Our Home > Renovations > New Kitchen
Well, we started with a quick fix-up of the kitchen back in 1997, and now - 12 years later - it is the one room left to do properly. We had been planning our new kitchen back in May, and working on finalizing plans, appliances and colours while building the deck. Suddenly, the wait is over and it is time for our new kitchen!!! But first, a quick look back at the most important room in the house...
In March 1997, here is how the kitchen looked when Glenn first took possession of the house. Gotta love that combination of great wallpaper, fake wood panelling, and the pink curtains!! The floor tile and avocado green appliances just finish off that retro late-50's look!
Saturday August 22nd, 2009
Fast forward to 2009, and here is how our kitchen had looked for the last 12 years (albeit with the cupboards usually being far more crammed to the gills)...
Yes, we now realize it's a good thing that we never got around to refinishing and reinstalling the cupboard doors. It just would have been a waste of our time given that 12 years later they are going to be ripped out and thrown away!
And here is Theresa cooking the last supper in our old kitchen...
Sunday August 23rd
Salvaging what could be useable, by us or others, from the old kitchen prior to demolition. Glenn has a long history with that corner cupboard, and is sorry to see it go...
And here is our temporary kitchen downstairs - where our temporary living room was last year!
Tuesday August 27th
Gotta love having contractors in! Things happen so fast!
Two days later, and here is how our kitchen looks now...
We particularly love the 1920's handwritten installation notes:
Especially the "Cooler", not the "Icebox" or "Fridge"!
Tuesday September 2nd
Glenn spent the weekend and today on rewiring the kitchen, and had to drop the ceiling 3/4" for our pot lights to fit. In these photos you can also see where we have closed in one of the two windows we had in the kitchen. Ever since we lifted the house this window had looked into the bedroom of our neighbour, and it let us design a way better kitchen layout if we got rid of it. So, a good decision all around!
Monday September 7th - Labour Day
The contractors have done the new sub-floor (no squeaks!!), the insulation and the vapour barrier - should keep us much warmer than our old uninsulated walls. The building inspector is due tomorrow and there was one small detail on the vapour barrier that's peculiar to our house and the contractor didn't get quite right - not a big deal, Theresa is up and fixing it and - sure enough - it passed inspection the next day.
Meanwhile, Glenn has been finishing up some framing details downstairs, where we had left walls and ceilings open for the last two years because we knew the kitchen above would require wiring and plumbing changes. It will be great to get the last drywall in the house finished!!
With our work done for now, Theresa is dreaming about how the new kitchen will look...
Clockwise from top left is our flooring, countertop, upper cabinets,
lower cabinets, and backsplash.Sunday September 13th
The drywallers were in during the week, so now we have got the ceiling painted and Theresa is hard at work on the walls...
Meanwhile, here is how our living/dining room looks at this stage, complete with fridge, old range (in the distance), new oven, and even the proverbial kitchen sink (still in its box)...
Thursday September 17th
So, the new floor (marmoleum) went in on Tuesday, and today the cabinet installation began...
And here's what our living room looks like today...
Friday September 18th
What a difference a day makes - most of the cabinet bodies are installed,
and the 290 lb double oven is in place!!!
So, at the end of week four with no kitchen, here's a snapshot of how the reno is going:
1. We are just one day behind schedule! Our friend, kitchen designer, and general contractor Arne Salvesen has done an awesome job of keeping things on track, even with a couple of unexpected hiccups, and with him having to deal with hands-on home owners who want to do parts of the work themselves.
2. We have eaten takeout zero nights and not had a single pizza. We have eaten at restaurants five nights, which includes one night out for dinner and a Fringe show with friends, one night we went for dinner and a movie, and one night when Glenn had dinner at work. Maybe two nights have been leftovers at home, leaving about 20 nights that friends have had us over for dinner! And about 16 of those nights has been our great friend and neighbour Karen, who has gone totally above and beyond the call looking after us!!! Karen, thank you so much - we're so lucky to have you as a friend!!! "Family dinner" will be at our place once this is done!!!
And so, we get ready for week five...
Sunday September 27th
Well, another week has passed, and the cabinets are pretty much all in. Glenn has finished shingling over the outside of the house where the kitchen window used to be (window, what window?), and is now working on finishing electrical. But he has a challenge, hooking up the oven...
Yes, that's the ultra-heavy-duty wiring at the back of this narrow draw compartment. But yes, he found a way to get it done, more or less one-handed!
Monday October 5th
A big day for us!! Right on schedule, the countertops are ready and were installed today...
The cooktop and sink still need to be hooked up (on Wednesday), and after that we'll actually be able to start cooking!!!! After that, we still have an open shelving unit and backsplash to go.
Sunday October 11th
On a weekend spent cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning, our first meal in our almost-finished new kitchen!!!!
Sunday November 1st
OK, so it has taken a while to get a photo, but here is our kitchen now that we have moved in. We're still waiting for the backsplash - that should be another few weeks yet...
Year End
So, after a wait, the backsplash is finally in and we have hung the lights over the island.
So here are the finished photos, including a few of our favourite features in the kitchen...
