DIY Kitchen Remodel

When we bought our house, the kitchen was a good size, eat-in kitchen.  It was definitely dated and had a floating snap lock laminate floor with large thresholds at both entrances that I tripped over several times going in and out of the room.  I knew I wanted a seamless floor throughout the first floor of the house (for more info about our floors, see the post on Installing our Hardwood Floors).

Now, one of the first things we did when we purchased the house was to remove an old chimney that went from the roofline down to the first floor between the kitchen and dining room.  It had been capped off years ago and the fireplaces were walled up years prior to that, so there was no way of bringing them back without having it completely rebuilt.  We decided if we opened up this cavity we could take care of several issues we wanted to address.  First, there were only baseboard heaters upstairs and no air conditioning, so we could run duct work up the cavity to the attic to create the much needed vents in the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom and get rid of the baseboard heaters.  Second, it would create space for an extra closet in the room I’m using as an office/craft space on the second floor, and, third, it created just the right size for our refrigerator to sink in the wall, creating additional space in the kitchen!  So, starting in the attic, and working our way down, we took the chimney out brick by brick.

Once the chimney was down, we were able to add studs to separate the space for the duct work (inside on the left side of the eventual opening) and the refrigerator.  Once the flexile, insulated duct work was in place, we added the studs, drywall and subfloor to the cavity.  We also added bead board paneling and corner trim (not that you could actually see the walls back there except in a few places, it just saved the excess mudding, sanding and painting).  At this point, we were on a timeline to try to get the new flooring installed over Thanksgiving. 

We also had to add the water line and run electric for the fridge.  Later, we added a shelf and window slider above the fridge in this area.  (For more info on how we created the window slider using an old kitchen window, see the post on DIY Window Slider.)

During all of this, we were also discussing the layout of the kitchen.  Since we were keeping the existing cabinets, we only needed to purchase upper cabinets for the long wall and then upper and lower cabinets for the corner where the fridge previously had been.  And, of course, I wanted a large island.  Having an eat in kitchen was nice, but there was a large dining room right off the kitchen, and, since I like to bake, I wanted a large prep space (though, lately, I use it more for project workspace than I do for baking:).  We also decided that we would add the dishwasher to the island so we didn’t have to cut out any existing cabinets on the other wall.  (For more info on creating a kitchen island from scratch, see the post on building our kitchen island for all the details on this piece!)

 I decided I wanted to go with dark grey base cabinets and white wall cabinets, all in a shaker style.  The existing cabinets in the house were handmade by the original owner of the home and were squared off similar to shaker style, but with a bead board center panel.  My thought was that we could paint the existing to match the new and save some money as well blend in a part of the old house into the new kitchen.  We ended up getting paint matched as close to the shade of the dark grey cabinets we ordered as possible to paint the existing lower cabinets.  In hindsight, I wish I would’ve gotten the enamel based cabinet paint, but I didn’t (lesson learned!!).  At some point, I will and will go back and repaint everything since I’ve already had to touch up several areas where the paint has chipped off the lower cabinets. When also put all new pulls and hinges on the cabinet doors when we re-installed them.

Since we created an overhang on the island, I began looking for stools and was able to find a set of 3 for $30 on FB Marketplace!!  Now, they were orange, but I planned on painting them anyway.  My original plan was to paint them white, then the darker grey cabinet color, then distress them.  After the white, then the dark grey, I decided to just leave them as is for now (my kids will probably distress them enough on their own…).

The space between the laundry room/back door and the hallway doorway where the fridge had previously been in the kitchen was enough space for an 18 inch and a 30 inch base cabinet.  We also ordered 3 upper cabinets for this area.  I didn’t want to remove the existing cabinet above the stove for a microwave, nor did I want it on the counter, so we ordered a 30 inch microwave cabinet, then, a short cabinet above it, and an 18 inch wall cabinet, all in white.  We added an outlet in the back of the cabinet to plug in the microwave, then also came back and added another outlet below it in order to plug in the juicer and milkshake maker that would go on this counter. We then finished off the side of the cabinet in the same bead board we used for the island and painted the dark grey.

For the long wall, we only needed to purchase upper cabinets since we were keeping the existing lower cabinets.  We ended up with three 36 inch white wall cabinets.

