Kitchen Redoux Part 1

Remember my last post about New Year's Resolutions and whatnot??  Well, Numero Uno on the list was to get crackin on the kitchen remodel.  When I say remodel, you must remember that our kitchen is slightly larger than a postage stamp and doesn't give much room for moving things around.  So basically, we just revamped and refreshed stuff using the same layout.



View from the living room doorway







View from adjacent dining room doorway

So there she is.  And no, there is no other countertop space hiding on the other side of the room.  directly across from this area is a small freestanding pantry we bought on Craigslist and the refrigerator.  Those both smoosh together tight in the opening, so no additional counter space is possible.  This is it.  Approximately 6 feet long, including the sink area.  Boo.

Where do I start about all the things that are wrong/bad/gross/ugly??  Well, first, the cabinets are all homemade.  Homemade, meaning they aren't standard size or standard construction.  But they aren't super dated (no scrollwork or 1980's oak here).  We initially priced out new ones from Home Depot which were going to cost $700!!  That's for us to take home unpainted/unstained cabinets and install them ourselves.  Oh, and it's just for the bottom set, not the top!  Yea, I thought it was crazy too.

The major problem though, is that the cabinets are 2 inches shorter in depth than standard cabinets  - our's are 22" deep and standard is 24" deep.  That creates a whole myriad of problems.

See that nasty brown caulk there?  Well, what you are looking at is the spot where the back of the sink meets the back of the laminate countertop up against the wall.  Because the cabinets are so short, the previous owner cut into the back of the countertop to allow for the sink to fit.  Sounds kinda confusing, I know.  But it's an eyesore nonetheless.  Not to mention the ugly dated faux butcher block laminate countertop.

But wait....There's MORE!!

Someone - and I wish I could meet the person who thought this was a good idea - decided to put faux brick as a "backsplash".  Luckily, when Dan moved in, I chose to paint the kitchen red and it hid them somewhat (at least I tell myself that - don't ruin it for me!). 

So first step was to get that crud outta there!  And to our surprise, the counter wasn't even screwed in, just glued.  A few taps underneath with the hammer and off it came. 

Yea, and then we found this....



Gross, I know.  Please don't judge.  Not really sure what happened here, but it put a screeching halt on our countertop plans.  What do you do when you have a gaping hole in the wall??  Plus, our walls aren't drywall, they're lathe and plaster.  My $500 budget just got flushed down the home improvement toilet.

Thanks to the genius of my husband, we figured out a way to rig it so that the hole was covered and the backsplash would hide any imperfections.  Let the next homeowner worry about it! :)

We replaced the missing lathe boards so that it was - somewhat - flush.

Then we covered the "hole" with a sheet of luane cut to size.  A little joint compound and some light sanding and we should be good to go.  The backsplash tile is on mesh, so it should help hide the slight bumps here and there. (Are you noticing a lot of "shoulds" going on??)

Being homemade, of course the cabinets weren't level.  So using my awesome Craftsman Multitool, we shaved down some areas and added shims to level that sucker up.

After all of that - and the fact that the new sink was sitting at my parent's house - we were at a standstill for cutting the countertop.   I pouted for a little bit (I had a strict schedule I was trying to keep) and then we went out to eat.  I think there will be alot of that in the upcoming week.

Here is a sneak peak at what is coming up:

The countertop is going to be black 12x12 granite tiles and the backsplash is a 2x2 slate mosaic.  Pretty :)

Stay tuned as we plow ahead into this remodel and - hopefully - come out unharmed!!