It's DONE!!!!!

The stove finally arrived yesterday, the contractor connected it today, and once A braved its dark innards to light the pilot light (still wondering why the contractor didn't do that himself), we can officially announce that we have a fully functional kitchen!

I promise I'll get back into trying out new Israeli recipes soon. Tonight I couldn't handle much more than store-bought tortellini with Ragu sauce, Brussels sprouts and ready-to-bake Toll House cookie dough ;-)

The stove definitely needs to be broken in...

Kitchen Renovation: Phase 5: Oh, New Stove, New Stove, Wherefore Art Thou, New Stove?

We are SO close! No joke, all that's left is the elusive stove...

Everything is so sparkly! I'm afraid to start using the kitchen again -- all of its new lustre will vanish!

Oh, stove, my sweet stove, don't keep me waiting much longer...

Kitchen Renovation: Phase 4: Just a Few More Steps

As with most kitchen renovations, we had a minor setback toward the end of last week -- four days went by without any work being done.

Luckily, our contractor made up for lost time today, and we came home tonight to find these gorgeous cabinets fully installed:

The contractor also began installing the sparkling new granite counters today! He's only partially done with those, but, damn those are nice :-)

Here's hoping that the following days bring a new sink, a new stove -- and completion!