When we bought the house, the kitchen was dark and rather dreary. The dark-stained pine cabinetry and wainscoting let little light reflect from the windows in the doors to to porch and breezeway. The carpet on the floors would never hold up to our messy cooking and mud-tracking dogs.
The countertop was top-of-the line 1970's formica, the stove and dishwasher seemed to work, and the refrigerator was fine.
We decided that the row of cabinets above the stove had to go. It boxed in the small galley area and made the kitchen seem small and even darker.
We also picked out new flooring and a new counter top and began deconstruction.
Here the countertop has been removed, the carpet pulled up, and the upper cabinets removed.
It was in preparation for the new countertop that we discovered the old stove was a non-standard size and cutting the top to fit it would make the countertop useless when the stove was replaced. But even worse, the wiring had been chewed by mice (many of whom died in the attempt. Don't ask!). So, a new stove was added to the list.
Then the dishwasher. It too had been chewed by bored rodents. It too must be replaced.
When the electrician came to wire new plugs for the stove and dishwasher (they had been direct-wired before, an electrical no-no), he discovered that the electric stove and the electric dryer were on the same circuit (a bigger no-no) and the wire-size of the circuit was suitable for lighting and small appliances (15 amps) NOT dryers and stoves (30 amps). GREAT BIG NO-NO.
Of course, the electrical service was overloaded and had no space to add a new circuit. So someone in the past attached little single-breaker boxes off the supply side of the main service (here we are getting to serious fire danger since they bypass they main breaker!) to accommodate a few new circuits. And even worse, one of these little babies was not grounded and the metal enclosure of the box itself was electrified! The electrician who was removing it got knocked on his butt!
(I know I am using many exclamation points, but it's hard not to get excited over this.)
Needless to say, we got a new service with more slots for new circuits and new wiring to the stove and dryer. And those little hot boxes got removed. I kept telling myself that I was happy to know about all these problems, but that meter tracking time and materials for the electrician just kept ticking off the dollars.
After the electrical fiasco, the rest of the process went well. New floor, new countertops, and new paint on the cabinets and wainscoting. See for yourself.
Now we're trying to decide what color to paint the walls. Yellow, anyone?
June 24, 2013
We went yellow. The same color we put in the breezeway. We are pleased.
Our recently painted ceiling had to be pulled down due to a leak from the upstairs bathtub!
Underneath the sheetrock was lath and plaster. What a MESS!
November, 2013
By cleaning up the beams, trimming out the edges, and adding drop lights we finally got to a place we are happy with. It only took 4 months to get it done!
