We decided that having an operating kitchen wouldn’t be that bad of an idea. You have to start somewhere. On a snowy February morning, we left our apartment in the city to take a subway, shuttle bus, and one hour-long bus ride in the sleepy suburbs of New Jersey to continue our trip with a one-mile walk in the snow on Sweden Way before reaching our destination. Sweden, DIY, kitchen — yes, you captured it where we were heading to.

Taking advantage of the spring kitchen sale, we had designed our kitchen down to a sixteenth of an inch accurate through the online kitchen planner. Arriving early on the first day of sales before the expected crowd coming in, allowed us to go over the smallest detail with a kitchen associate. Don’t fool yourself, although you might think you considered every single detail possible, there will always be something you have missed on. “Need a hood as well?” “Umm, guess so.” Yet, Maria, our store representative, was pretty impressed with the plans we came up with.

Arranging a kitchen delivery in the midst of winter to a remote address created another challenge. Due to severe weather, the delivery got rescheduled twice. Finally, our order arrived on the first day of Spring, at least, officially. Although the Catskills region is situated on the same latitude as Mediterranean places such as northern Spain and Corsica, tree buds usually don’t pop open until mid May. But once they do, nature explodes in a burst of fifty shades of green.

So, March it was and we had the kitchen and appliances stored in the basement. We plugged in the refrigerator in the garage and purchased a mini grill that became our best friend during hot summer evening dinners.

Before installing the new kitchen, we dismantled the old one, ripped out all the laminate, primed and double paint coated all walls and ceilings—hoping that the result will last for thirty more years—, and googled “How to install a hardwood floor”. We will dive into that exciting chapter in another post.

Since you’ve made it to the end of this post, and through all our blood, sweat and tears, you get rewarded with a glimpse of the final kitchen result. Apart from the appliances that got connected by a certified electrician and the concrete countertop that we ordered from a local craftsman, the design and installation carry a complete Catskills Duo footprint!