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A pictorial History of a Kitchen Remodel (pic heavy)

We decided to remodel the kitchen. (this statement should just stand on it's own, for all eternity)
The kitchen was nice, but poorly designed. There was very little storage, no room for people to move around. We had this non-functional two-level island which didn't work as prep, and didn't work as a bar, it just didn't work and was in the way. The kitchen was nicely done in granite, but we didn't like the granite (I hated it actually). It was dark, awkward and forced everyone into the same corner. To remodel it was going to be hard (very). We live here, and we don't have anywhere else to go (what with animals and all). This would be one of the harder projects I've ever done. So, here's what happened....
First, the planning phase (i.e. how can we do this and still live here at the same time???). We decided to break the remodel down into three (3) phases. The first was to construct a built-in hutch on the west wall of the kitchen. Wife has hundreds of cookbooks, china and I have some great cast iron stuff. Prior to this, the west wall of the kitchen was bare. We needed storage, and lots of it. So, Phase 1 was the west wall. Phase 2 would be a large island, and Phase 3 would be to take out all the appliances, sink, stove and gut and replace everything.
We would do all the work ourselves.
I don't have pictures of every step, but I do have some of the phases.
Here is phase 1, the west wall with the built-in hutch...(under construction)
Of course, before very long, my better half had to start putting stuff in it! I no sooner got the doors hung and she was stuffing these cabinets full!! And I mean FULL!!. So, soon, even before we got the quartzite counter top in here's what it looked like....
[img]https://i.imgur.com/RPR6bDV.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/RPR6bDV.jpg[/img]
Next was the island. I had to tear out the old island, and all the old granite (on the island). It was a small island, and the wife wanted a big island (a GIANT island). So I built cabinets for a 5'x9' island, it's HUGE!! The quartzite for this weighed almost 3/4 of a TON! Notice the quartzite top now on the hutch in the background. These were from the same slab. Also notice the black granite we were removing on the left. All of this granite was removed and trashed. Here's a pic....
[img]https://i.imgur.com/GIbGooh.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/GIbGooh.jpg[/img]
Then came phase 3, the hardest of all. We wanted a Farm Sink, and those are not easy, but worse, the wife wanted a "pot filler" over her new commercial stove. My GAWD, if I ever build another house, I will start with a pot filler and build the entire house around it....they're THAT hard!. Anyway, the first thing was to set all the new cabinets and get the farm sink in. The sink was granite, and it weighed 195lbs, and it's a monster...here's the pics after it was set...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/VE3q9Zh.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/VE3q9Zh.jpg[/img]
Notice all the temporary countertops made from 3/4 ACX plywood and treated spar varnish. These were our countertops for months while the fabricators fabricated the quartzite for the counters. I even had to build and plumb an extra board to hold the faucet (which took some doing). Every step had to be planned just right.
Of course, Murphy's law would have the dishwasher crap the bed in the middle of this, so that was replaced too.. Then it was onto the stove...a commercial stove...and believe me folks, these puppies are NOT easy to do!
So there was too much heat and too much gas and too much burning of oxygen inside the house, so we couldn't just put in the stove, we also had to put in a serious ventilation system to evacuate the CO2 and makeup air into the house. So a big vent hood was in order. It's a 1400 cfm hood, which required we had to put makeup air units in the house.
A really nice double oven 48" commercial stove set up with (6) burners, and (8) if you count the two under the grate. Here's a picture....
[img]https://i.imgur.com/oa00P09.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/oa00P09.jpg[/img]
As you can see in the last picture, the temporary countertops are still in place. They have since been replaced with the quartzite you saw on the island (we bought multiple slabs to do this job). You can also see the infamous pot-filler over the stove!
The kitchen is now nearly finished, much further than these pictures, but if you ever want to remodel a kitchen, just ask yourself how much patience and sanity you have, because it ain't easy!
Hope you enjoyed.
Comments
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
I feel for ya. All the same things happened here. I think the most surprising worst part was trying to agree on things like kitchen sink, faucets, and (dear GOD!) counter tops!!
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Very nice.
Please do! I'd love to see them!
We had ours redone last summer.
3 weeks without a sink or stove.
The grill worked overtime for sure.
I did all of the plumbing and electrical, left the rest to the pro's.
Our contractor uses mostly Amish/Mennonite labor.
We ended up going with a Hickory counter top and love it.
She is eye balling the main bathroom next.
The work looks great, Bob. I know you two will enjoy it immensely.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
We took over our living room and added it to the kitchen and then added a new living room.
Had an interesting experience. The builder for the addition had just finished an addition for our neighbor so asked him to do our addition. Did not think he would do it as he normally did only new houses not additions. We got about 3/4 done and had to go away for one of our events.
Came back and found out that our builder ran away with the neighbors wife.
We were lucky to find new builder to finish the project. These type of things are always an experience. We had custom cabinets built, so coordination between builder, cabinet maker, plumber, electrician and appliances was a real juggling act.