Kitchen Remodel

So, I’m sure over the years here you all have heard me mention I needed to get to my kitchen for a remodel. Last year I did do just that. I’ve been trying to get to poasting something about it for a while now, but I can procrastinate with the best of them.

What we had was a small kitchen that seemed smaller with with a table and a doorway to the dining room that we hardly ever used (the dining room not the doorway) and another entry from the downstairs room and another doorway into the very small bathroom under the stairway to the upstairs. 

What we decided to do was remove the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, eliminate having a table in the kitchen and just use the dining room for that and try and find a better solution for a downstairs bathroom. Since there is just no place else to put a bathroom on the first floor without an addition we decided to just make it a tad larger so we could get a sink in there and make accommodation for a proper ventilation fan.

I did most of the work myself, however I decided to have the whole hose plumbing replaced. I hired pros for that. I did do the final settings of fixtures, etc. But I just didn’t have time or patience for the rough in, those guys were in and out of here in two days, I just hate doing plumbing and it would have taken me much longer. I did do most of the electric. Indeed, I rewired the whole first floor along with the kitchen. I did hire an electrician to check over the existing panel and install a new subpanel.  Also had some help hanging the new drywall and hanging the cabinets, some things just take two guys. I did do all the finish work myself though.

So, I do have a few pictures to share. Unfortunately I don’t have any of “before”, just a few of during and after.

So, this is me getting ready to take down the wall between kitchen and dining. At this point most of the kitchen demo is done. Cabinets are gone and plaster is gone as well.



Another shot of wall to come down.



Wall is gone.



Another view.



And one more. And that's me again, don't know what I'm doing, just spacing out I guess.



This was the old bathroom under the stairs. I suppose it was serviceable for a long time and got the job done but we wanted a bigger one with a sink and proper ventilation.



At this point the old bath is gutted and a start on the new framing.



This one shows the new recessed lights I put in.


Now here is my best side after a day of hanging drywall. I should note that throughout the whole job at the end of the day I always hooked up the old sink. I found you could get by without much in the way of cooking for food, but no sink is tough.



Another shot just after hanging drywall, notice the bump-out for the bath. Also notice the doorway going downstairs to the lower roon, I had planned on keeping that pretty much as shown, but just wait.



Another view, looking into dining room, new cabinets are under wraps. Notice the door jamb, that is what I was going to use for doorway to lower room, not to be.



OK, here I have the drywall finishing pretty much done, except for matching the texture on new work to old work.
Edit: Also note the cutout square in wall there, that is where I left an access to get to the duct work I installed so I could vent the vent fan in microwave to the outside. I did want to be able to vent to outside and did not want to go up through the upper cabinet with a vent stack. I don't know how often I see a vent going through an upper cabinet over the stove, but I don't like it and took great pains to avoid it.




View of other side.



Here I have done with the texture work, but have not painted yet.



And again.



Here was the surprise, my wife asked me if we couldn't have an arched doorway to match the one going from dining to living. I couldn't really think of a good reason "why not". So, what's a little more work.



New floor is down.




One side of room in one day.


Another view, I should mention that floors are finished at this point.



Didn't get quite as much done the next day, still have the cabinet over fridge to do.



Here's the new bath.


What I did here was to find a door with the same style as cabinet doors and same wood, maple.



I bought the exact same stain for door as was used on cabinets, also bought the finished door trim from same cabinet maker so it would match cabinets.


This one took a little while to get right.



Counter tops are in.



And all done now.








Yeah, it was a big project. Took the better part of three months to get it done. I took off of work about two weeks at the start, but after that it was nights and weekends.

Wow. Very impressive, Pat. Great work!

Thanks guys.

Hey Ja, I know you probably thought I was a lot prettier than I actually am.

Yeah, I like the pre-finished flooring too, but here I had to match existing.  I had re-finished those floors out there in the other rooms a few years back and even though I used the same stain as back then, I had to do some experimenting with the color and ended up with a "home brew" to match up. 

I am supposing that your wife is very pleased with the results.

I am so glad you poasted this, as it encourages me on doing some of my own updates in our home. My next major project is to build a workshop inside my garage, although it won't be until next year at the earliest. My wife and I are still working hard at becoming debt free and we must first hit that goal.

Scuzzy; next we hit Ace.

Yeah, she's good. I (for the most part) took the route of "whatever you want honey". No sense to kick up a fuss and have it end up what she wanted anyway.

I'm still down a few dollars on the project, but I shutter to think what I would have had to pay to have the work done. I made out OK, the plumbers and electricians are guys I work with on projects sometimes and while they certainly weren't free they didn't treat me too bad. On the other stuff I had help with, that was the guys I work with and we usually just trade favors on stuff like that.

After moving files around between hosts, I was checking to ensure everything is in place at ASO before completely tearing things down at the old host. Doing so brought me back to this topic, and it gave me the opportunity to see your work again.

I still find your work very impressive, Pat. I have some skills, but I probably would have made a mess had I tried the same, and then hired my oldest son to come fix it. But looking at what you did still gives me encouragement to try some things around the house.

Scuzzy; someday. Getting closer to debt free.

I did the same thing today.  Exact same project.  Exact same results.  Maple, drywall, archway passages.  This afternoon.  Got it done early.  Looks great. 

Pat looks exactly as I envisioned.  I, however, don't look anything like I imagined.

I'd take photos but it's kinda late, and I don't want to show up Pat and his little kitchen re-do.  I do think it's kinda gross to have a bathroom in the kitchen, but it beats the sink I guess.  Pretty good job.  Attaboy.

ace; dangit.

If you look anything like that freaky avatar, I'll pass on the margarita..................

No big projects this year other than painting the house, been putting that one off for a while now.

I painted my house this morning.  It's really cold out, so had to work fast... 
I somewhat resemble that melon-headed nightmare, except I think my actual head is bigger and hair is worse.  Well, before.  And my moustache is lighter.  I doubt that the Greeks ever even used that stuff, especially now that they're short of cash.

Looking at your floors, I should dig up those shots of my kitchen when I put tiles over the linoleum.  Or the Giani granite paint I used on the countertops.  Then bash my head into both.

Ace; I hate show-offs.  He probably knows more about computers than me, too.