Kitchen Phase 3, The Rebuild

After thoroughly destroying our kitchen including removing walls and doorways, we realized that we needed to start putting it back together and the first order of business was to have Handyman Dave install a new (orange) exterior door and add a temporary door to the 3-season porch (soon to be mudroom).

With that done, we figured that we should replace the gaping hole at the top of the basement stair before one of us met our maker.

To fix the hole, Janine got our her trusty and relatively foolproof miter saw to craft a rock solid platform to replace the asbestos cover one that had been removed. After a few screws and a topping of plywood we had access to our basement back

With that safety hazard taken care of we began the process of closing off the kitchen from the basement stair and re-drywalling the kitchen (Matt did a bunch of boring electrical work including multiple inspections from the City before this step). We quickly learned that we are both slow and terrible at drywalling. After numerous nights of labor the kitchen still looked like this:

Not pretty but at least it is starting to look like a room, if not a kitchen.

Kitchen Phase 2, Demolition

As mentioned in the previous post the kitchen layout was atrocious, so we began our demolition journey by punching a hole into our 3 season porch to connect to the basement and door to the driveway. This space will be our new entryway from the side of the house into what will be a sun and mud room area.

Kitchen Phase 1

Having gone almost 6 months without a major home improvement project we were itching to put a hole in a wall, especially a kitchen wall. Our kitchen, while usable, is the most poorly designed room in the house. The room measures 11'x11' with all of the cabinets and counter on one wall and all of the appliances on another wall. The result is that prep work is done on one side and then food is carried across the room to the stove, which is not an efficient setup. To make matters worse, the there is a door to the basement and window that sits low to the ground making a large part of the room unusable. Did I also mention the original 1950s red laminate counter top, cheap vinyl floors and dated appliances?

In order to maximize our space we decided to do a full gut renovation removing everything, closing off the door to the basement, and raising the window above cabinet height. We figured that if we are going to do it, we are going to go all the way.

After reading a few hundred kitchen magazines, design books, and blogs we decided on a general theme of clean contemporary lines with rich warm wood cabinets and crisp cool surfaces.

With these inspiration rooms in mind, all we have left is to destroy the current nightmare of a kitchen...

Major Project #4 - Sliding Door

Ahhh, to access our new deck and fenced in yard, all we had to do was cut a giant whole in the side of the house and install a door.  And come on, don't you think this wall is just screaming for a door?

 

 

 This window on the left is soon to be history.

We debated for some time about french doors vs. sliding doors, and to make the best use of our dining space, we finally settled on a slider. 

 

Can you believe they didn't build it with this door to begin with?