Skip to main content

So Long, 1986 Kitchen

When we moved into this house, the kitchen was mostly functional, but ugly.  Our house was built in 1986, and the kitchen showed everything that the 80s had to offer by way of style.  Grainy oak cabinets, heavy hardware, beige laminate countertops, a white tile backsplash with little flowers painted on, and a weird tiny eat-in area that had been converted to a useless tile countertop that was impossible to keep clean.




In the three years that we have lived here, I complained about the ugliness of the kitchen approximately 8,888,888,888,888 times.  We discussed several iterations of this renovation ranging from taking down load-bearing walls, reconfiguring the layout, and gutting everything to just getting new cabinet hardware.  This winter, when we had a few months without too many commitments, we tackled the renovation.  Obviously, by we I mean that Jon did the bulk of the work, I complained about how many times I had to clean tile dust off the spatulas and Colin did everything he could to climb into the cabinets and followed our contractor around giving him about a foot of space. 

It started on President's Day weekend, ended on Mother's Day (I was fully expecting it to be an anniversary present... in July), and was worth every second (and penny).  We did as much work as we could ourselves because we wanted to and it's the most cost effective.  We were lucky our contractor, CJW Home Improvement (major recommendations!), was willing to work with us while we muddled along and called him in to do all the complicated parts.  In a (large) nutshell, the steps were as follows:

- Empty the cabinets, remove the doors, sand, degloss, prime and paint.
- Get a new refrigerator.  Realize that the new fridge won't fit under the cabinet above it.  Move the cabinet.  
- Sand, degloss, prime and paint cabinet doors.  2-3 coats of paint on both sides with 24 hours drying time, this took the longest.  Many a night we spent in the basement. 
- Remove weird tile counter in tiny eat-in area.  Discover that it was designed and installed to last forever.  Glue, cement, nails, stripped screws covered with wood filler.  They had it all.  




- Take down old tile backsplash.  Have fun using a chisel and use this as an opportunity to get out any aggression.  Completely destroy the drywall. 
- Get new cabinets, assemble, sand, prime and paint.
- Contractor sees sketchy electrical behind our now-destroyed drywall, so we end up adding a couple outlets and thanking our stars we didn't have a fire.  
- Contractor puts in new heating blower and air conditioning ducts and removes old scary baseboard.
- Contractor installs new cabinets, which requires him to cut the floor tile, thus creating a noise and a mess I'd never imagined before.
- Order granite counters.  Look at hundreds of slabs of granite in huge warehouses.
- Granite guy comes to make the template and tells us we need to have the old counters removed.
- Contractor removes the old counters and the sink.  Things look bleak when I'm washing dishes in the bathroom sink.


- Jon goes away for a bachelor party and I flee to my parents house where they have counters and a sink. 
- Granite gets installed.  It's so pretty.

- Contractor installs the sink.  It's large enough to swim in. 
- We spend several weeks agonizing over the backsplash.  Samples are purchased, propped up, and stared at.  We finally pick one.
- Home stretch.  Contractor installs backsplash, ties up loose ends, and grouts.  We're so close.
- Repaint the walls and call it done.
- And by done, we mean that now we need to replace the windows because the wood trim looks bad, and we're repainting the dining room.  But, DONE!
-Oh, and I love it! More counter and cabinet space than I know what to do with!






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lemon Garlic Baked Salmon

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and ate all the cookies.  I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, but all the treats I've been eating for the past month have been making me feel a little sluggish.  When I saw a one day "cleanse" I thought I'd give it a try.  Loosely, it called for drinking hot lemon water first thing in the morning, a Glowing Green Smoothie for breakfast, Ginger Lemon Cayenne Detox tea and vegetables for lunch and dinner. My day went like this: First thing after my run: Hot Lemon water - This is a nice way to warm up.  I do this all the time. Breakfast: Glowing Green Smoothie - I liked it a lot.  Very refreshing and hydrating.  Wished I hadn't baked donuts the night before as they were staring me down on the kitchen counter. Lunch: Spicy Mulligatawny Soup - I'm pretty sure that's not what they meant by "salad," but I went with it. Snack: Ginger Lemon Cayenne Detox tea - Zingy and invigorat...

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

A few weeks ago we went into Boston for the day. After chasing little people up, down, and around the Children's Museum, watching Colin climb up three stories on a jungle gym and James' excitement at a room filled with golf balls, we went to Flour Bakery for lunch.  I had the Roasted Sweet Potato sandwich, and it was amazing. I just checked the menu , and it looks like they don't offer it right now, but lucky for you I made a salad that's just as good.  The original sandwich was roasted sweet potato, apple, walnut pesto, blue cheese and kale on wheat bread.  I took some liberties, changed up some ingredients, and made it into a salad. Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Romaine and Kale, shredded Olive oil Sweet potato rounds, roasted Apple, sliced Avocado Roasted tomatoes Goat cheese Balsamic Vinegar Drizzle kale and romaine with olive oil Sweet potatoes - coat slices or cubes with olive oil and roast at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Tomatoes - toss with olive o...

My big sister and the egg sandwich that might cure her cancer

I usually like to keep things light hearted here At Home With Ann.  Simple recipes, awkward jokes, toddler antics and kitchen fiascos.  But we all experience times in life when we are thrown for a loop and face something that stops us in our tracks.  I, like a classic control freak, tend to keep things to myself.   Everything is under control, see? My house is clean, dinner is cooked, the dishes are done, I'm on schedule, I blow dried my hair, I don't need help.  See?  See?   But this time it's not about me, it's not something I can control, and wishing it away won't actually make it go away. Me, my Mom and Sarah last Summer Three years ago my sister, Sarah, was diagnosed with a form of leukemia called AML (acute myeloid leukemia).  My reaction was typical.  This happens to other people.  Not my 33 year old sister who lives by the ocean, gets tons of fresh air and exercise, and eats healthier than anyone who has ever entered Whole...