Thursday, January 31, 2013

Kitchen Demo Phase 1

Our home is 23 years old. There are a lot of things that I wonder about since we moved in almost six years ago. 

1. Why on earth did the contractor place certain electrical boxes in strange places?
2. What the heck was the soffit hiding up there above my cabinets? Wasting space in my 
     opinion.
3. When would Rob want to start ripping cabinets and other items out to find answers to 
     these questions?

Well the answers to the last two questions were figured out on Sunday. The first question will never be answered probably.  The day after the ice cream party Rob took on the task of ripping out cabinets and soffit. First thing that came out was the small cabinet above our enormous refrigerator.  It served no purposed when even I at 5'10" could not easily reach it.

Thankfully the old fan above the stove was coming out as well.  It was gross and I wanted to somehow put a microwave up there in the future. We are tying to figure out now how we can go about putting that into the plans. Considering microwaves are actually less expensive than range hoods I may get my way.

Taking the soffit out was no easy task. However, we are glad we uncovered it because we found many surprises behind it that should not have been back there.  Including a hornet's nest and stink bugs. Can stink bugs just get up and leave already? I'm sick of them.

We finally figured out what the soffit was hiding. It was a simple pipe that jutted out just next to the window.  See it below in the top left corner of the photo? No electrical wires that were too complicated existed in there.  Thankfully we know of an excellent plumber who does work on the side. He came over last night and simply drilled a hole in the two by four above it and moved the pipe up. That way it can be in between the ceiling and the drywall.  He also did it record time too.  

The next steps are having an electrician come over to make some changes in the lighting and placement of junction boxes.  Rob hopes to start dry walling the now uncovered soffit and missing ceiling after that is all figured out. This project is going to take a while that's for sure. But, it will be worth it.

I do have two questions though...

What is your favorite counter top product?  & Have you ever purchased butcher block counters from IKEA? Any advice on either of these would be greatly appreciated!

Total cost for this project so far is $20 since the demo was free. :)  Thanks to my father-in-law for hauling away the debris and we are keeping the old cabinets to place in our garage for storage (at some point)

Thanks so much!

Megan



19 comments:

  1. I love home improvement projects. Happy you didn't find anything else behind those soffits. Though I love home improvement projects, I am not a fan of the sanding phase of drywall...but it's all worth it in the end. I can't wait to see what you accomplish and how you transform your kitchen.

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  2. Exciting!! There's nothing like a good demo and a clean slate to work with! Can't wait to see the end result!! :)

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  3. Wow, you are going fast, already done with demo and that pipe fixed! Can't wait to see what's next!

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  4. Oh how exciting! I can't wait to watch the progress! I have Corian countertops throughout my house and really like it. But if I were putting in a new countertop, I'd look into quartz. Sarah Richardson and Candice Olson are constantly singing the praises of quartz. I've never really been a fan of ganite and it definitely seems to be on the way out. Have fun!

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  5. Awesome project. I've had quartz counters in a home we built but were only in for 4 months and I LOVED them. So pretty, functional, and impossible to damage. We had dark cabinets and dark quartz counters and if I were to get them again I think I'd get a lighter color. Good luck with the projects!

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  6. Kitchen Demo!!! YAAAAAA! I'm so excited to see your new plans come to life.

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  7. We are right there with you! Uncovering our soffit in the next couple of weeks. Yikes!

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  8. It is so exciting!! Demo is the best part!! As for counters.. I have had granite, marble and quartz (silsestone) and I LOVED the silestone the most. I do have the butcher block counters in my bathroom from IKEA. They are nice, easy to install and not expensive. They have held up well. I don't know I would do an entire kitchen in them though. Ikea does make some nice composite countertops too.. Definitely check them out!

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  9. How exciting!! If I was redoing my kitchen (which I really wish I was!) I would do a nice butcher block on my island. Dark quartz counters for the remainder of the kitchen, and white cabinets with dark hardware. And dark walnut wood floors. So excited to see your reveal!!

    xo, Tanya

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  10. When I eventually do our kitchen, I am choosing soapstone or concrete. Concrete is a little more maintenance than soapstone but they look awesome.

    I am so jealous!

    Kim@reposhture.blogspot.com

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  11. Woo Hoo! Go de-mo, go de-mo! So excited for you!

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  12. WOW! You are on the move....and on with the next step! I wouldn't have any clue in the counter dept- as you just saw my kitchen! Yes My painted Laminate counters! haha!! :) Good luck!!

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  13. Oh I hear your questions, my house was built in the mid 70's and I am positive they were all on drugs. $20 so far, now that is a bargain, I personally like laminate with the kids, its easy clean and pretty hardy while cheap, If I didn't have the kids I would have wooden bench tops in a farm house style. Can't wait to see what you go with!

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  14. A hornets nest?? Yikes! Kitchen remodeling makes me twitch, but so exciting when it's done! I like Swanstone counter tops myself. So awesome looking and so easy to keek clean.

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  15. I can't wait to see the progress of your kitchen remodel! I already know it's going to look amazing! I've never had butcher block counter tops, so I don't know much about them, but they sure do look nice.

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  16. Love your blog!! Thanks for the follow! My dad is a custom cabinet builder and recently quartz composite countertops have been popular for people who want a sleek look without forking out a lot of money. I'm excited for you and your remodel! I know the feeling living in an older home with squirrely features!!

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  17. Oh how I would love butcher block counters! I could see those in my kitchen very easily.
    Debbie :)

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  18. Oh my gosh - good luck! Our house is 50 years old and every time we do a project we find something new and "interesting." Cannot wait to see the finished kitchen! We redid ours 2 years ago and I am so happy (except I hate our refrigerator).

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  19. We actually did the microwave/hood combo thing after we moved into our house a few years ago. My husband and my father-in-law also took out the cabinet above and cut it down so there would still be a little cabinet space above there because I wanted the bottom of the micro basically flush with the bottom of the adjacent cabinets. I didn't do the work (obviously), but they told me it wasn't too terrible of a project.

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