A Story about Renovating a Kitchen

It's hard to keep the faith when your kitchen looks like this for two weeks plus:  

You begin to think it will never end.  

You begin to think that burning it all down may be the best bet, including your awesome, Craigslist-score Five Star range.

Then you realize, it will all come together. And you start to chill.

Kitchen Planning

Hopefully, soon, very soon, we'll be ripping out our hideous kitchen and starting over.  It's not *that* bad, really, but it's a pretty unworkable space and 2 people trying to cook at the same time is pretty much a nightmare.

So, we're saving pennies and planning.  Here's where I am right now:

I scored this gently used Five Star range from CL - gas cooktop and electric oven with a built in griddle. It's insanely heavy - I dread the day it's got to come up the stairs; it's currently chilling in our carport cleverly disguised with an old sheet.

Digging this Glacier White granite. I think it's also called River White. It has little flecks of red, which look like natural garnets. I like Silestone, too, but it's going to be out of the budget.

Source: gorgeousshinythings.blogspot.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

I was leaning towards a light grey or white cabinet, but these navy lowers are so sharp! I wonder if I would tire of them easily?

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

I want mostly open shelving uppers, which will be a lighter color or natural wood. I think that will balance the rich navy lowers nicely.  I may shave a few pennies off by trying some kind of IKEA shelving options here.  I can hear my husband groaning across town at this DIY idea.

River White Granite

Source: carnoustielane.blogspot.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

This may be a good alternative to marble in the kitchen.  Pretty!

Source: google.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Kashmir White is pretty, tool, but doesn't have the movement of River White.  Options, options!

Hole in the Wall Gang

We've got a hole in the wall! After demoing out the cabinets on our own, we hired a pro to take down the wall separating our dining and kitchen. We likely could have done it, but when dealing with major items of the home that basically make it stand up, I tend to defer to the pros.  Call me nuts.

Looking from the kitchen into the dining room!  Yay!  It's Christmas central there in the DR, what with the wrapping and packing.  Pardon our dust!

I need to paint both sides of the new pass through and the flooring is a real issue. For now, a rug's going to cover the hole.  Totally amateur, I know.  But until we rip out the kitchen flooring, there's no good temporary solution.

Faucet Love

Thanks to the great blog Russet Street Reno, I found our new kitchen faucet. Yeah, installing it is probably like a YEAR away but at least I'm saving big $$ now.  I told Jake that we'd be assembling a kitchen in our basement over the next year 'cos I'm buying stuff if I find a screaming deal.

$85 bucks, no shipping or tax--whatta deal. I can't believe how expensive plumbing stuff is! 


I'm hoping it looks awesome with the polished nickel pulls I want to use from Martha Stewart's line at Home Depot.  I used these on my bath vanity and they are pretty and very classic.

Demolition (Wo)man

The kitchen remodel marches onward.  Phase I is underway: taking out the wall separating the dining and kitchen.  It divides the space into two small, dark areas that don't work well together.

My new favorite tool is the sledgehammer and "wonder bar", the black and yellow item visible on the counter. Those two items fueled this weekend's demo project, plus a Sawzall wielded by Jake.

Taking down the top cabinets was pretty easy with the wonder bar and a little muscle:

We discovered some old 80's wallpaper under the cabinets.  I was hoping to find some super cool stuff from the 60's, but not so!

The faux granite countertop came off with a couple of whacks from underneath with the sledgehammer and went to a good Craigslist home that same afternoon.

 

Next up: let's (get a professional to) cut a hole in that wall!!

Tear Down

The wall, is tumbling down...


Well, not the whole thing. But a significant portion of it. This wall separates our kitchen and dining room and I don't know why. In the early 60's, when our house was built, "open plans" didn't really exist and formal dining rooms actually were used.

In order to make both rooms seem bigger and connected, we're opening up the doorway separating them so it's about 7' wide.  I taped off the area that is dunzo (before I ran out of tape) to get an idea of what it will feel like.

