Kitchen Remodel

So, we heard back from the insurance adjuster on our dishwasher flood. We received more than we expected after meeting the guy, but less than we need to move forward with making things right. We’re going to put the money toward a remodel – unplanned and ill-timed, but hey, it’s still a kitchen remodel, yes?

A very interesting "before" picture of our kitchen. The fridge is usually on the left. And now, it's actually in the dining room.

That picture up there is my little kitchen: early 90s economy pickled oak cabinets, pink countertops, a particleboard subfloor (never, never, never do this, people!), and places where there is no subfloor because it was rotten. That pink countertop hanging there on the left used to have a dishwasher and an 18″ cabinet underneath it, but both are toast. Currently, there are 2x4s supporting it.

Current status: we are moved back into the kitchen, for now, but with the fridge in the dining room and no finished floor. Also, no dishwasher or replacement cabinet. We have gone back and forth about whether or not to move the kitchen next door, to the sunny “dining” room (that is actually a play room) that I have always wanted to put the kitchen in, or leave it where it is and get new cabinets. Because of time and money (Baby coming in three short months! Still a gutted bathroom and two bedrooms to finish before he comes!), we have decided to leave the kitchen where it is. This saves us the expense of re-doing the ceiling (the dining room ceiling is EXTREMELY textured, not suitable for a kitchen), electrical (dining room is, obviously, not wired for counter-height anything, and it needs some other electrical work, such as moving stove outlet), ducting (stove fan), and plumbing (moving the sink and dishwasher). We can just gut the current kitchen, put in a floor and the new cabinets, and be done.

Easy peasy, right? Ha!

Here’s how it’s going to go:

• See that picture above? It’s taken from behind the breakfast bar. We are going to remove that half wall and make that breakfast bar the new entrance to the kitchen. This enlongates the U of our U-shaped kitchen and makes the kitchen go from 9×9 to 9×12. Not huge, but every little bit helps!
• Drywall over the two existing entrances (to the left and right of the breakfast bar).
• Remove soffit and repair ceiling/walls.
• Level and beef up subfloor, install whatever finished floor we decide on.
• Install new base cabinets, new dishwasher, new countertops/sink, and stove/fridge.
• Add open shelving in lieu of uppers on both sides of the U. Leave sink/window wall open for chalkboard and/or art.
• Turn that nook to the right of the breakfast bar into a pantry.
• Install new light fixture and pendant light over sink.

Okay, that’s a lot, and we don’t have a lot of time. Jason will have two weeks off school coming up in a week or so, and that will help. He still has to work his two jobs, but not having homework will mean his evenings are free to work on the kitchen.  My job is to perfect the cabinet design (IKEA, of course) and make the other big design choices (countertop and sink being the main ones). We will go over our insurance budget, but hopefully not too much. I need to find some good deals! Somethings will have to wait because of the budget, like upper cabinets (which we might add at a later date if the dust bugs me) and new stove (HATE my current one).

If you haven’t already, check out my Kitchens board at Pinterest, which is full of loveliness and inspiration, like this:

Source: younghouselove.com via Serina on Pinterest

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