day 1: destruction

Generally... christyn = planner.  chris = not planner. 
But in this situation, the massiveness of the project is so daunting that neither of us want to sit down and make the ten million decisions that need to be made before we proceed.  All we really want to do is jump in, start tearing things apart, and get our hands dirty.  So that's what we do.

We need to break into the peninsula pony wall anyway to take a look at the pipes, drainage, and vent.  So we start by removing our dishwasher (a sweet new Bosch we bought several months ago) and then remove the paneling behind the sink.  Once finished, we attack the hanging cabinets that are the source of all this trouble.

At this point Chris gives us more credit than we deserve.  He thinks that somehow we can unscrew this entire upper cabinet piece from the ceiling and bring it down, just the two of us, without it crashing down and destroying everything in its path (including body parts).  It takes some major convincing from my end for him to realize that despite my super-human strength, I can't hold up the entire cabinet while he has the drill in one hand, taking out the final screw, supporting the other side with his free hand.  Our neighbor Steve comes over to help us lower the cabinet.  Day 1 disaster avoided.

Cabinets down. Drill battery dies before we can attack the soffit.  (Next stop: Sears for a new lithium-ion Craftsman 19.2volt battery... they last so much longer, are lighter... well worth the extra expense.  Good buy.)

Cute.

Wow... this openness is even better than we ever imagined.  Too bad we don't have enough cabinets or storage space, otherwise we could just stop here.

Soffit is down now.  Beautiful, beautiful open room.