I now completely understand why contractors don’t like removing cabinets intact. It takes for-flipping-ever. We had to be extra careful because they were going off to another home.
From the onset, we thought removing the granite was going to be our biggest headache.
Our contractor told us to give the granite a rap with a small sized sledgehammer, which we did. And, just like he said, it cracked easily without damaging the cabinets below. We had the most incompetent counter installer for our last renovation, but we sent them a silent thanks for not properly gluing the countertops down, which made for unexpectedly easier removal.
The large pieces were easy to smash into manageable bits to haul away, although we still have three modest sized pieces we’d love to give away if anyone is interested.
The thing that gave us fits was the 96-in tall pantry cabinet, which not only weighed a ton, but had to be lowered on its side in order to get it through the front door. Even the young one will be popping Advil tonight.
The folks that purchased the cabinets were at our house bright and early this morning, we helped them load up their two trucks, and off our old cabinets went to their new home in Baltimore. The couple was gracious enough to allow us to keep our oven through the Thanksgiving holiday before they come to pick that up as well as a few other appliances.
With that, we are done until the day after Thanksgiving when we finish taking down the partition wall to get ready for the pros to come in. (We are currently without running water in our kitchen, which is exactly as bad as it sounds. We are hopeful a temporary sink will be delivered by the end of the week.)
Christine Anne Scott 