New Kitchen - Half Me Half Lowes

[katwillny]

So my wife has been on me for a new kitchen for the past 8 years. I can t fight it any longer so we compromised between the top end kitchen from a small kitchen outfit and Lowes' more affordable kitchen. We have a split level house and there is a small wall dividing the kitchen from the living dining-living room. I have since reduced the size of said wall to 14 inches on both sides since there were electrical cables and the thermostat cable. The kitchen cabinets and counter tops were ordered and paid for today and should be delivered in 3 to 4 weeks. I will post pics as the works continues.
Edit.. 12/7/12 Pictures of What has been done thus far. The first two pics are of the wall prior to me reducing it to 14 inches. It really opens up the area. I wish i could have knocked it down completely but moving those cables would have sucked.

More To Come.

12/18/2012
The top Kitchen cabinets are out. The soffits are also out and a new wall was put up. Taped and ready to sand and prime. Still have to finish taking down the ceramic tiles, about 2 feet wide left. Saturday i will be removing the bottom cabs and shut off the water.
More To Come

 

[vinny11950]

nice work and nice kitchen space. from the looks, you made very little mess of things when knocking down that wall.

also love the picture of the burning stove.

 

[katwillny]

Vinny,
Thanks, I worked very slow to minimize the dirt and dust. Sanding the wall made a bit of a mess but I also used a damp rag to smooth out the plaster of Paris. That right there is our Breckwell pellet stove. she needed a gasket change hence the dirty glass. I changed the gaskets and she is all clean now. Lots of work yet to be done in the kitchen but im up to the challenge.

 

[vinny11950]

i had not even noticed the pellet stove until you just mentioned it. i was talking about the link to the picture of the Beast. Nice fire.

Looking forward to the new pictures as the progress comes along.

Good luck.

 

[katwillny]

Oh The Beast. yea we have two in our home. Insulation sucks in these new houses plus my wife is forever cold.

 

[katwillny]

Update 2/17/2012
So it seems like it was a year ago that i originally posted but it hasnt, it only seems that way to us since we are living through it. At this point we are just waiting for the granite to be cut , delivered and installed which should be on or around 3/1. Below are some of the pics of the process.

 

[save$]

Looks like a lot of planning went into that project. You will enjoy the larger island and more cabinet space.

 

[katwillny]

Yes SAve$, we love the fact that we now have more storage for out cook and bake ware. I am really liking the way its coming out. Once th counter tops are in, it will really finalize it. the project began the weekend after thanksgiving so as you can imagine a lot of eating out. Its cool though, it gave us a reason to all be together as a family.

 

[TresK3]

Looking nice. My wife and I are just starting our major kitchen project. It started at the floor, for a variety of reasons. Not ideal, but it was the job that needed doing the most and choice of the floor influenced everything else (wall paint, counter top etc). I'm curious what type of cabinets you got and how you like them?

 

[vinny11950]

Looking good. I also have cathedral ceilings in the kitchen and just thinking about doing any work on anything that requires reaching those heights makes me tired.

Good job.

 

[katwillny]

Tresk, We actually went with Lowes and we went with Schuler brand for cabinets and Kraftmaid for the granite. they had three options as far as quality we went with middle of
the road. Love them, my wife likes the island, we got it in black with red distressed corners . Very fine detail they do. They are very sturdy too. We have heavy
enameled cast iron cooking pots and they are very strong.

 

[save$]

I was really lucky when I replaced our cabinets. One of the local salvage outlets, (Mardens) had a huge shipment of Loews cabinets. I measured out all our needs and was lucky to find the right ones to replace all the old ones, and to add another row on a separate wall. They were units that needed to be assembled. The fronts are all oak. Very good hinges. I was able to get some with big drawers to replace what was open cabinets. If I had it to do again, all the lower units would be drawers. I was able to do the whole thing for under $2,000. I replaced the countertops with the traditional Formica. We like the new granite countertops, but they are not high up on our wish list over other things. Mine have been in about 8 years now and look like new.

 

[katwillny]

Finally Done. Very long process but the counter tops were finally installed today and all is connected and working properly. We are both very happy with the results. I think the counter tops have to grow on me but she loves them so i guess im ok with them.