Kitchen Renovation: How It Came To Be

Even the day we put the offer in on our house, we knew we would want to redo the kitchen at some point.  It was pretty awful.

But we knew it would be a big project (i.e. mucho $$), so we didn't expect to do it right away.  And then there was the whole wedding thing that took up a lot of time and money.  Well, the tax man was pretty good to us this year, so the discussions of what to do with our sudden "fortune" ensued.

We threw around a few ideas.  Pay off B's truck so we have no car payments? (Paid mine off as my Christmas present to myself - woot!) Save it? Buy me a new car? (maybe that was just my idea...) Redo the basement?  Kitchen renovation?  So many choices...and only enough $$ for one (or two).

B is always on the lookout for sales of things we'll eventually need, and noticed that Lowe's was running a sale on in stock Hickory cabinets.  We had looked at them in passing before and at that point decided we liked the style.  So we figured it couldn't hurt to at least go in and see what we would be looking at for cost.

After an exciting 3.5 hour Friday night date with the kitchen designer at Lowe's we had a quote - and a less than thrilling design.  It was essentially the same design we had previously. Which we strongly disliked.

We hosted our first holiday this year - Easter - and mentioned to my grandparents we were deciding between the kitchen and the basement for our next project.  My Grandpa said "Do the kitchen. You see it everyday."  The next major house project was decided.  But should we do it now, or pay off the truck?

A friend (happens to be our tile guy who also made an appearance in the wine/screw/vice grip fiasco) said "there's plenty of time left on your truck, just do the kitchen." YES! Thank YOU!

So, we needed better options, cause if we were going to do it, we were going to do it right and the way we wanted.  B stopped by our local lumber store - yard? whatever - and dropped off the dimensions of the kitchen with a designer there.

A few days later, we received an e-mail with two brand-spankin' new designs that we LOVED.  The part we didn't love? The price.  So, being the bargain shoppers we are, we called Lowe's to make an appointment for some changes.

Lowe's: "The person you worked with isn't here, she's working the day shift now."
B: "Well that's fine, we just want to make some changes, we'll work with anyone."
Lowe's: "Uh you can't do that. It doesn't work that way."

A letter to corporate and call from the manager later and we had some apologies on our hands.  Lucky for them, Home Depot was less than forthcoming with a quote.  After asking the dimensions she said something like "between $3,000 and $10,000".  Right. Thanks for being specific.

Now to wrap it up: Met with local lumber store/yard/whatever - price was higher than we liked. Told Lowe's we could get a better price - aka kind of exaggerated the truth - they upgraded us to all plywood (which is apparently a really good thing *shrug*) and gave us 10% off.  We told them HD was having a granite sale (100% true!), and got ourselves 10% off that too.

We still ended up spending more than we wanted I'm sure, I haven't even bothered to add up all the receipts.  But I don't regret it.  I'm happy when I look at my kitchen, I enjoy being in it - cooking, doing dishes, standing there staring at it in all its glory - whatever.  Maybe the novelty will wear off, especially with the doing dishes part, but I we truly love it and I don't think we could have asked for more.  It's completely us and there's no doubt it added substantial value to our home.

All the remains of the previous kitchen is what amounts to maybe one sheet of drywall, and the garbage disposal. (Ok fine, and the ceiling and skylight. But still.)  Not knowing when it'll be 100% finished, here's a couple before and afters from approximately the same angles.

So much more 2010, so much less 1960s.

(See me struggling with these side by side pictures? Yea, I'm working on it... bear with me, please? I'd rather get posts up at this point, we're working on the getting it pretty thing.)

Kitchen Renovation: The Drawer Handle Saga

So, as I said the other day we got all the handles put on the cabinet doors, but not yet for the drawers.  Why? Well, thanks for asking.  Reason #1: The screws supplied in the little bag with the handle... were too short.  So, B's dad drilled the appropriate holes for us, and we were just one quick stop at Lowe's away from having handles!

That night we headed out to make the other necessary returns (which came to like $200 - sahweet!), and to grab some baseboard and the screws for the handle.  A nice guy in the screw department (I'm sure there's a better name for it than that...) who looked about 16, walked us over to the handle section where they have a handy-dandy display of knob screws people usually buy when the ones supplied with the hardware are too short. Score! (Or eeeaaaasy peasey as the captain of our cruise earlier this year would say - over the loudspeaker - while we were stumbling through the hall because of the larger than normal waves.)

