The kitchen renovation has begun

[fastpat]

Occaisionally I get the thought "what was I thinking" when I agreed with my wife to get this done, but it will look good in a month or so.

This...


and this...


Now look like this...


And this...

[Moses]

Take lots of pictures. I love this stuff.

[fastpat]

Alrighty, lots of pictures it is.

Here's the plan. We're doing just the kitchen.

This is the original floor plan, except the cooktop was in a work island in the kitichen center, but it's generally the same. The wall on the right in the drawing separates the kitchen from the den(formerly a garage).


This is the new floor plan, and is pretty well written in stone. Minor details that require decisions and changes are made on the fly. Much more open, and warmer for people I think. Lots more cabinet space and counter tops. The curved lines on the right with A2 designations is a vaulted ceiling hallway, with reused kitchen base cabinets with granite countertops as pantry workspace. The old work island will become a wet bar in the den.

[Moses]

Nice plans. I'll look forward to watching the progress.

[oldE]

Pat,

Don't you just love the feeling you get when the first piece comes out? You're committed to the renovation, there's no turning back. You're on your way to the future!

I like the new plan. Looking forward to seeing how it comes out. (Better you than me, my friend. Been there, done that.)

(By the way, am I seeing snow outside in the shots of the mid-renovation carnage? Shouldn't you folks be into spring-like weather by now?)

Keep us posted.

Les

[fastpat]

Originally posted by oldE
Pat,

Don't you just love the feeling you get when the first piece comes out? You're committed to the renovation, there's no turning back. You're on your way to the future!

I like the new plan. Looking forward to seeing how it comes out. (Better you than me, my friend. Been there, done that.)

(By the way, am I seeing snow outside in the shots of the mid-renovation carnage? Shouldn't you folks be into spring-like weather by now?)

Keep us posted.

Les

No, that's not snow just the morning sun lighting up the deck. It was 67F here yesterday afternoon, and 49F now (9AM). Long range forecasts say we'll get two more sub-freezing episodes, then warmth.

Yeah, we're committed now, without a doubt. About 4 feet of the suspended floor in the den has to come up too, and a like amount of ceiling sheetrock, with some of the blown in fiberglass insulation being bagged up for reuse.

When the kitchen project is completed, the den floor replacement begins. I'm handling that myself since it's purely framing and flooring for the most part. Some exterior brickwork will be farmed out, the old garage door was not removed by the PO when they did the den conversion, so that hole has to be altered for doors and windows. My, oh, my, isn't this fun.

The den:

[fastpat]

My wife and I finalized the counter top color. There's so many to choose from, it's difficult. It's Dupont Zodiaq in Cappuccino for those wishing to take a look, our cabinets will be finished in cherry stain. I captured their color experimentation page which is as close as you can get to seeing it in person. We bought actual samples of the stuff in several colors to help, but since it's 93% quartz stone, no two pieces are exactly alike.

[pwd72s]

Cindy has been talking a kitchen remodel here. She doesn't like the cabinets, among other things. Fine by me...she can remodel all she likes. But the day the contractor arrives is the day I leave for Reno or somewhere, and she can call me when it's over.

[Zeke]

Paul, see my post on the other thread about remodel costs. If you get a great contractor that you enjoy, you will look forward to his arrival every day. Just leave him alone for a few hours at a time and then enjoy the comraderie and accomplishment day by day. Folks, this is supposed to be fun stuff, not a root canal!

[fastpat]

I agree, while it's more than a bit of an inconvenience, I like to see the progress, and I'm learning about some materials that are used today that weren't available when I last did a major renovation. For example, the sub-flooring going in where the new wall between the den and kitchen is called Advantech and has a 50 year warranty when used as intended. The 48 inch edges are tongue and groove which reduces the chance of floor flexing and squeeks. They're using an adhesive with it too. That will be the sub-floor material for the rest of the den.

And last, I like to cook too, and help my wife when she cooks quite often, so have a vested interest in the project's quality and appearance.

