Kitchen Makeover
Mr. Man had our kitchen remolded and it was quite an experience. I absolutely love it and there is so much light coming in and it feels so much larger.
Before:
After:
We started at Lowes, they had a kitchen remodel program that dissipated before it really began. We chose shaker cabinets and granite countertops. We took the wall out between the living room and the kitchen, load-bearing so required a beam which we recessed. Took it down to the studs as there wasn't drywall in kitchen so we drywalled.
I grew up in a home where the ovens were in the walls and I really wanted that,. Mr. Man wanted an island, I was indifferent; however, I absolutely love it. I did not want my sink in the island as I prefer to be old school and look out the window so that is where we put the cooktop.
View looking into living room standing at cooktop on island (we chose mindful gray from valspar as our color)
The renovation was over budget and took forever, January to now, still doing some touch-ups on the walls. We had a few surprises - they said we needed to jack our house up and then told us the joists were upside down. Mr. Man didn't like the quote from Lowes to do the work, so we went with another local contractor. They didn't do flooring - as we also pulled up the original hardwood in the living room and then ran it across the kitchen area since it was going to be an open concept. Bummer we couldn't afford to do the whole house with the same flooring.
We even put in canned lighting - which I absolutely love. We recycled our faucet and handles and pull cups as they were fairly new and fits in with our new kitchen.
I really like the minimalist look and look my flooring to be open and while I loved that electric fireplace, I really wanted to expand the built-ins and put my tv in there. Mr. Man and my brothers kept saying it could not be done but I found someone to make it happen, just need the electrician to come back and put in some juice so I can hide the cords.
Issues we ran into:
Getting to the finish line:
The original contractor didn't do flooring but the guy they sent to do the drywall and cabinet installation - he started a bunch of projects and then got put into jail for a Ponzi scheme a few years back and we were left with an unfinished kitchen. We started the process in January and finally got the kitchen to be usable in May but the drywall still needed sanding and paint finish.
We did not know that we had to have brackets installed in both the island and where the dishwasher was. Turned out there was a piece missing where the dishwasher went so the second contractor bought a cheap piece and put the matching quarter round which hid it perfectly.
Broken Items:
The refrigerator was dropped and the freezer seal got broken - had to replace - but we did get a good deal an LG Black stainless steel with the drawers. Mr. Man did not want one with two drawers and the ice maker is small but it was a great deal. Mr. Man had already gotten a new LG black stainless steel oven with microwave/convention on top (I can't wait for Thanksgiving so I can bake pies and casseroles in TWO different ovens AT THE SAME TIME...squeel...) matching cooktop, and dishwasher.
Island was too close to the fridge - so we paid another contractor to move over but my eating space is really small so I should have listened to Mr. Man and only moved it over about 6 inches or so. My aunt talked about giving me my grandma's antique table that I grew up with but I believe the space is too small <sigh>
Contractor broke my front storm door and the frame around the interior door. We replaced them with the prettiest door ever and got a cool modern handle with touchpad deadbolt - super neat.
Functional issues:
One of the cabinets was the wrong size so the original contractor hung the other cabinets low - Lowes replaced the bad cabinet we had to pay a new contractor to install. Now cabinets are so low that while I can reach them, I can't put anything tall underneath on my counters such as coffee pot, too tall, and my new, cool, yellow Kitchenaide mixer won't fit either. <sad face> We are thinking about reaching out to the second contractor to see how much to raise them to the ceiling.
Floor between the living room and kitchen has a slight rise - not very noticeable but Mr. Man is very unhappy with the flooring - the flooring is beautiful but it was from a discount flooring and there are some imperfections. I am not unhappy at all with it - except the slight hump bothers me. The jacking still didn't make the flooring that even to me.
The eating area is much smaller so Mr. Man's late mother's hutch is in the office and will not fit now into the area. I also do not think that my grandmother's antique table will fit in the area but it would look gorgeous, my current table, well...me no likey...
I also never really liked the open concept; however, it really makes the space feel larger and I wish we had more money as we still need to get the driveway fixes, gutters, eaves & overhangs. Mr. Man really wants a new garage. One day I will have a pool...