We excitedly (maybe that's an exaggeration) came home to install the handles.  Reason #2: It took about 5 seconds for B to realize that yes, they're actually still too short.  Right.  Well, at least Lowe's is just down the street, and we had errands to run the next day anyway.  Next morning we dropped B's truck off early for some maintenance and swung by Lowe's again.  We returned the previous screws (cause hey, its $5) and made our way over to the screw department and the same young man-boy was there.  We let him know they were too short and he helped us find longer ones.  Sweet.

Long day of shopping (and new tires on BOTH cars - yea, sure cleaned out the credit we got on our returns) later, and we arrive home, again excitedly(!), to get those silly handles attached.  Well, the screws were plenty long in fact, Reason #3: They were too long.  We also realized that we had returned the "wrong" handle earlier - one of them was a slightly different color.  Lucky for us, some friends wanted to go to dinner at a restaurant right next to Lowe's, so we finished our Saturday night date passing through the self checkout at Lowe's one last time, with spacers for the screws and a handle of the correct color/finish.

Phew.  So here we go.  The before, can you find the drill holes?

B workin' hard to get them just right:

And of course, the finished products:

I wasn't sure on the whole "in the middle of the drawer thing" for the handles, but it's grown on me, and I like it, even if it means bending down that extra 2 inches to open the drawer.

Even the goofy skinny cabinet I still haven't decided what to do with got a cute little brushed nickle handle:

And probably my favorite thing that happened when B's dad came up last week, was the attaching of the dishwasher to the counter.  This was a huge reason as to why I wanted a new kitchen in the first place (small problem, big solution.)  So here's the old setup, versus the new one.

It is UNDER the counter, and attached. Every time I open it, it doesn't threaten to topple over on me.  Nor is it the world's greatest crumb catcher anymore.  *AWESOME*  It's flush with the cabinets, so a little under the counter, meaning it doesn't stick out and get in the way of my life. So I *love* it.

Now, the dilemma came on how to attach it, since we weren't exactly going to drill into the granite, cause I can't imagine that would end well.  One idea was to use a strong adhesive to attach the wood piece, and then screw the dishwasher into that.  Probably would have worked just fine.  He ended up screwing the wood piece into the cabinet on one side and the filler that was on the other.  Works just fine as well.  Then of course, he screwed the dishwasher into the piece of wood. 

Really all we have left at this point is having the cabinet doors straightened, and the pendant lights installed, so I'm thinking a full before and after might be in order soon?  We shall see :)

Anyway, let's end on an adorable note, with M all cuddled up in her blanket watching TV.

Kitchen Renovation: Hardware and Details

Yesterday B's dad came over to help finish up some of the detail work in the kitchen.  I'm pretty excited about the difference it makes having trim around the window...

No more insulation hanging down! Looks better huh? We'll have to decide if we're going to paint it or leave it as is or what - but we'll deal with that later.

He also installed (most) of the hardware....

And before anyone freaks out - YES they are *not* even right now.  The doors need to be adjusted on almost all the cabinets, but he measured them all out the same.  If you look at the bottoms of any of the cabinets, you can see that they don't line up.  Those will get done at the time we get around the putting the soft close do-dads on.  We were more concerned about just having handles to use.  There are a few drawers that did not get done (hence no pictures) - that's an ongoing saga I'll share another time.

He also put on those panels I had mentioned a while back - the ones B bought without my knowledge - they go on the peninsula to make it look more "finished".  I don't have a good picture of it from before, but you can get the idea in this one:

See how the closest side of the peninsula is just... a single panel(ish thing)? Didn't look too bad in my opinion.  B thought it looked cheap, and that it was flimsy.  Whatevs. Here's the after, with the panels that look like cabinets doors:

I'm not so much in love with this. Also, see how each one has a dark side? I had a plan of how I wanted to have it laid out - and this isn't it. (B works from home Mondays and Fridays, so here was here, I was at work, he couldn't remember.  Well, and I can't remember now either, but still.)  BUT, since it can't be changed at this point, I'm working on getting used to it.  I guess it probably gives it a more upscale look... or something.... I don't know... what do you think?

