Well, it’s come to this. I bought this place about 15 months ago. It’s a fixer-upper. It’s a unit in a building built in 1923. The apartment was owned by the same crazy family since the 1960s until I got it. It’s a beautiful place but it needs…help.
Anywho, I’ve done a lot of stuff myself, like restoring the amazing original hardwood floors that had been covered for decades by layers of linoleum (!) tiles (!!) throughout the whole apartment. I also rebuilt a couple closets with that nifty Elfa stuff from the Container Store. Demolished some horrible built-in cabinetry in two of the rooms that was held together entirely with plaster and thin-set.
And now it’s time for the big project: gutting and completely rebuilding the kitchen. No way in hell I’m doing this one myself. The pros are there as I type, while I sit in my comfortable office pretending to get work done. Here is what the place looks like after one day of demolition:
Where the sink used to be. You can’t really see it, but there is some bizarre drainstack plumbing going on back there. I can’t even figure out which risers are being used as vents by the apartment below.
A view into the dining room, currently filled with debris. That electrical line that you see which used to be in the wall? Turns out in also powers my second bedroom which I use as my home office. Did I mention that this place needs help? Yeah. Good thing the electrician is coming tomorrow.
Today they are finishing demolition and removing the old appliances. Half the apartment is blocked off with plastic sheets to keep the dust contained.
Also, the demolition contractors apparently showed up this morning and had forgotten the key that I made for them. Luckily the general contractor also had a key and showed up after they called me in a panic.
“That’s why I always tell clients to make two extra keys.” Good job, general contractor.
The whole project should take about a month, not counting superficial finishing details. I have moved the microwave to my living room. Lots of frozen dinners in my immediate future, I’m sure. But this will totally be worth it. Where that wall came down there will be a brand new peninsula with a built-in gas cooktop and a separate built-in wall oven/micro combination approximately where the beat up old range is siting now.
It’s taken over a year for the Pepperwinkle family to move into the new Chateau, what with one thing and another. Ergo, I will keep you and yours in my thoughts and prayers for swift progress and for your sanity. (Looks good, though!)
Congratulations. We remodeled our kitchen two years ago and we love it. It’s amazing how much progress is seen in that first day of demolition. But to warn you, Cat Whisperer is correct. It goes much more slowly after that.
Agreed. It can really depend on how much your contractor is focused on your project to the exclusion of other work. It can be frustrating when work stops for several days because they have a scheduling conflict.
But I wish you the best, I’m sure it will be completely worth it when it’s done (whenever that turns out to be!)
Roddy
Stop! Grab someone with the plans and make them make you some space for an icemaker and a trash compactor.
Those are the 2 best features of our kitchen. Neverending ice for parties or every summer weekend when our population swells to 12 or more because of the pool.
The trash compactor puts a family of 4’s weekly waste into a small cube for easy disposal.
No dogs in the trash, no fighting bags, no multiple trips, no dropped, dripping, or messy crap.
I’m thinking of dedicating one just for recyclables. Carrying 2 bins each week is a bitch!
I love my new kitchen. I did a ton of planning, and had everything lined up…new appliances in boxes in the garage, new floor in boxes in the living room, new cabinets in boxes in the living room, etc. My GC was awesome. I woke up one morning and saw them demo’ing the old counters. I came home from work to have a new wall in place, complete with electricity, the floor done, all my cabinets mounted, and appliances in place. The next day the granite countertops were installed. The day after that the plumbing was finished. Boom - three days for a complete kitchen makeover.
My favorite non-standard addition is my instant hot water dispenser. I get 200 degree water from a faucet in my sink.
We’re in the middle of a pretty substantial remodel. Our house was built in the 40s and had a crappy one-story addition put on some time in the 60s or 70s. The crappy addition has been knocked down and we’re in the process of replacing it with a much sturdier two-story addition. The first floor will be a family room and the second floor will be a bedroom and bathroom. I am so, so excited about not having to share a bathroom with the kids. I know this is a petty thing to complain about, but one tiny bathroom for a family of four is just not enough!! Anyway, while all this is going on, our dining table has been crammed into the living room and our bed is in the dining room. It’s a little weird sleeping in the dining room, but it’s not so bad. I’ve also been really impressed with the speed everything has happened - in three weeks, we’ve had demo, a new foundation poured, the walls and roof put up, all the plumbing and electrical work done, and the windows installed.
I would love to remodel my kitchen. It wasn’t originally a kitchen (house built in 1849. The original kitchen was a separate building.) and is a good size, but inconvenient to place appliances or storage in. My kitchen has 5 doors, 1 window and a fireplace. It doesn’t leave much room for cupboards.
I’ll try to post a drawing of the kitchen as it is, and will welcome suggestions.
The layout of my kitchen is weird and it’s rather small (it was originally built as a tiny kitchen typical of the style at the time, with a small maid’s room off the back.) The window is too low (so the new counters have to be build in a weird way) and despite taking part of the wall down, I still had to buy fairly small appliances to get everything to fit. It’s going to be amazing when it’s done, though.
Okay. Here’s my kitchen. The greyed-out areas are immovable (or movable with great effort, like relocating doors, etc.) The sink is fixed and has a window over it. Each square represents on sq ft. It’s reasonably to scale, going from memory.
This. I have a regular faucet, with regular hot water. And an extra faucet in the corner for the really hot stuff. I use it for tea/coffee, and occasionally melting caked on food off a utensil/pan.
A good friend of mine kept trying to get me to put in a coffee faucet. If I had unlimited space and money, it would have been fun. But alas…
Oh, and yeah. Big shout out to my GC and his crew.
