Above: View from the dining room, before
Above: View from the hallway entrance, before
Above: The old appliances
While the kitchen went through a minor facelift when we bought the house in 1993, much of the kitchen retained its original 1950's look:
Above: View from the dining room, before
Above: View from the hallway entrance, before
Above: The old appliances
Step 1: New lighting
The kitchen was previously illuminated by a center ceiling fan fixture, and a single light over the kitchen sink in a soffit. New recessed lights (with compact flourescent bulbs) and low voltage pendant lights were installed first (under cabinet lights will be added once the new cabinets are installed):
(the soffit will not be replaced in the new design. New 42" cherry cabinets will run to the ceiling)
Step #2: Appliances
New Stainless steel appliances go in. The dual fuel range and fridge are first, with an over the range microwave and dishwasher to go in later (that's my daughter Tina on the right. She is not part of the kitchen):
Step 3: Upgrading the electrical
In order to be able to accomodate a dishwasher, range hood/mircowave and central A/C, we had to have the old electrical service upgraded from 70 amps to 200 amps (LaRue Electrical Construction did a great job for us on this). Here are the before (on the left) and after shots (on the right) of the disconnect in the garage and subpanel in the basement:
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Step 4: Demo
The demolition has started. It is slow going due to the fact that the wall are contructed with 3/4th inch of plaster over drywall. The corners are reinforced with wire mesh imbedded in the plaster. It does not break away in large chunks like drywall:
Here are two shots after the demo was completed. On the one to the right you can see the new plumbing vent I installed (the original plumbing did not have a vent for the kitchen sink)
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Step 5: New Windows
The old windows were single pane, and not low enough for shorter family members to see out of (see pictures under Step 1). There were casement style, which did not match the double hung windows on the rest of the house. The new windows required reframing and rebricking the exterior. Below is a shot of me putting in the new framing, and then a picture of the new windows installed.
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Step 6: Flooring and Cabinets;
We chose Brazilian cherry flooring, and American Woodmark Townsend Square Cherry Spice cabinets. We went with the all plywood box upgrade on the cabinets for better strength and longevity. The image on the left shows Lucille using the pneumatic stapler (in flip flops, no less), and the one on the right shows the base cabinets and dishwasher installed.
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Step 7 (at this point, who's counting anyway?)
The upper cabinets went in next. I strongly recommend installing the inside and under cabinet lighting before putting up the uppers. We used low voltage lights, with a transformer inside a special line/low voltage junction box (one on each side of the kitchen). They are controlled by an electronic dimmer switch (visible in one of the next group of photos). The over the range microwave went in after the uppers were secure (This involved two tries and some swearing to get it right). It will be vented through cabinet above/attic/roof eventually. I'll probably wait for an extremely hot day to go up into the attic for that project (another opportunity to work on my swearing).
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Steps 8 - 358: Painting and cabinet hardware
Here you can see Lucille applying the wall paint. The color is Sunset Beige. Since most sunsets I've witnessed don't exactly scream "beige", I'd prefer to call it "Adobe", or "Coffee Milkshake" or "Bailey's with some Kaluha Thrown In". A look at one wall after the paint/cabinet valance went up can be seen on the right (the unfinished areas will get a tile backsplash, but I decided to play golf first). I have no idea how that martini shaker got there.
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Next steps: Trim & Reinstalling the Glass Cabinet
The glass cabinet I made years ago (using brass hardware salvaged from a 1930's walk-in freezer) was refinished to better match the cherry theme of the kitchen. I placed it a bit lower on the wall for better access this time. You can see some of the trim above the cabinet and around the oak-toned door to the basement/deck (it will also need refinishing, which is good because I wasn't tired enough of working on this project yet!).
Almost Done!
The Silestone Quartz countertops were installed on June 11. The design is called "African Red". On the right you can see where I started to install the tile backsplash (tumbled marble). The woman on the TV looks concerned about the gap under the window, but she doesn't have to worry since the trim (the "apron" to be precise) will cover it once the tile is grouted. Although the picture was taken in full daylight, you can still see some of the shadows created by the undercabinet lighting. The picture on the left shows me installing the tile.
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And finally...
It is pretty much done! Here are the after pictures (to see them side-by-side with the before shots, click here to go to the Photos page, and scroll down to the end):
The range wall:
The sink/window:
The view from the dining room:
The view toward the dining room:
