Kitchen Before

Back in October, I redid my kitchen. Why haven't I blogged about it before now? Well, remodeling war stories, like home movies and vacation snapshots, are most interesting to the participants..... But Ilva's call for kitchen posts over at Lucullian Delights has changed my mind.

When I started out, my 10 by 12 kitchen had the same white formica cabinets with nail-snapping oak grip bars, formica counters, and sheet vinyl flooring as every other condo, house, or apartment that was built or refurbished between the mid 80's and mid 90's. The package was completed with contractor-grade white appliances. No frills here. No window in the oven. Old school exposed coil burners. A fridge that only had wire shelves--no glass spill-proof shelves, no deli drawer, no wide shelves on the door. No shelves (or light) in the freezer. A noisy and inefficient dishwasher.

I probably spent 9 or 10 months thinking about what to do to the kitchen. The footprint was fine, so I wasn't going to move the plumbing or appliances. I could use more counter space and storage--my pots and plates and glassware and ceramics were spilling out everywhere--but at first, I thought about just refacing the cabinets, changing out the counters and floor, and replacing the appliances.

Then I started resarching and pricing things out, and I realized that for about twice the money I had planned for refacing (and not much more hassle), I could have all new cabinets that were bigger and better organized than the old ones, plus a new bamboo floor, new HiMacs counters, a new undermount sink and fancy faucet, new appliances, and a mosaic tile backsplash--labor and delivery included. Sold!

I bought all of the appliances in one shot back in March. A local appliance store was having a good deal on basic Frigidaire appliances. Since I wasn't looking for commercial-quality stuff, I went ahead and made the purchase. I'm stll getting used to the ceramic-top stove (which has meant that I have to give away my lovingly-seasoned cast iron griddle--bah!), but I love having a fridge with glass shelves, an oven with a door, and a dishwasher with a food grinder and an extra-hot cycle.

I ordered all of my cabinets and the floors back in June, and then it got too hot for me to want to do all of the demolition and prep work that the kitchen needed, so I procrastinated and procrastinated until it got cooler. By that time, the cabinet installers I had lined up were no longer installing in my area. Boo. But they gave me the name of a new installer, and I soon had installation dates lined up--plus (unlike my original installers), the new folks were full-service-contractors, so they could line up a plumber to change an in-the-way baseboard to a kickspace heater. Yay!

I put out a call to my cousin--he runs a carpenter's shop at his day job--and he came down to help me demo the kitchen and lay the new bamboo floor. The demolition and floor laying took a bit more than one day--a busy day, but the process was much simpler than I'd feared.

Then the cabinet guys arrived to assemble and install the cabinets. It was pretty amazing--in three days, they had the baseboard heater swapped out for the kickspace heater and all of the cabinets assembled and installed.

The day after the cabinets were installed, my counter guys came to measure for the countertops. And then I waited....

And waited.

And waited.

The two weeks that had been promised as the ETA of the new counters rolled into three and almost four. Thanksgiving was coming, and I was signed up to bake two pies and make a batch of creamed onions. Yipes....

And then, at the last minute, the counters were finished and installed! I don't think I've ever been happier than when those counters, and the sink and faucet, went in.

And that is pretty much where the kitchen stands now--awaiting the final touches--a bit of trim on the floor, and the installation of the glass mosaic backsplash.




The backsplash. Someday.....

But hey--at least I have plenty of storage, a working sink, and a freezer with a light.



Kitchen After