What have you been up to?
Before:
After:
We started at Lowes, they had a kitchen remodel program that dissipated before it really began. We chose shaker cabinets and granite countertops. We took the wall out between the living room and the kitchen, load-bearing so required a beam which we recessed. Took it down to the studs as there wasn't drywall in kitchen so we drywalled.
I grew up in a home where the ovens were in the walls and I really wanted that,. Mr. Man wanted an island, I was indifferent; however, I absolutely love it. I did not want my sink in the island as I prefer to be old school and look out the window so that is where we put the cooktop.
View looking into living room standing at cooktop on island (we chose mindful gray from valspar as our color)
The renovation was over budget and took forever, January to now, still doing some touch-ups on the walls. We had a few surprises - they said we needed to jack our house up and then told us the joists were upside down. Mr. Man didn't like the quote from Lowes to do the work, so we went with another local contractor. They didn't do flooring - as we also pulled up the original hardwood in the living room and then ran it across the kitchen area since it was going to be an open concept. Bummer we couldn't afford to do the whole house with the same flooring.
We even put in canned lighting - which I absolutely love. We recycled our faucet and handles and pull cups as they were fairly new and fits in with our new kitchen.
I really like the minimalist look and look my flooring to be open and while I loved that electric fireplace, I really wanted to expand the built-ins and put my tv in there. Mr. Man and my brothers kept saying it could not be done but I found someone to make it happen, just need the electrician to come back and put in some juice so I can hide the cords.
Issues we ran into:
Getting to the finish line:
The original contractor didn't do flooring but the guy they sent to do the drywall and cabinet installation - he started a bunch of projects and then got put into jail for a Ponzi scheme a few years back and we were left with an unfinished kitchen. We started the process in January and finally got the kitchen to be usable in May but the drywall still needed sanding and paint finish.
We did not know that we had to have brackets installed in both the island and where the dishwasher was. Turned out there was a piece missing where the dishwasher went so the second contractor bought a cheap piece and put the matching quarter round which hid it perfectly.
Broken Items:
The refrigerator was dropped and the freezer seal got broken - had to replace - but we did get a good deal an LG Black stainless steel with the drawers. Mr. Man did not want one with two drawers and the ice maker is small but it was a great deal. Mr. Man had already gotten a new LG black stainless steel oven with microwave/convention on top (I can't wait for Thanksgiving so I can bake pies and casseroles in TWO different ovens AT THE SAME TIME...squeel...) matching cooktop, and dishwasher.
Island was too close to the fridge - so we paid another contractor to move over but my eating space is really small so I should have listened to Mr. Man and only moved it over about 6 inches or so. My aunt talked about giving me my grandma's antique table that I grew up with but I believe the space is too small <sigh>
Contractor broke my front storm door and the frame around the interior door. We replaced them with the prettiest door ever and got a cool modern handle with touchpad deadbolt - super neat.
Functional issues:
One of the cabinets was the wrong size so the original contractor hung the other cabinets low - Lowes replaced the bad cabinet we had to pay a new contractor to install. Now cabinets are so low that while I can reach them, I can't put anything tall underneath on my counters such as coffee pot, too tall, and my new, cool, yellow Kitchenaide mixer won't fit either. <sad face> We are thinking about reaching out to the second contractor to see how much to raise them to the ceiling.
Floor between the living room and kitchen has a slight rise - not very noticeable but Mr. Man is very unhappy with the flooring - the flooring is beautiful but it was from a discount flooring and there are some imperfections. I am not unhappy at all with it - except the slight hump bothers me. The jacking still didn't make the flooring that even to me.
The eating area is much smaller so Mr. Man's late mother's hutch is in the office and will not fit now into the area. I also do not think that my grandmother's antique table will fit in the area but it would look gorgeous, my current table, well...me no likey...
I also never really liked the open concept; however, it really makes the space feel larger and I wish we had more money as we still need to get the driveway fixes, gutters, eaves & overhangs. Mr. Man really wants a new garage. One day I will have a pool...
What have you been up to?
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