[Rick Lee]

I don't see any guns, slaves or stars and bars in those photos. Must be someone else's house.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
I don't see any guns, slaves or stars and bars in those photos. Must be someone else's house.

Just to make you happy, Rick, here you go.

[JeremyD]

Looks good Pat -

We are in the finishing touches of a remodel that included the kitchen.

Phew - I'll be glad when it's done.

[fastpat]

Jeremy, that curved work island looks very functional, but wasn't in tune with our room shape and the traffic flow, etc. That will look great though.

Here's some additional photos for an update, it's progressing nicely.

Cat scan and lab work on the new wall area.


The new raised portion of the den floor. The whole den will have a floor at this height, the same as the rest of the house by the end of summer. That's my portion of this project, i.e. phase two. This early raised portion was required by the revision to the wall position and shape. It's interesting to see how the structural supports were fashioned, and that exactly how I will do the rest. Also in view is the garage door, never removed by the PO when they did the conversion from garage to den.




The knee wall supports for the 2x10 floor joists which rest on the old garage cement slab.


The stud walls going in, and this is about the time when I noticed, well after downloading nearly 80 photos that I have major dust on the lens, sheetrock demolition dust no doubt.


One of two pantries is framed in, this is the smaller one, the other one is about 13 inches more in width, the two together are about the same space as the three in the old kitchen. We'll resuse two of the three doors for these, and the third door will be used for the bathroom in the den.


The smaller of the two pantries, on the north side of the room.


After cleanup at the end of the work day, while not so visible, the plumbers were here today and accomplished all the rough plumbing tasks except one, for the work island sink, which can't be done until the work island is in place. It's beginning to look like something.

[fastpat]

Progress is being made, here's the arched ceiling hallway from the eating area of the kitchen into the den.


More details of the construction of the hallway ceiling framing. There are two alcoves in this hallway, where two of the old kitchen base cabinets will be reused, including the granite countertops. One of the countertops will have to be cut down where the sink used to be, and we're still working out the details of how we want to do that.


We also had the two dining room windows removed, for reuse in the den later this year. A large picture window will replace both, with less height but more than twice the width, to allow a better view of the, well, view. Base cabinets will be under the window, the old windows were too tall for that.






The replacement flooring pieces arrived too. Where the cabinets, pantries, and assorted vents and wires were located requires the flooring to be replaced and the new flooring to be "woven" into the existing floor. Then the whole thing will be refinished.

[Rick V]

Looks good Pat, The last major renovation was our master bath. We cut the floor put and started over. I vowed at that point, that my next house would be made of metal. I can weld, bend and form, but all that wood stuff is beyond me.
I am holding back the scolding of loosing a garage, because I know you will put my foot in my mouth.

[Big Ed]

Originally posted by fastpat
Cat scan and lab work on the new wall area.

Are those your pet's names? That is great!

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Rick V
Looks good Pat, The last major renovation was our master bath. We cut the floor put and started over. I vowed at that point, that my next house would be made of metal. I can weld, bend and form, but all that wood stuff is beyond me.
I am holding back the scolding of loosing a garage, because I know you will put my foot in my mouth.

Yeah, it's embarassing for me! The PO did that conversion, and we have so much "stuff", returning it to garage status was a non-starter. It's been used as a sorta' garage/storage area since we moved in, and now that the attic wiring issues are about to be resolved by the electrician rewiring the new kitchen, the rest of the attic flooring will go in and much of the "stuff" now in the den area will go up there. The big struggle for finishing the den flooring will be the removal of the garage door, the PO simply boxed the door in with framing and sheetrock. I'll save the door for the new garage, it's a 16 footer, too expensive to scrap.

The kitchen is being done professionally so that the disruption is kept to the shortest time possible, if I'd done it it would have taken at least three months, and I'd still have to farm out the cabinets and countertops. You only have to do dish washing in the bath tub a few times to want it over with.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Big Ed
Are those your pet's names? That is great!

No, that's Max (the lab) and Borrom (the cat, named for a 19th century Thai king). The rest of the menagerie weren't in the picture, but just as active.