Wow, what a whirlwind. I finally finished painting the soffits and trim, which means our kitchen is officially DONE. It took us about four years of thinking, planning, and budgeting to get here, but the actual work only took about 2.5 weeks (not including the 2 week wait for countertops).
We started with a hodgepodge kitchen in an L shape, with a weird passthrough / wall separating it from the dining room.
While I dreamed of opening it up and turning the kitchen into a U shape, the logistics, time, cost and commitment involved seemed daunting. We flirted with refacing, but we couldn't justify the cost, which was 1/4 to 1/2 what our reno budget would be, and while it would make the kitchen prettier, it wouldn't fix any of the core problems.
We had no counter space, no storage (our pantry was in the dining room), and the kitchen itself wasn't particularly functional - the storage we did have didn't work very well; the two drawers were shallow and rickety, the smaller drawer being broadly useless, and the base cabinets were where things went to die after living a short and terrible life.
I mean.. it's not great.
When I say "hodgepodge," I truly mean it. When the demo started, it was revealed that the kitchen was a combination of found and repurposed cabinetry from other units in our building, and there were a number of strange and alarming things hidden behind them. Like concrete walls. Or gaping holes held together with mesh, puzzling plumbing, an inaccessible gas shut-off valve, and more.
Dear Kitchen: Y r u like this!??
But then came the catharsis that is only possible with a giant, gas-powered saw. Awwww yeah.
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" (It's a good thing my contractor found me amusing.)
Looking better already.
Something something cleansing destruction being good for the soul. I think this is what Marie Kondo was talking about when she talked about the magic of getting rid of clutter. Or an entire room of your house and a wall. So much room for activities.
Electrical was channeled through concrete walls - something no other contractor was willing to even suggest, I might add - the vent was opened up, and it was time to start putting up the rails.
Note the "shim" in the far right corner. Yeeep.
It's worth noting how much angry-laughter was caused by this little sheet of paper. Then again, other people aren't dealing with 70 year old condos built by mythological creatures. That's just me.
But, once the initial pain of getting the rails up was done, the cabs went up without too much of a hitch.Well, one hitch. That fridge cabinet wasn't supposed to overhang the wall. If the walls had been, y'know, STRAIGHT, the remaining wall would cover the cabinet with about an inch and change to spare.
You see that back wall, though? Yeah, baby. Like butter. Ok, not butter. Definitely not butter. That was sheer force, willpower, and measuring skill (it's true, I'm a measuring savant).
Soffits started being framed in, and the microhood was hung under the vent tube with care.
Then the perfectly matched crown molding was hung, and we devised a way to make it look pretty instead of stupid.
Then all the base cabs went in, and I assembled and installed all the drawers. Correctly. The first time. And I didn't brag about it at all until now.
Cat tested.
Around this time, I started to have some serious countertop reservations. We hadn't settled on a backsplash tile, though I was pretty sure that I was in love with the Nabi Arctic Blue from Tilebar (below right). The heart wants what it wants.
But the countertop question had me losing sleep. From top to bottom, caesarstone quartz:
1. Ocean Foam
2. Himalayan Moon (for funsies!)
3. Clamshell
4. Raw Concrete
5. Pebble
We'd ordered Clamshell originally, which had a reddish undertone I really didn't like. I was leaning towards the two extremes: Ocean Foam or Pebble.
Turned out the original countertop order never went in, so the change was pretty easy and the countertop people actually knew we needed a countertop this time. Kismet, I tell ya.
The countertops were installed with much cursing. The seam is actually over the left drawer unit, meaning the entire right corner piece was one enormous piece of quartz.
Now it was time for backsplash. Naturally, I chose the most fiddly, irregular, handmade, frou frou BS on the planet. Which my contractor made a point to remind me about. Frequently. But, I had no doubts, and after a false start, it started flying up.
Things were really starting to come together now.
The backsplash was grouted and the faucet was in. I got a Pfister Xtract faucet (it's got the GE water filter that lives under the sink). We crammed so much stuff in a 24" sink cabinet. I'll admit, the faucet looks way oversized for the sink, too. I don't care. I love it.
Under cabinet lighting and receptacles start to go iAppliances go in, and the custom fabricated wood threshold goes in and the kitchen starts to look like someone actually planned all of this. On purpose.
Only thing left is painting, with oversight from the fluffy one.
Look, ma! It's done!
Fin.
8 years ago
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
bxev thanked Beth H. :
cs929