Kitchen reno update:

Slow going as we handle the prep work ourselves. Between the kitchen and the dining room is a partition wall, which we will be taking down ourselves (or, so we hope), but before that, we have to remove the raised floor on which our dining room now sits. It’s about an 8-in rise/step up that apparently was all the rage in the late ’80s but has only served to contribute to falls, trips, and what seems to be a very low ceiling.

Our hope was that we could save the hardwoods currently in the dining room to replace once the flooring was dropped to be level with the rest of the main floor.

Four hours in, we only have two pieces off, and it looks like much of it has been glued down, along with a massive amount of stapling, each of which has to be individually removed. We are hoping the glue was only for these edging pieces and the rest will be simply stapled, but even that maybe too time intensive. And, honestly, we haven’t saved even one piece that has the tongue and groove intact.

It may just be that we have to scrap the plan to reuse and order brand new. Sucks from both a savings standpoint and a landfill standpoint.

#bestlaidplans #kitchenrenovation #kitchenreno

Kitchen reno update:

The second load of 5 (three more to go!) was delivered 8:30 a.m. this morning. We decided, after a lot of discussion, to go with RTA cabinet boxes from Ikea after a ton of research and talking to others who have done a similar project about their take on the quality.

Initially, we thought we could supplement our current cabinets with additional cabinets from the original company we used when we did our first kitchen reno. But, we became increasingly concerned that the color from old cabinet to new wouldn’t match and our kitchen would end up looking like a multi-white-shaded zebra 

We then began thinking about replacing ALL of our cabinets, instead. Because the cost to do so would double our renovation budget, we opted to save money where we could without sacrificing quality. To that end, we went with the pricier all wood boxes and will get quotes for custom cabinet doors from another company.

The downside is, the money we saved will go into time spent as we put close to 20 cabinets together. Another downside is that Ikea is no unicorn where back orders are concerned. We only have five more cabinets — and all their bits — on back order, but the best estimate we can get out of them is somewhere in between 3 and 6 months. And because you can’t start a kitchen renovation without your boxes, it means, our living room is going to look like this through Thanksgiving.

Yay 

(JohnR and I going through the checklist of items and inspecting them. Fun fact, they give you 48 hours to do so, so I guess that puts a lid on our Sunday!)

Kitchen reno update. Miles to go before we sleep, but the big news is…

We found an oven! It will take a decade (or like, three months) to make its pretty self to us, but the order is done and dusted. Woo hoo! We already have the dreamiest cooktop sitting on our dining room floor, and the fridge was able to be installed so we can use it while we wait for eternity to arrive.

Cabinets will be ordered this week at which time we will be told when we can expect them. I am stocking up on hair coloring because I know the gray will be here before the cabinets.

I also spent the wee hours of the morning researching kitchen sinks. This seems like a no-brainer, but it ain’t. Steel gauge is apparently something we should pay attention to. And we might consider a ceramic sink. Crazy!

We are looking for a range hood for an island 36 inch cooktop. We are thinking of going with an in-ceiling range vent. See sample photo below. Has anyone ever used one?

Next item on the to do list is for us to remove the flooring and try to save the hardwoods for replacement once we drop the dining room step down. Has anyone ever removed flooring and actually been able to save the tongue and groove? Apparently, the eye roll our contractor gave us when we told him what we planned to do doesn’t bode well for success.