about this week. Not even close.

Our Kitchen Cabinets Were FINALLY Coming!

I got the call I'd been waiting for: Our kitchen cabinets were scheduled for delivery Friday, August 27th.

AND... The company offered us an installation price I couldn't refuse, so they were going to install everything the same day.

I was ridiculously excited.

After all the kitchen renovation setbacks we'd already experienced—the original installer cancelling, changing suppliers, discovering the bulkhead couldn't simply be removed and having to rethink part of the cabinet layout—we were finally going to have an actual kitchen.

Or at least cabinets. Close enough.

There was just one little problem.

The Bulkhead Was Still Complicating Our Kitchen Renovation

Remember the kitchen bulkhead? The one we thought was decorative? The one we discovered absolutely was not decorative after I'd already ordered cabinets based on the assumption it was coming out?

Yeah. That one.

I was still waiting to hear whether our structural engineer had any options for reducing its size while maintaining the necessary support.

Two of our upper cabinets were supposed to occupy the exact space where the bulkhead was staying, so something had to change.

And now we had a deadline. Cabinet installation was officially happening the following Friday.

Suddenly all those unfinished kitchen projects felt significantly more urgent.

Getting the Electrical Ready for Cabinet Installation

I made a slightly panicked call to our electrician.

Thankfully, he was amazing and managed to get to the house that week so we could make sure all of the kitchen electrical was ready before the cabinets arrived.

And... We got pot lights!

Don't the pot lights look good?

The kitchen and dining room suddenly had beautiful, functional overhead lighting.

After seeing what pot lights did for the basement, I was already a convert. Every time they went into another room, I loved them even more.

Other finishing pieces were also slowly arriving and being installed:

• Door handles

• Vanity hardware

• Trim

• Lighting

• Other small finishes

Those little details made it feel like we were finally approaching the finish line. Even though the actual to-do list suggested otherwise.

Racing to Get the Kitchen Ready

That weekend, I'd planned to spend a lot of time at the house helping Dad prepare everything for the kitchen cabinet installation. Those plans were dramatically derailed when Grayson wasn't available.

So my poor dad ended up at the house by himself on Sunday working on the bulkhead. The goal was to reinforce and raise it enough to better accommodate the new cabinet layout.

It wasn't finished by the end of the day, but at least it was started.

Now we were racing against the clock. Our part of the bulkhead needed to be finished.

Then my contractor needed time to mud everything.

Then it needed to be sanded.

Then painted.

And THEN the cabinets could go in.

All before Friday. No pressure.

The Reality of a Kitchen Renovation Timeline

This was the point where I really started understanding why renovation timelines are so difficult to predict.

One project doesn't just need to be "finished." It often needs five other projects to happen first.

The cabinets couldn't go in until the bulkhead was ready.

The bulkhead couldn't be finished until we knew what was structurally possible.

Then it needed drywall work.

Then paint.

Meanwhile, the electrical had to be ready before everything was covered. And all of it relied on different people being available at exactly the right time.

We were doing most of this renovation during evenings and weekends, which made deadlines even more intimidating. There simply weren't enough hours in the day. Even full-time contractors experience delays and unexpected problems.

So I was trying very hard not to panic about whether we'd actually be ready for Friday. Trying being the operative word.

My Ongoing Battle With Light Fixtures

Speaking of lighting... Apparently choosing light fixtures was going to be my renovation nemesis.

The ensuite bathroom was proving particularly difficult. I'd ordered gold hardware and wanted a gold light fixture to coordinate with it.

Simple enough, right? Wrong.

I originally bought an antique brass fixture but worried it wouldn't match the gold hardware, so I started hunting for another option.

Then the "gold" hardware arrived. And guess what colour it looked like? Antique brass.

Of course. Which meant my original fixture probably would have worked perfectly but I had already returned it.

Meanwhile, I'd purchased another very pretty gold pendant/chandelier that we'd already assembled and probably couldn't return.

Meet Sputnik

I lovingly nicknamed it: Sputnik: The potato light.

Did I have somewhere to put the potato light? No.

Was it staying in my growing collection of lighting mistakes? Apparently.

Update: We did eventually return Sputnik because I didn't like how many shadows it cast.

Why Pot Lights Were Starting to Look Better and Better

My lighting problems didn't end there. I'd purchased a multipack of fixtures for areas like the foyer and hallway... And wasn't sure I liked them.

Then I bought a second light for the girls' bedroom because the potato light created more shadows than I thought physically possible. At this point, pot lights were looking increasingly attractive.

They're simple.

They work.

They don't cast bizarre shadows everywhere.

And once you start looking at decorative light fixtures that easily cost $100–$200 each—or significantly more—pot lights don't even feel outrageously expensive anymore.

For the record, I refused to spend more than $200 on a single light fixture. I had limits.

Now I was just crossing my fingers that the fixtures I'd already bought for above the dining table and kitchen island actually worked.

My track record wasn't exactly inspiring confidence.

Looking Back at Week Seven

Looking back, this was one of those weeks where the anticipation felt bigger than the actual progress.

We didn't finish a room.

There wasn't a dramatic before-and-after.

But something huge was about to happen.

After weeks of demolition, structural questions, electrical work, layout changes and waiting... Our kitchen renovation was finally reaching the stage where it would start looking like a kitchen and that felt enormous.

Renovating a house had taught me that progress isn't always measured by what you finish that week.

Sometimes it's getting the electrical ready.

Sometimes it's framing a hallway.

Sometimes it's spending hours on tiny flowers your family thinks you should ignore.

And sometimes it's staring at a half-finished bulkhead on Sunday night thinking:

Please, please let us have kitchen cabinets next week. Stay tuned!

Follow Our DIY Home Renovation From the Beginning

Want to see how this renovation unfolded week by week? Catch up on the full story below—from getting the keys and tackling smoke damage to kitchen surprises, flooring, trim work, and finally seeing the house start to feel like home.

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Weeks 10-13 

Missed all the before photos? Check out the blog post Semi Excited to see our starting point.

Whether you're planning your own DIY home renovation or just love a good before-and-after story, there's plenty more renovation chaos, lessons learned, budget decisions, and progress to come.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should be completed before kitchen cabinets are installed?

Our kitchen renovation taught us how many projects need to come together before cabinet installation. We needed to finalize structural changes, prepare the bulkhead, complete the necessary electrical work and make sure the walls were ready before installation day. You would also need to make sure your plumbing was all set for your kitchen sink, we just didn't need to do that because we kept the existing plumbing the same.

How long does a kitchen renovation take?

It depends enormously on the scope of the renovation. Our kitchen was part of a whole-house DIY renovation, so structural changes, contractor schedules, cabinet lead times and other projects all affected our timeline. What looked like one kitchen project was actually dozens of smaller projects that had to happen in the correct order. In total, we worked on the kitchen on-and-off for well over a month and we'll still have projects that need to be completed after the cabinets are installed.

Should electrical work be completed before kitchen cabinets are installed?

Yes! We coordinated with our electrician before cabinet installation so the necessary kitchen wiring and lighting were ready. The exact order will depend on your renovation and electrical plan, so this is something to coordinate with your cabinet installer and licensed electrician.

Are pot lights good for a kitchen renovation?

We loved adding pot lights to our kitchen and dining room because they provided simple, functional overhead lighting without competing with the decorative fixtures we planned above the island and dining table.

How do you keep a kitchen renovation on schedule?

For us, the biggest challenge was coordinating all the projects that needed to happen before the next stage could begin. Having our cabinet installation date gave us a firm deadline and helped us prioritize the structural, electrical, drywall and painting work that needed to happen first.