We went along our merry way for about 6 months to a year before the paint started chipping off the cabinets where the pans bumped the frame as we pulled them in and out where they were stored. I also found that most of the time, when I needed a pan it was completely buried in a pile at the very back of the cabinet. I had to crawl into the cabinet to dig the necessary pan out. But I couldn't always reach and I almost always bumped my head as I was crawling back out.
We thought well maybe we'll just reface the cabinets. We got a couple of quotes but the cost was unimaginable. For what they were going to do and the small improvement that we would get, it wasn't worth all the money. We gave up on the idea and just moved on to contemplating repainting the cabinets and replacing the doors. Unfortunately, there aren't many companies out there that provide a service of re-dooring cabinets. We did find one company willing to do re-dooring though, Kitchen Tune-up.
Kitchen Tune-up came out to give us an estimate for re-dooring our kitchen. We were pleasantly surprised. We were even more surprised to learn that for just a little more (but less than the cost of refacing at those other companies) we could get all brand new cabinets, a new sink, and a new granite counter top. Wow!
It was one of those lengthy decision making processes where I hemmed and hawed about whether it was worth the money and whether we should spend that much right now, whether it was a good time and whether it was a good decision. But eventually, Eric convinced me that this was the right choice. Boy am I glad that he did. While it's been a long process with all the construction going on and it's disrupted our lives quite dramatically, I know we're lucky because as far as kitchen projects go ours has been a short one. I've heard stories from friends about kitchens taking months for a remodel. Ours will be a couple of weeks in total (with only about a week of time where we really couldn't cook our meals).
Destruction
As "D-day" approached, we hurriedly prepared the room for the big change. We removed the vinyl paneling from the bottom half of the walls, scraped off the gooey glue, plastered, sanded, plastered again and sanded one final time. Next we primed and painted the walls in preparation for the venetian plaster. Knowing that the walls were so uneven that we couldn't stand to have them painted one color, we opted for the venetian plaster as it is supposed to look a bit bumpy and uneven. There is also quite a bit of variation in color so it hides some of the worst spots. After two coats of venetian plaster and a coat of sealant, we were ready for the crown molding and base boards. We successfully hung crown molding and attached base boards on one wall before D-day arrived.
Destruction of our old cabinets was quick work. They had them out in about a half a day.
Construction
During the afternoon of Day 1, they began hanging the cabinets. Eric stayed home from work and dutifully sent me pictures of the ongoing process. I looked forward to pictures as they came two by two until I was able to leave work for the day and take in the view of our new kitchen myself.
Day 2 arrived and I worked from home, so I got to peer into the kitchen every once in a while to observe the progress and snap a few pictures to send to Eric. He was equally as eager to receive the photos and imaging the progress that was taking place at home. By the end of Day 2, almost all of the cabinets were hung but there were no doors yet.
Getting Closer, but Not Quite There Yet
Unplanned Day 3 (Saturday) arrived and poor Ron had to spend his afternoon hanging our cabinet doors and crown molding.
Ron came back yet again (Day 4) on Monday to install the hardware and work on some finishing touches. Unfortunately, he's still not done yet. The cabinet company sent him the wrong pantry cabinet (dark brown stain instead of natural) and he'll have to return to install a new one when he receives it in a couple of weeks. We should also have our beautiful new counter tops in about two weeks. Then we'll add the final finishing touch ourselves when we hang and grout the back splash tile.
We can't wait to enjoy the final product, but even so we're living it up right now.
We'll keep you posted on progress as it continues.
2 comments:
Wow! It looks fantastic. We have plans to eventually remodel our kitchen so we will want to chat with you about it!
We're happy to share what we've learned throughout this process and talk about Kitchen Tune-up. We've had such a good experience. It definitely beats some of the horror stories we've heard. Come on over and see how it all turns out. We should have our counter tops and the final touches done within 3-4 weeks. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway. The last details are up to us and everybody knows how we can delay finishing a project.)
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