Here are the kitchen cabinets, ready to be installed. Tony and I brought them over to the job and unpacked them well before the start of the job. I've learned the hard way to not tear out any cabinets until I know that all the new cabinets are without problems. The corner cabinet (left side of photo) was missing the panel in the door frame, and the manufacturer will send a replacement.

These cabinets are a natural maple finish, made by Legacy. The kitchen design was done by Lorrie Addison of Smoot Lumber (Alexandria, VA)

Now we are finally starting to set tile! We installed the Ditra yesterday with Laticrete 317 thinset mixed with 333 latex additive. The tile is being set with Laticrete 253 modified thinset.

We installed 3/4" tongue and groove plywood over the diagonal 1x6 subfloor. We rolled out 15 pound felt over the 1x6's so the plywood wouldn't squeak with any movement between the rough sawn 1x6's. We left the required gap between the ends and tongue/grooves of the sheets, and fastened the plywood down with plenty of cement coated 16d nails. With the hundreds of nails that need to be used, having a pneumatic framing nail gun saves time and our wrists.

It is also important to have a clean joint around the perimeter of the installation, so the plywood is held a bit off the wall. The Ditra and thinset is also held off the wall. This gap will be covered with base molding and quarter round.