Remodelling the Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of any home, and this one needed a transplant desperately. The obtrusive peninsula had to go and the electric range, though new, will be replaced with a new gas one.
We gave away the stove and most of the cabinets to our friend Darlene, whose dad is installing a second kitchen in his garage. The refrigerator will be replaced and re-situated and the cabinets on the back wall will be replaced with a pantry.

Since the new stove will require electricity for the microwave hood and ignitors on the gas stove, and will be located on the opposite side of the kitchen, we made the necessary electrical additions and added a gas line. The kitchen will prove to be a major challenge for wiring skills, because we wanted so many "extras" in our new kitchen. Even scaled back to budget, there is a lot to do in the kitchen, and when sometimes the switches did not work properly, we had to re-think and try again.

We plan on an island as the centerpiece for the kitchen that will require more electricity for appropriate lighting. The fluorescent fixture was removed and replaced with a temporary incandescent bulb while Paul wired for the new recessed lighting and installed 3way switches and dimmer switches on both sides of the for the new kitchen.

In place of the rear wall cabinets, we framed out a 7 foot pantry that we know we will never regret. Once the pantry was enclosed, we had no problem filling it with stuff that needed a home.

Some of the work we had to do for the kitchen may not be the most entertaining views on a blog, but it needed to be done and there was lots of it. Because we are entirely remodelling the kitchen the heat registers needed to be moved. In the pictures above, notice there was one near the door that we took out and put near the new pantry, and the one near the sliders had to come out to make room for the refrigerator. Some of the work, like the extension cord that was hardwired for an outdoor spot light, needed attention but really not worth photographing.
Then we found this contraption hanging from the ceiling in the basement that we removed. That may have been to heat the sliders or the basement, but whatever, we took it out.
As we began planning putting in the cabinets, we discovered that the kitchen window jammed in the humid weather and it was ugly and drafty, so we removed the old window and dropped a few hundred on a new casement window.
Unfortunately, our measurements were too small so we exchanged it for a double hung, which was bigger than the previous window but we opened the wall a little and got the larger window in.

The new window really brightens up the kitchen. and does not look so dated. Here's the kitchen almost completely gutted with a working sink. The electrical outlets on either side need updating and we still need a switch for a light over the sink.
Click on this picture to enlarge.

Believe it or not, this was not the worst of what we found under the cabinets, only what was left before we remembered the camera. We found decades of mouse shit in the kitchen.
Finally, we began installing the upper cabinets and the kitchen is beginning to take form. The upper cabinet enclosure will house the microwave hood over the new stove, an additional overhead cabinet will be installed on the right and will hover over the refrigerator.

The bathroom

The bathroom was a tough rehab. the water to the toilet had to be re-routed from an old artesian well that was gravity fed. The main well was cleaner and faster becuase it was actually pumped from the well and was filtered. The plumbing for the tub was a challenge because the tub we chose with surround walls did not line up exactly with the old tub that was installed 40 years ago. We tried to keep as much of the original copper piping as possible, but ended up with a good deal of PEX, which Paul got quite comfortable installing through out the house.

After the initial gutting of the old fixtures, we installed a "light tube" in the bathroom, which is really a sky light without a view. The bathroom has no windows, so the light was welcome. It brightened up the room immensely and eliminated the need to turn on a light during the day. The funky old light/fan combination is still pictured here, but that too was replaced with a more modern fixture that we can share later.

Then we rewired for new lights, and upgraded most of the plumbing. Once the utilities were attached in working order, we added a thick layer of insulation around the bathroom and put up the new walls. Lee worked meticulously to get the ceiling smooth after we installed the sky light and removed the old light fixture.

We had a real tough job getting the tub to line up. The four piece kit contained the tub and three walls that needed to fit together on the sides and the bottom. The small space in which we were working made that difficult enough, but the fact that everything was so inflexible made it almost impossible. We finally managed to get it in, vowing that the master bath installation would be tiled rather than one of these kits.

We need LAUNDRY

We knew where we were going to put a washer and dryer, but once we got it to the house we saw that there were no hook ups for electricity for either appliance and the water access wasn't working.



But with Jacks help, we wired the necessary 220V outlet for the dryer and a regular 110V for the washer. Paul installed new plumbing fixtures, cleaned out the dryer vent and moved the appliances in place. VOILA! We have a functional laundry room. Directly upstairs will be the master Bath, Paul is insistent we put a laundry shoot through the floor.