FINALLY!!! My Kitchen Remodel starts next week!

[DawnCt1]

We have decided to not move and as a result of that, we are finally redoing our kitchen. Believe me, it is LONG overdue. Walking into my kitchen will take you back to 1985. Cedar paneled ceilings, rustic, yellow pine beams, track lighting, soffits and the worst? White laminate cabinets with oak trip. The best part of my kitchen or I should say,the only good part? The red oak picture frame floors which are staying. Of course by the time we re arrange things they will need to be refinished or repaired. I guess we will see.
Of course projects like this snowball, and since I had my ceilings painted in preparation for selling our house, I don't want to repaint the entire downstairs again or attempt to match the ceiling texture. When the beams and cedar ceiling come out, we are going to put in a coffered, white ceiling.
We are also removing the 6 inch tile from the garage entry way, laundry room, closets and half bath and going with a very neutral 13 inch tile. At least I hope its neutral when its in.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Anxious to follow along! I love kitchen remodels!

 

[DawnCt1]

Anxious to follow along! I love kitchen remodels!

Give me encouraging, life saving tips. My contractor is excellent, very AFFORDABLE but not real fast. That actually is fine with me, because I can make modifications if I don't like something.

 

[Bren's Mom]

Give me encouraging, life saving tips. My contractor is excellent, very AFFORDABLE but not real fast. That actually is fine with me, because I can make modifications if I don't like something.

When we did a kitchen remodel in prep for selling our old house, the hardest part for me was meals. If you can plan in advance, and have a specific area set up for 'cooking' as well as lots of disposables, you'll save your sanity!

We had a wet bar in our basement...so I moved the toater and toaster oven down there. And also made use of all of the small appliances I always forget I have...a quesadilla maker, waffle maker, etc. Oh, and we had a microwave down there as well.

I kept a sharpie near the plastic cups...so that we could write our names on it and use it over and over. I hated wasting TOO many when cups are easily rinsed out.

Good luck! Can't wait to see pics of the progress and final product!

 

[DimArchers]

I love what you did with the ceiling! Great idea matching it with the cabinets

 

[DawnCt1]

When we did a kitchen remodel in prep for selling our old house, the hardest part for me was meals. If you can plan in advance, and have a specific area set up for 'cooking' as well as lots of disposables, you'll save your sanity!

We had a wet bar in our basement...so I moved the toater and toaster oven down there. And also made use of all of the small appliances I always forget I have...a quesadilla maker, waffle maker, etc. Oh, and we had a microwave down there as well.

I kept a sharpie near the plastic cups...so that we could write our names on it and use it over and over. I hated wasting TOO many when cups are easily rinsed out.

Good luck! Can't wait to see pics of the progress and final product!

Having an outdated kitchen was a HUGE obstacle to selling our house. We would have lowered the price if we had found something comparable with 45 minutes of DHs commute without a HUGE price difference. He travels a lot, he can work from home many days, and it works out better to live closer to an airport than an office.

We did redo parts of the backyard that goes to the pool and the lower part of the yard. Last year it was "passable", this spring, the winter and the rain really did a job on the pressure treated timber stairs, etc. It looks great. When I can load the pictures I will post before and after shots.

 

[dislaney]

Can't wait to follow along your kitchen remodel. I see one in my near future so hopefully I will learn something! Good luck.

 

[DawnCt1]

I love what you did with the ceiling! Great idea matching it with the cabinets

But that was in 1985. It was nice then. It is going along with the cabinets.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Give me encouraging, life saving tips.

I think Bren's Mom's suggestion was a good one. Trying to keep as much normalcy as possible despite the chaos. I'd add having as much planning in place as possible in order to keep renovation time as short as possible. (I know you'll do that!)

I know you're done with them, lol, but I kind of like your ceilings and beams, too. Our original plans included adding beams (later scrapped, because those plans involved ripping down walls, etc). We'll be putting wood ceilings like yours in our sunroom that's under construction now (our builder's like yours - great, but slow, too).

Have you considered leaving but painting them?

 

[allison443]

Those laminate cabinets with the oak trim! I had them installed in my prior house when we remodeled our kitchen in the 80s! I loved them....at the time!

 

[DawnCt1]

I think Bren's Mom's suggestion was a good one. Trying to keep as much normalcy as possible despite the chaos. I'd add having as much planning in place as possible in order to keep renovation time as short as possible. (I know you'll do that!)

I know you're done with them, lol, but I kind of like your ceilings and beams, too. Our original plans included adding beams (later scrapped, because those plans involved ripping down walls, etc). We'll be putting wood ceilings like yours in our sunroom that's under construction now (our builder's like yours - great, but slow, too).

Have you considered leaving but painting them?

