Monday, August 8, 2011

the kitchen project

At the beginning of this summer we decided to take on the biggest renovation project we've done (and probably will ever do) on our old house. The kitchen.

Dun dun dun.

I think we figured it was one, maybe two month project. We're currently going into month three. We also figured we could do the entire thing without really losing the ability to use the kitchen. That is hilarious. We haven't used the stove/oven/sink in a solid five weeks.
I'm going to break the renovation into a couple of more detailed posts, but here's the background.

This is our kitchen ala sketchup. For a little context, the door on the left goes to our hallway/backdoor, the door on the right goes to a small butler's pantry and the top door heads down the hall to the dining room/rest of the house.

Things we liked: the big window, plenty of storage, the general layout and the appliances.
Things we didn't like: the crazy wallpaper border, chipped old counters, all of the black cabinets (too dark!) mis-matched/inconsistent tile backsplash, the ceiling fan, low microwave over the stove and the flooring (fake laminate). So a few things.

It started with the 1970's laminate counters. They were chipped in a few places and had a 'built-in' cutting board in a strange location. And the highlight? The in-counter blender. It just looked like a random metal plate until you pressed a button and a 30+ year old blender popped up. It didn't work, ate up the entire cabinet beneath it... and meant we kept a wooden cutting board strategically placed over it at all times. These counters had to go.

The problem with projects like is the way they steamroll from 'we need to replace these counters' to ...
While we're replacing the counters, we should do the backsplash too.
While we're replacing the counters and tile, we might as well replace the sink.
Since we're taking down the border, we should paint.
Since we're painting, we should go ahead and paint the cabinets.
If we're messing with the cabinets, we should rip out the ones we don't like.
If we're doing all of that work, we might as well get rid of the floor.
and voila - you've pretty quickly signed yourself up for a summer project.

So here is the before shot (heaven forbid we do the dishes before taking photos) :

Stay tuned for our first steps...

6 comments:

canvas prints said...

It looks a little bit dark in there, I can't wait to see how you get on!

Penn said...

I'm pretty excited on what your renovation project will look like! Are you doing it by yourself or did you hire a kitchen remodeling NYC contractor?

Corinth said...

You might want to consider enrolling in a construction safety training school first. Most homeowners doing DIY projects tend to overlook at the hazards of construction projects.

flooring perth said...

I love the interior of this kitchen. It looks very compelling. The color of the floor is also neat and simple. By the way, I look forward to seeing the outcome of your project.

Maia Dobson said...

That's a very lovely kitchen. Just like the ones that I saw at new homes in Maryland, it has a cozy ambiance and it's so modern.

Riley Brent said...

This kitchen already looks great. I'm pretty sure that the plan look better. I think it would be a good idea to use light colors in painting your future kitchen to make it more lively. Anyway, I look forward to seeing photos of your completed kitchen project.

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