We also finally got around to returning the incorrect baseboards Lowe's had sent along with some excess materials - and they took them back without any real questions - so that was nice at least.  We checked out some stools today at Target.  There's been somewhat of an ongoing battle about the height we need.  I felt the shorter, 24 inch ones would be the correct height, because I don't feel like the counters are very high.  B said the higher ones (29 inch).  We looked at both today at Target.  I was convinced it was the 24 inch, and while I was sitting on it B said it was a mini stool.  He set up a "mock counter" using some of the stools and displays at the store and gave me one to sit in.

Me: "Yea, this is perfect, see."
B: "Right, its perfect."
Me: "Wait... did you... give me the bigger one?"
B: *all laughs*

I believe I called him sneaky, and admitted I was wrong. Or something like that.

Anyway, these are the ones we checked out:

But they look JUST like the ones my parents have.  Which isn't really a bad thing, but I'm just saying.  I did just find them in a "swivel" option, which sounds like it might be nice (or course the "swivel" is more expensive and I'll have to justify to B why it'll be worth it...)


I'm also still trying to come up with a storage solution.  I didn't see anything I was interested in at the bajillion (Ok more like 4 - Target, Christmas Tree Shop, Bob's Furniture, and Costco) places we stopped today.  At least nothing at a low enough price!

Might be time to hit up some yard sales and/or Craigslist...

Kitchen Renovation: The Stupid Shelves

Well they arrived - finally.  I have pantry shelves.

 Top Cabinet: pastas, soups, popcorn, broth, oatmeal, with chips and saltines up top.

Bottom Cabinet: peanut butter and other sandwich spreads, applesauce that will go in the fridge once its open, nice big cereal shelf, canned goods.  And yea, that's Chef Boyardee and Spaghetti O's. And no, we don't have kids.

*Sidenote* Before shopping I always ask B what he would like me to get for lunches, etc.  One day he said Spaghetti O's. Okay, that's fine. Spaghetti O's with calcium were on sale (I don't know if they're all like that now or what). Apparently he really meant Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs, and refuses to eat the Spaghetti O's with calcium...

Anyway, I've got some fine tuning of my organization to do, but I'm thrilled to not have all of our food in the same closet as the dog bones anymore.

And that's all for tonight folks - cause I've got some Celtics to keep my fingers crossed for - Let's get it goin' Boston!

Not Much of a Kitchen Update

Nothing new to report on the kitchen today.  I'm just dreaming about all the things I want to buy to finish to it off, such stools for the peninsula, some kind of storage unit/hutch/table, and something to take up room in the dining room.

I know, I shouldn't need *anything* because we just redesigned the whole kitchen to our needs. But here's the thing... all of our kitchen stuff fit in our old cabinets. All of our not-quite-kitchen-but-needs-a-place-to-go-stuff fit into the peninsula... like vases, cook books, candles, tablecloths were on the lower cabinets, and paper, pens, batteries, light bulbs, etc in the drawers on the top.

All of our kitchen stuff fits in our kitchen cabinets.  But...the vases, cook books, candles and tablecloths are currently sitting on the table and futon in the 3rd bedroom (aka M's room).  Everything in the drawers? Well, still in the drawers, just stacked on an old entertainment unit that is for some reason still hanging out in our dining room.

We're lucky enough to have a china cabinet, to house all of our... china (duh), wine glasses, serving platters and other things we don't use on a regular basis.

So, I'm really just brainstorming at this point, spending more money at the moment doesn't seem smart, so it gives me some time to think about what we want I suppose.  When I start thinking more seriously maybe I'll post some pictures and ideas.

Otherwise, my stupid pantry shelves are supposed to be here (and by here I mean Lowe's... so I get to pick them up, convenient eh? (Ok, so it is cause its on my way home from work, but its still annoying)) tomorrow, so let's all keep our fingers crossed hmmm?

Fun Kitchen Purchases

This weekend, while exchanging my brown shelf liners for tan (which B thinks are the same... but they are NOT at all), I made a few purchases.  Certain items in our kitchen just were not going to live up to the new kitchen.