I would like the wood ceilings in a sunroom or a porch, and since they are real beams' when we build a porch I will try to incorporate them into the plan. Its just that the wood ceilings are dated for the kitchen and they suck all of the light out of the kitchen. We have chosen a transitional style white cabinet with a glaze, since I do not want to repaint my woodwork. We are keeping the maple stained woodwork and the glaze blends the cabinets into the rest of the house. Also, we do not have a window directly into the work area of the kitchen. That part of the kitchen is between the breakfast area with a very large window and the family room, hence, white will keep it bright. I don't want to paint over the existing ceiling because I want it a bit less casual. The coffered ceiling will cover up where the beam adjoining the rest of the house was and provide a transition to the breakfast area which we built 15 years ago to hide the support beam. Example of some coffered ceilings. http://www.justmoulding.com/galleries/coffered-ceilings/

 

[ZachnElli]

When a good friend of mine redid her kitchen she cooked almost every meal (after the first few weeks of fast food!) on their grill. She used her pots and pans on it. And when the remodel was done like 6 months later (it took forever! but she kept changing her mind!), her DH let her get new pots and pans too!

 

[DawnCt1]

When a good friend of mine redid her kitchen she cooked almost every meal (after the first few weeks of fast food!) on their grill. She used her pots and pans on it. And when the remodel was done like 6 months later (it took forever! but she kept changing her mind!), her DH let her get new pots and pans too!

I haven't bought new dishes since we had the breakfast room added on. Sunday I order 13, 4 piece place settings of different colors of Fiestaware. I may need new cookware when its over.
The only thing that bothers me is that I have a white Kenmore dishwasher that is PERFECT. It is quiet, nothing is wrong with it, except...its not stainless steel. What do I do with a perfectly good dishwasher? I would be happy to give it away.

 

[shelly3girls]

We just finished our remodel yesterday! We tore two rooms down to the studs and started from scratch. I highly recommend reading through the GardenWeb Kitchen forums. I saved myself from so many mistakes! Who knew you didn't need an electrical switch for a garbage disposal? My kitchen designer and contractor were awesome but the forums taught me about the little details.

 

[Imzadi]

Anxious to follow along! I love kitchen remodels!

Yes, I like Dawn's remodels. I remember her bathroom remodel. Or was it the guest bathroom.

 

[DawnCt1]

We just finished our remodel yesterday! We tore two rooms down to the studs and started from scratch. I highly recommend reading through the GardenWeb Kitchen forums. I saved myself from so many mistakes! Who knew you didn't need an electrical switch for a garbage disposal? My kitchen designer and contractor were awesome but the forums taught me about the little details.

I didn't know that. Mine is on a switch already and the sink will stay in the same place. I will get over to the GardenWeb however. Good idea. I have jury duty today and will be leaving soon.

 

[elgerber]

I haven't bought new dishes since we had the breakfast room added on. Sunday I order 13, 4 piece place settings of different colors of Fiestaware. I may need new cookware when its over.
The only thing that bothers me is that I have a white Kenmore dishwasher that is PERFECT. It is quiet, nothing is wrong with it, except...its not stainless steel. What do I do with a perfectly good dishwasher? I would be happy to give it away.

You can list the dishwasher on Craigs List. You could probably even sell it, but if you want to give it away someone will be glad to take it off your hands I'm sure.

 

[walden]

Give me encouraging, life saving tips. My contractor is excellent, very AFFORDABLE but not real fast. That actually is fine with me, because I can make modifications if I don't like something.

I had my circa 1978 kitchen completely redone (taken down to the studs and rebuilt) 3 years ago. It was a total pain living through the remodel but well worth it in the end. Another vote here for the Gardenweb Kitchen forum as a support. I think the ladies there saved my sanity!

Some Helpful Tips:
1. Make sure that the contractor seals off the area as thoroughly as he can with plastic tarps. It will reduce the inevitable dust seeping into the rest of the house. Do your best to keep up with vacuuming up the dust daily with a HEPA filter, don't leave it all until the end.

2. If you have pets, make arrangements to keep them secured well away from the work area. Consider having them kenneled during the day if activities are going to be really noisy. Mine went to doggy day care during the two day demolition and later the installation of the new hardwood floor.

3. Take-out for every meal gets both expensive and boring surprisingly fast! I set up a temporary kichen in the dining room. I moved the old fridge (freezer well stocked with homemade TV dinner type meals in disposable packaging) in there, coffeepot, crockpot, old counter top microwave, a few dishes and real knives, paper plates, cups and plastic silverware. Also a trashcan and dish pan and detergent for washing the few non-disposable utensils and dishes (water taken from the powder room sink). We were able to use the grill outside during the first few weeks, but our remodel went into a snowy December.

4. Accept that once your new kitchen is finished you will suddenly discover the *need* for a complete new set of pots and pans, new dishes, and every new kitchen appliance and gadget in the world. Even those you never knew existed or used before your kitchen remodel. I don't know why, but this seems to be an almost universal phenomenom.

Hope this helps, and do let us know how it all goes.

 

[Ponygirl]

If you need a good tax deductible home for used appliances, cabinets, dishes or any type of light fixture, etc., I highly recommend this place:

http://www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx

There is a search by state function so you can see if there is one near you. Please accept this as a shameless plug for one of my favorite charities!

Good luck on the remodel and please post photos as things progress.