To install the upper cabinets, we took a measurement of the distance between the base and wall cabinets on the existing cabinet wall, then took a long straight 2×4 and attached it to the wall as a temporary support to hold the cabinets as we placed them and attached them to the walls.  Before we placed the cabinets up on the wall, we found the studs and marked the areas on the 2×4 so we knew where to screw the cabinets to the wall.  Trust me, letting the cabinet rest on the 2×4 rather than trying to hold it level above your head while you attach it to the wall is MUCH EASIER!!

The kitchen had been painted green by the previous owner, but I wanted something bright and something that would go with the flow of the rest of the house.  (The hallways are a neutral light grey on top and dark grey below the chair rail.)  I took the color swatch of the gray from the hallway, chose the lightest shade and used that to paint the walls, chair rail and bead board all the same color.

The baseboard and door trim all got a few good coats of white, enamel trim paint, we switched all the plugs and light switches to white and also purchased a new faucet (I wanted something tall with only one opening vs. the standard ‘bar’ at the bottom). We also installed a new stainless range hood and properly vented it outside!

For the countertops, we decided to go with quartz.  I wanted something solid surface that would be low to no maintenance and would hold up against all the activity in the kitchen.  When I started pricing it, I checked at Lowes as well as a local discount building supply place we have here, but both were over $7k for the amount of countertop we needed!  Then, I found a local granite and marble shop in the town where I used to work and found out they also installed quartz!  I went there on my lunch break one day, picked out a pattern to get a rough estimate.  I chose a white with grey specs because I didn’t want something that was one solid color, but I didn’t want anything too busy either (bonus that it was on sale)!  After some quick math, to get our countertops at this place was going to save us $3k!!  They came and measured after we had all the cabinets in place and before Christmas that year, we had our new countertops!  Now, I will say that dealing with a smaller company had its pros and cons.  They were easy to work with, but nearly impossible to get nailed down on a measure and install date (because they were busy, sick, etc.).  They were also supposed to come back to address a hairline crack, install a side trim piece and file a rather rough section, but after months and months of back and forth of when they would be here and then not showing or canceling, I’ve given up on that and we’re just going with it!  Maybe if I wasn’t working at the time I could’ve stayed on top of it more, but it’s been more than a year and other than those few minor issues, the countertops still look great, and we still saved A LOT of money going with this place.

After the countertops were installed, we had to pick a backsplash for the wall behind the sink and stove.  After searching online, I found a glass subway tile with a hand painted look in shades of white and grey.  For the most part, the install on this was simple if you are used to working with tile and a tile saw.  My husband cut while I measured and installed.  We did decide to go with a pre-mixed mortar for glass tile and a light grey grout.  I’m super happy with how it turned out and I think it blends well with the countertops, wall paint and cabinet colors!

For the other walls opposite this one and below the microwave cabinet, we just used some small decorative trim and I painted it the same color as the walls.

Just like most other rooms, as I get them done, décor is last on the list, so, other than the corkboard I just finished and my little indoor herb garden in the window, there’s not any décor in the kitchen yet (YET….I’ve just found some freebie wood pieces that I’m hoping can become at least a few décor items on the wall!!).  The indoor herb garden was kind of a spur of the moment thing on the weekend we FINALLY finished the kitchen last fall.  I knew the window needed something, but I didn’t want blinds or curtains to block the light, so, using the same type of flange and corner pieces of pipe, we created 4 ‘hooks’ on the vertical boards between the windows.  I then went to Dollar Tree and spent less than $5 on little pots (actually were mini Halloween cauldrons that I used acetone to remove the ‘Happy Halloween’), mini chalk boards with clips and some wire jute rope.  After picking out a few plants, we had our indoor herb garden!  Now, of course the plants didn’t last thru the winter, but now that it’s spring, I’ve replaced them and actually may try to find some other container to allow them to grow a little larger.

Overall, the kitchen is one of my favorite rooms in the house so far!  Maybe because it’s finished….maybe because it has become so much more than ‘just’ a kitchen:)  And, while we spent just over a year working on it, and have spent more money renovating in that room than we have or will in any other room of the house, it was SOOO worth it!!  The only thing we have not done yet is to switch out the light fixtures above the island and above the sink, but I’m always looking for something I think will work there (I’ve thought about trying to make a fixture using the same pipe…maybe). Below are the before and after pics – let me know what you think!