When we bought our house, I was adamant: “That kitchen has to go.”

K agreed, but time passed, money saved for this got shuffled to that, and now it’s nine years on and we still haven’t redone our kitchen. The up side? Now K agrees with my original plan — to gut it completely and start anew — because there’s no much sense in doing otherwise.

And so our lived-in kitchen will soon be a subfloor-and-wall-stud room with exposed wiring and plumbing.

Which means a completely new kitchen is only weeks away, and the setting of so many of our memories will disappear. The white fridge that has served for years now as our main art display will disappear, to be replaced with a stainless steel French door refrigerator upon which nothing can be stuck because no magnet will stick.

I’ve never liked endings, but this is one I’m eager for. But the irony: we’ve already spent several thousand dollars and the kitchen still looks awful.

In the meantime, though, E is very excited about the changes in the house. Since we’re doing hardwood in the kitchen, we’ll be refinishing the floor in the living room. This in turn means that everything from those two rooms must move.

The living room goes to E’s room. “I get that in my room too?!” was the constant refrain the other night. “I’m so happy!”