From the other angle... Interesting side note on our wall oven spied there in the background.  It used to be pink!  There's some paint flaking off at the bottom and pink enamel is hiding underneath!  I love that someone put PINK appliances in!  When we demo out the kitchen, I'm going to peel off the white and revel in the pinkiness for a few days.

Other side of the dining room as it stands now.  I'm toying with perhaps wallpapering that wall as well, but I'll wait on that decision for now.  My chains are getting old.

First week of December and this baby's a goner!

Possible Kitchen Remodel?

Despite not *really* having a budget in place quite yet, I'm planning our kitchen remodel.


I've asked a local cabinet maker to help me come up with a plan and price out some custom work. I'm hoping he's budget friendly and I can spend my money locally rather than with a big-box store. (On a side note, I think all of the cabinetry at Lowe's and HD is made in the USA. I know Martha's line is made right here in NC!)


Here's my plan as it stands now:



The colors are wonky -- my cabinetry will likely be a creamy white and the floors are TBD.  The style I want to mimic is the Ox Hill line from Martha Stewart.






I wish I could center my sink under the window but the dishwasher throws everything off. Darn 1963 kitchens with no ability to foretell future evolutions in technology!

Martha Stewart Cabinets

Our darling Martha Stewart seems to have switched her allegiance from Lowes to Home Depot. (I loved her Lowes paint line and the colors at Home Depot are great, too. I just started repainting the hall bath in Love-In-A-Mist) She also hawks hardware, flooring, window panels, etc. But most intriguing is her cabinetry line.

There are several styles and colors and coordinating hardware and countertops. It's practically idiot-proof, perfect for me! The prices seem to be in line with other brands.

Now, to find $20k to redo the kitchen...

Kitchen Remodel on a Dime

Photos: Michael J. Lee

I saw this really cute and cheap kitchen remodel over on Shelterpop. The author claims she did it for $600 (although the new stainless appliances were gotten in some kind of "trade".) In any case, I thought it was really smart and well done, though it's not my style. Bead-board wallpaper, cabinet painting and removal of popcorn ceilings went a long way to update the space.

On a side note, the commenters preferred the drab "before". Who knew?

The point of this post is that I am motivated to remove the popcorn ceiling in our kitchen as a baby step towards a remodel. We're going to need to DIY as much as we can and the ceiling can be done now, even if we can't do a total demo for awhile.

Off to scrape a sample into a plastic bag and pray it's not filled with asbestos.

Turq

Speaking of colorful kitchens, I love this one, too. Via madebygirl at Architectural Digest

Barbie cooks

This kitchen is amazing. I could not pull it off, nor afford it, but it would be super cool to microwave my oatmeal here. via apartmenttherapy and Gaita Interiors.

Quiet here on the home front. I've been doing some painting and waiting for the crown molding I ordered to come in so I can put it in the master BR. Hopefully I will have that to show off next weekend!

A few months ago we did *finally* replace the kitchen door. It was original from 1965 and made out of what appeared to be heavy-grade cardboard. A burly preschooler could have kicked it down.

It has the blinds embedded in the panes of glass which are nice; I can choose how much privacy and light I want. We had Lowe's install it--we really need to find a handyperson.

We also painted the kitchen to a sunny yellow. It was bright blue when we moved in. Why the previous owners decided on this color when the cabinets, floor and countertops are neutral and faux-stone is just beyond me:

Cooked

Ideas for kitchen decor from etsy. Once I have our kitchen painted (I think I've settled on Lemon Cream by Valspar) I'll need a couple of prints for a bare wall we've got.

FriendlyMade

MaineandManor

Roadside Photographs

MrPS

Options

Trying hard not to make a mistake picking paint colors for the kitchen. As you can see, I'm keeping my options open. A butttery creamy yellow is sounding good today.

Also - is Lowe's not carrying Martha Stewart paint anymore? The store I was in today wasn't carrying her chips?!