the kitchen process

you may recall that we made some intermediary cosmetic changes to the kitchen a few months back. in the meantime, we talked about what we'd like to ultimately do. should we gut it and totally rearrange it? should we retain the original built-ins? what kind of cabinets and countertops? yeah, lots of questions.

brian had a couple weeks off as he transitioned into a new job. by the way, if he didn't have this time off, things would have taken much longer. we also had the help of our friend clint (who did our bathroom, as well).

here's what started with and what we ended up doing in january. and by we, i mean primarily brian and clint. somebody had to go to work, right?

first up, general demo. we removed the existing base cabinets and sink, and carved into the pass-through built in. you'll see why later.

next, the floors. brian pulled up the vinyl tiles (as well as a layer of linoleum in some places) and unscrewed a layer of plywood and black paper to reveal the original fir floor. then we put on our matching carhartts, rolled up our sleeves, and got to refinishing it. took us nearly a full of sanding, then two days to seal - a relatively quick turnaround and a crazy good outcome.

see that square near the middle. yeah, that's the wood.

brian with the infamous all-american stripper. paint stripper.

wood putty overload.

final product.

then came some drywall/plaster demo to get a look at the plumbing sitch.

um, and then we could start putting in the new stuff.

we went with ikea cabinets (akurum stat) and sink (domsjo), quartz countertops, and were able to squeeze in an 18-inch dishwasher. we also had an electrician install new recessed lighting and two new pendants (from barnlight electric), which makes an incredible difference.