For instance, old drying rack vs new sleek and easily hide-able drying mat:

See, much nicer.  AND it folds up and goes away when there isn't anything on it:

(there's at least one use for that drawer...

and yes M is down there trying to figure out what to do with the other shelves, she's a good helper)

The "Original Drying Mat" was a $4.99 purchase from Bed, Bath & Beyond. It was in one of those stands right when you walk in, and I fell in love, as much as you can fall in love with a drying mat... anyway, so far, so good, two days of dishes and I'm pleased. Also, it's machine washable. So what's *not* to love?

I then found some goodies for the utensils, see the old utensil holder and spoon rest versus the new ones:

Generic black, round, barely-big-enough utensil holder that just blends into the granite and the somewhat ugly red spoon rest (yea, we had a red theme going in the apartment - red spoon rest, red drying rack, and red pots and pans - not so much anymore), versus wooden, rectangular, plenty-of-room-for-all-the-stuff-we-use utensil holders and large spoon rest with a message (Live life passionately, Laugh out loud, Love unconditionally).  Also, the utensil holder has a REMOVABLE bottom for easy cleaning. Thank you Wal-mart for your fantastic wooden innovation - for $7.97. I still have the label on the other side, cause B seemed unsure, but I've decided its not going back. Spoon rest: BB&B, $6.99.  I think they give a more put together and thought out look.  Ok fine, they make me feel like a grown up. Don't ask why, because I don't know. But I'm glad to be done with the red spoon rest.

*Sidenote* A fun tip when dealing with flat top electric ovens: Don't put the spoon rest on the oven.  You will inevitably lay a spoon across an unused burner, and then accidental turn on the wrong burner when trying to boil water. And it will be the one you put the spoon over. And your spoon will start smoking, and you'll have to grab it and run it under cold water. And then your spoon will forever have a new texture, and you'll have to scrub the cook top (only with the special scrubby that came with the stove!).  Don't ask me how I know this.

I also bought some bright and fun place mats (for if I ever clean off the dining room table again...).  Our table is very dark, almost black but not quite, so I wanted something to brighten it up and break up the darkness.

Fun, no? If you don't think so, that's fine. They were ONE DOLLAR each. So I'm not worried about it.

Anywho, I'm done with my classes this term (too bad its only 5 days until the next term starts...) so I'm going to get to cleaning and *hopefully* picking paint.  Friday B's dad is coming to put the trim on the window, secure the dishwasher, add the panels to the peninsula, straighten the doors, add the softclose to the cabinet doors, and install the handles and pulls.

Ok, that's what I hope he's doing. The only thing I'm sure of is the window trim, but a girl can hope, right?

Oh, and here's a cute picture of M, because I love her:

Kitchen Renovation: Day 32 - The Microwave & The IT Genuis

I only titled it that because I don't think my step dad thought I actually would.  But, the microwave, yes, its true, has been installed.  So, here's the before:

Big empty white space, just waiting to be filled by our beautiful microwave that has a start button that works! (Remember, the last two years we have cooked in the microwave by hitting the 'Add One Minute' button, and if it wasn't something to be cooked in increments of a minute, we'd just kind of have to remember to stop it.)

So, B and my awesome step dad (the IT Genius, clearly) got to work again.

Of course it wasn't long until B stripped the screw, and we got a little held up while he manually had to get it out of the wall.  And then, I had to take control and read the directions, since no one else seemed to want to.  I will say, it's more complicated than you'd think!

After more work than I think we expected, the microwave is safely hung.  We also adjusted the feet on the oven so its even with the counter.  I think it looks awesome and really, couldn't be happier with the way everything looks :)

Just a few more finishing touches (and those damn shelves from Lowe's) and we'll be good!  Tomorrow is my last day of class for the term, so I'm hoping maybe later this week I can think about painting...

Kitchen Organization

Nothing in the way of kitchen renovations went on today. But we did have our first home cooked meal in our new kitchen, and used our new stove for the first time - which heats up SO ridiculously fast, its awesome.  I also got to do dishes for the first time, which I was oddly excited about it (I'm sure I'll get over that quickly... by like tomorrow.), and must say I do love the new sink and faucet.

Since not much was done today, I thought I'd follow up a little on my organization and cleaning up.  Over at Young House Love this weekend they are running a "Let's Tackle It Together" project, which just so happened to be cleaning up the kitchen cabinets! Perfect!  Unfortunately I don't have anything groundbreaking-ly creative in the way of organization, just some common sense placement of kitchen necessities. (But, I'm sure the Youngsters will have something wicked awesome, so check with them tomorrow if you're looking for actual tips and not just pictures of my cabinets.)

