This was our starting point; we had a variety of issues with our kitchen that we were trying to resolve. The appliances were starting to die on us, the cooker had only two working rings and each time we turned on the microwave the lights would go dim. The original kitchen design had a large soffit at the top of the cabinets (shown on image) which we saw as wasted space. The floor creaked and bowed when we walked over certain areas of it, and the lighting was not bright enough for safe and clean work.

With only 2 weeks allotted to put our workers into action we had to make sure that we did some prep work to even contemplate getting this project completed. Some of the prep work for the kitchen needed to be done pretty early on in the process, things that were time dependent like the ordering of the cabinets, design of where things would be put, and getting new appliances (Cooker, dishwasher, and microwave). The next step was to clear out the kitchen, remove the soffit, investigate the electrics, put in some recessed lights, and finally buy lots of supplies from the hardware store.
Between this point and the finishing touches Damian & Nien's only role was to stay out of the way of Katy & Dave, the real workers

When our workforce arrived we set about discussing the plans and deciding where and how best to start Getting to a bare room was always the plan and this took a little more work than we had thought. It turns out that many of the wires that crisscrossed the kitchen ceiling cut the corner across the soffit, these wires needed to be extended, the open areas filled and a lick of paint added.

Clearing and preparing the work area is probably the most important part of the kitchen install, but from a spectator point of view, the installation of the top cabinets was a good stage and gave us an idea of how it was all going to look.

Getting the hardibacker on the floor added to the strength of the area and really went a long way towards getting rid of the movement. We had to plan ahead for the floor because we wanted to make the tile the same level as the hardwood floor. This step gave us a solid platform to mount the base cabinets. A few issues we had to deal with were the routing of the pipes and cables for the dishwasher and the hose for the refrigerator's water dispenser.

Our flooring choice was ceramic tile, which hopefully will hold up and be free from cracking for as long as possible. The floor at this point is pretty darn solid so the tile laying consists of putting down the tile cement (flex bond), carefully organizing the tiles, then grouting the gaps. We got a wet tile cutter for this stage which I think helped and saved us some time.

After Katy and Dave headed back home there wasn't too many things left to do, all the major stuff had been done for us. The things that remained were the under cabinet lighting, the gap between the tile and the old wood floor, an accent wall to be painted, hanging the pan rack, and plumbing up the sink (when it finally arrives).
Hopefully these things won't take too long to complete, but with two kids and not that much spare time we will have to see.