Building a kitchen, not a slot car
Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:07 amWe have often talked about home repairs/remodeling efforts here. It is always fun to see how folks do things and how skills in building small cars translates into the 1:1 world.
We purchased this house almost two years ago. At that time, we liked alot of things, but HATED the kitchen. Our last house had a massive open floor plan with a gorgeous kitchen and this one was designed by an idiot. The room was small, the island was un-useable, you could not stand in front of the fridge and open the doors, and there was no functional flow to it. Two people in the kitchen constantly collided if one was cooking and the other was cleaning. Most of it was due to a huge pantry closet that was 75% wasted space, the island being across from the stove, too close to the fridge, etc. The cabinets were in decent shape overall but suffered from quite a bit of water damage to the finish. All of the doors needed refinishing.
These are the orginal sales listing pictures:
So, I tore out the pantry and replaced it with tall pantry cabinets - this alone opened up the room greatly. I had to build a soffit as the new cabinets were taller than what was there plus I had to hide a completely poor HVAC duct system.
I then had to move the island away from the fridge and centered the sink to the window in the dinette. It is now possible to get the fridge out for cleaning, etc. and you can now walk past it or stand in front of it while the doors are open.
I had to install new tongue and groove oak flooring in the areas the walls once stood, expanded the island so there is ample prep space and replaced all appliances as half of the old ones did not work, or work properly.
The only things the fetching Mrs. Reinecke and I didn't do was install the granite counters and blow the texture on the new wall areas. We prepped and painted the cabinets with a special paint using an HPLV sprayer, trimmed out the island, and redid the electrical and plumbing. We also did the dry-stack backsplash.
As the kids and their spouses are coming here for Christmas, I'll be stopping for now and have a small punch list of things to still do; like putting poly on the new flooring areas.
So here it is today:
The wife is thrilled with the outcome, but the downside is I've torn my left rotator cuff in 4 places...PT for now, probably surgery after the beginning of the year. So, I'm done lifting for now...crap. Maybe if I'd 3D printed all the work...
We purchased this house almost two years ago. At that time, we liked alot of things, but HATED the kitchen. Our last house had a massive open floor plan with a gorgeous kitchen and this one was designed by an idiot. The room was small, the island was un-useable, you could not stand in front of the fridge and open the doors, and there was no functional flow to it. Two people in the kitchen constantly collided if one was cooking and the other was cleaning. Most of it was due to a huge pantry closet that was 75% wasted space, the island being across from the stove, too close to the fridge, etc. The cabinets were in decent shape overall but suffered from quite a bit of water damage to the finish. All of the doors needed refinishing.
These are the orginal sales listing pictures:
So, I tore out the pantry and replaced it with tall pantry cabinets - this alone opened up the room greatly. I had to build a soffit as the new cabinets were taller than what was there plus I had to hide a completely poor HVAC duct system.
I then had to move the island away from the fridge and centered the sink to the window in the dinette. It is now possible to get the fridge out for cleaning, etc. and you can now walk past it or stand in front of it while the doors are open.
I had to install new tongue and groove oak flooring in the areas the walls once stood, expanded the island so there is ample prep space and replaced all appliances as half of the old ones did not work, or work properly.
The only things the fetching Mrs. Reinecke and I didn't do was install the granite counters and blow the texture on the new wall areas. We prepped and painted the cabinets with a special paint using an HPLV sprayer, trimmed out the island, and redid the electrical and plumbing. We also did the dry-stack backsplash.
As the kids and their spouses are coming here for Christmas, I'll be stopping for now and have a small punch list of things to still do; like putting poly on the new flooring areas.
So here it is today:
The wife is thrilled with the outcome, but the downside is I've torn my left rotator cuff in 4 places...PT for now, probably surgery after the beginning of the year. So, I'm done lifting for now...crap. Maybe if I'd 3D printed all the work...