Starting from the fridge we have the glasses, and the mugs on the other side of the sink...

My favorite, and the one I am most proud of, the storage container cabinet...

Next  the plates and bowls, with the spices on the other side of the stove...

Luckily(?) we aren't too culinary-ly gifted, so our spices are limited. (And you're not imaging those 3 bottles of PAM. I don't know why we have 3)  Down below, we've got the pots and pans to the left of the stove in a super susan, and the mixing bowls and small electrics on the right side in a super susan (cause we like overkill, and what's more overkill than two of these massive cabinets?).

Interesting note, if it's not balanced correctly, the super susan will start to turn on its own (see top right shelf). So, there's something I'll have to work on.

Otherwise, we've got the dual trash can cabinet next to the stove, some small drawers on the end of the peninsula, and some large pots and pans drawers in the middle.  Oh, and this beauty...

Is it not the best utensil drawer ever?  I found this expandable organizer at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and it fits perfect in the top drawer of the peninsula.  (And yes, that is a cow ice cream scoop, thanks for asking.)  The best part, the main section has a little labels with pictures of the utensil that goes there, so B has no excuse for putting anything in the wrong spot.

And I'm soliciting suggestions for what to do with this drawer/shelf thing...

Yes, I understand it is probably *supposed* to be some sort of spice rack.  A very frustrating one, since it wouldn't be too easy to get spices out of there.  Right now, the top shelf is housing my new "Original Drying Mat" that I find much more attractive than an actual drying rack, and the second rack has a few dish rags and pot holders I shoved in there.  Any ideas on what else I could do with it to make it functional? (The shelves do supposedly come out and can be adjusted up and down)

And, in the spirit of organization, I spent a few minutes cleaning out the fridge tonight. (Which if you remember yesterdays asparagus, you know could be scary.)  I filled a trash bag with a variety of things that were too old to be eaten.  I always hate throwing food away, I feel so wasteful, but it was nice to get some of that out of the fridge, so I can actually make a real grocery shopping trip one of these days.

I've also got my fingers crossed that the shelves for my pantry arrive in the next day or two so I can get all of our non-refrigerated actual food organized.  Which will just make me realize we have nothing, and again force me to go grocery shopping.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 30 - Water!

30 days from demo to a fully functional kitchen.  Today was probably the most exciting day yet for me.  We have all the plumbing hooked up!! Big shout out to my step dad for being so totally awesome and getting it all done!  The fridge is in place, the dishwasher is hooked up, and the sink not only has water but drains too, AND the garbage disposal is working.  It was a good, good day.

First, we took three trips to the dump to get rid of all of this:

 It wasn't pretty, but it gone. And I'm grateful.  While the men worked on the plumbing, my mom and I set to cutting out the shelf liners.  After about the sixth shelf, I realized it would be a lot easier to put the liner on top of the shelf with it not in the cabinet, and then cut it out.  Such an obvious solution. (although the drawers were still tough.)

The next task was getting the fridge across the tile, without incident.  Lucky for us, our good friend and tile guy has the perfect solution: an air sled.

It's two pieces you slide under... well anything, and when you turn on the motor they fill up with air, making it much easier to move large objects.

After the plumbing was done, we of course had to test everything out to make sure there weren't any leaks, and to make the garbage disposal worked.  What better way to check it than to shove all the food, that's been in the fridge too long because we couldn't cook it, down the drain?

Yup, some, at least 30 day old, asparagus. I feel disgusting admitting it, but that right there folks, is reality.

And finally, here's the shot of the awesome plumbing job I know you've all been waiting for:

As beautiful as that is, I'm sure you were ACTUALLY looking for a picture of the kitchen put together.  So here you go:

I started getting everything organized, as you can see with the toaster oven and knife block making their appearance.   I've pretty much got the cabinets organized as well, but we'll save that for later.  And for your viewing pleasure, another gratuitous shot of the sink, this time with the fully installed faucet:

I'd like to say it's DONE. But it's not. It's done enough for us to function normally again, which is awesome.  But there's still some little things left, like drawer and door pulls, installing the soft close contraptions on the doors, some detail work, and of course the amazing microwave I've been anxiously awaiting.  Oh yea... and picking a paint color...