We DIO for our remodel, except the granite. It took years iirc, first the demo then designing it, saving $$, ordering cabs, returning cabs installing cabs, ordering garden window, waiting on granite, granite arriving, snapping in half on install, waiting on granite. Still loving my kitchen. New floor a few years ago after fridge water dispenser line failed and seeped under vinyl floor. Squish. Houston we have a problem.
BIG problem, entire kitchen from counters down was removed or trashed and 5 day mold mildew mitigation commenced. This mess extended to the bathroom too. Vanity removed, toilet too. Moved kitchen outdoors it was July. Cooked on camp stove under a tarp.
Redid concrete kitchen and bath floors with metallic epoxy, it’s blue! Like the Caribbean!
Lowers reinstalled, Soft close drawers got messed, now slow to close drawers. One granite counter square to house meaning not square to adjoining counters. Overall I’m satisfied though.
I ended up building a 2 story addition to our house. Lower floor for washer and dryer, water heater, pressure tank for well and a utility sink. Put in in floor hydronic heat in that room. It’s 10’x20’. I did all the design, framing and plumbing. I also did the excavation. Rented a track hoe.
The second story to this is sort of a catch all off our bedroom. It gives our dogs access to the back yard though.
Had to do the addition to create the kitchen.
I did not do the electrical (the breaker box had to be moved). Nor did I do the concrete work. That’s out of the area of what I know how to do.
When our kitchen turned into a literal hot mess that was absolutely a job for many professionals all the way through. In the end it was the guy painting or the finish carpenter that drove me bonkers.
Today most of the upper cabinets were installed! Tomorrow the plan is to move the one giant lower lazy Susan cabinet into the house from the garage, which will apparently involve removing some of our doors because the thing is honking huge. Hopefully it requires a minimum of chaos.
All the necessary materials are in our possession at this point except the window. The sink is in the basement next to the rest of the cabinets waiting to be installed, and I picked up a box of grout on Saturday. I hope the window gets here in the next couple of days, because the countertop people will need to measure the windowsill to fabricate a little piece of additional countertop for it so we can put plants up there without destroying anything with water. It would be nice if they could deal with everything at once, but I am certainly not going to tell them to hold off on measuring the countertop in order to wait for the window to be installed. As it is, I think there will be at least a few days when nothing much is happening because we are waiting for countertop installation.
I guess they could finish up the electrical stuff (basically just installing lighting at this point - maybe they can hold off on installing the electrical outlets along the backsplash, or at least hold off on putting in the new plates until the backsplash is done) and reinstall the stove and the fridge and the dishwasher, and we could use them by themselves without waiting for the countertop? And then the stove and the fridge can just be pulled away from the wall to do the backsplash once the countertop is installed, or is that crazy talk? We are managing OK cooking, but washing dishes while leaning sideways over the bathtub is a royal PITA. It would be really nice to have the dishwasher back.
The threatened snow storm has delayed our project. A carpenter removed a chunk of the backsplash and the electricians fished up some wires and replaced the phone line they damaged. (The phone line was a lot of issues, and they probably damaged it by tugging gently on it. So, a major annoyance for me, but not really their fault.) But the electricians didn’t have time to finish, especially with today being bad weather for their van.
So I’m waiting to hear when we are re-scheduled. I taped saran wrap over the hole in the wall, because it’s an exterior wall, and there’s no insulation other than the dead air space between the two layers of wall. But other than an ugly patch with no tile and the hole, everything is in working order, and we moved the most important things back to the kitchen and are just waiting to hear when this will happen.
I agreed with the electricians that my goal is not to get it done as soon as possible, but with as little kitchen down-time as possible.
We were hung out to dry by incompetent and unprofessional contractors on a Galveston home rehab, so we did the kitchen ourselves. After taking the doors off the cabinets, we decided we liked it better that way because you didn’t have to open a door to see what was in there. So we just varnished the old cabinets and left the doors off.
The floor was done w/ that fake laminated wood that just snaps together over a thin cushion pad we put in first. The counter top had been custom made w/ Formica, and we really didn’t like it, so we covered it w/ cool bath size tiles in bright blue, including the splash board.
Nearly everything we did ourselves was the result of paying one contractor, who would run away mid job w/ the money.Then the replacement new contractor would screw things up, so I would have to do it for free after already paying two people! Live and learn, now I can do just about everything needed to build a house.
Well yesterday we had the first extremely minor hiccup. I was working in the next room with the door closed most of the afternoon, and the carpenter swapped the positions of two cabinets which are the same size, but not actually interchangeable. He’s a nice guy, and he does indeed have a copy of the layout showing which cabinet goes where, so I am sure that when I bring it up, he will apologize and swap them back. Luckily they are both on the end of the sections where they are, so hopefully it isn’t a huge deal.
Also, holy cow our floor is uneven. I talked to him about it a bit yesterday, and definitely before we build out the attic (if we ever do) we should get a structural engineer to look in the basement.
Good that you checked. That shouldn’t be too big a deal to fix. At least, my brother was able to remove all the cabinets from my mom’s apartment, intact and in good shape to reinstall elsehwhere, in less than a day.
Well, they deconstructed my kitchen today, and we’ve already had a disaster. They broke the fitting on the gas stove, removing it from the wall. The stove is old, and I don’t know whether the fitting can be replaced. The general contractor will talk to his friend in the appliance repair shop tomorrow.
We will certainly be without a stove for longer than the one day they promised. And… the stove is old, but I love it. It roasts incredibly well. And I make roasts most every weekend except when it’s really hot out. And it has a configuration that’s out of fashion (a large oven on the top, and a smaller one below instead of a warming drawer) and last time I looked, which was less than a year ago, there wasn’t anything on the market in that configuration. I mostly use the small oven as storage space, but about twice a year, when I host Thanksgiving or New Year’s Eve, it’s really nice to be able to use it.
I have one of those, but it does not have a range top. It’s mounted in the cabinets about counter top height. Pans in cabinets below and above. I’m not home right now or I would give you the model.
I agree it’s a good set up. The smaller oven is perfect for pizza and casseroles and such. You end up with two ovens, which can really help.
I don’t know if any also incorporate a range top. That’s separate in our kitchen.
Oh, that’s easy. But all the ones i can find have the smaller oven on top, and if i want to roast a turkey (or possibly even a large chicken), or bake a lot of cookies at the same time, i need to reach very low. Mine has the full size oven on top, where it’s easy to use.
I honestly have no idea what people use the small oven for routinely, that makes it popular to have it in the favored position. I’ve used it to cook a casserole my sister brought for Thanksgiving, and a lasagna i made for me Year’s Eve, but for most of my weekly cooking, i prefer to use a full sized oven.
