The Baking Beauties DIY Kitchen Renovation

Jeanine Friesen — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:55:00 +0000

We moved into this house last summer. In our house prior to this, we renovated the whole place. Top to bottom. Literally. New drywall, floors, siding, windows, you name it, we did it. We are do-it-yourself people. Not because we want to be (although I do enjoy it most of the time), but because paying someone to do the work makes most of the projects cost more than double what the materials alone do. So, out of necessity, we have learned to do a lot things. We are not intimidated by hanging drywall, plastering, re-working electrical or plumbing. Flooring & paint are a walk in the park. Enter…this kitchen. It was small, and after coming from the kitchen we had created for ourselves in the other house, we knew this was something we were going to have to “fix”. Not that it was broken. It was just poorly designed, and closed off. After getting a professional to come in and assure me that the wall was not a structural wall (and give me a quote of $4500 to remove it *choke*), I began removing drywall. I did forget to get pictures of the kitchen before. You can see in this picture where the wall was though, and that there was a small doorway from the dining are to the kitchen. The stove was up against the outside wall, and the dishwasher was right beside the fridge.

I feel I have to add this…

WARNING: DO NOT PROCEED TO REMOVE WALLS FROM YOUR HOUSE WITHOUT YOUR HUSBANDS FULL SUPPORT. YOU WILL NEED HIM THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT.

Have I mentioned…my husband is awesome?? He didn’t want to do this project, but saw that it was necessary, so we went ahead with it. Good thing we work well together!

Welcome to The Baking Beauties DIY Kitchen Renovation…

There were no cupboards on the wall we removed, it was supposed to be used as a small eating area.The wall is removed, and all the electrical that was in it is all re-worked. Like the carpet under the dining table? We put laminate floor in the living & dining room areas, as well as in the kitchen.Getting the wall in place where the island will be. Put electrical in the sides of the island too.Upper cabinets are out! You can see, not much usable cabinets/drawers on the bottom. And very little counter space. Installing upper cabinets. I knew it was going to be OK, check out the boy, oozing with optimism. Now before we continue, I must say, that I designed the new kitchen & the layout, and what kind of cabinets I had where. That’s the easy part. My Dad, however, is my fabulous cabinet maker. He does woodworking as a hobby, and this is the second set of kitchen cabinets that he’s built for us. He does a fantastic job, I just give him exterior dimensions, and he figures the rest out. The only time things didn’t fit here properly (and needed to be re-worked), it was MY fault (oops!). But, in the end, it all fit perfectly, and looks amazing! Thank you SO much Dad!

New base cabinets are in, and the new countertop as well. Next, the sink!Installing new under-cabinet lighting (still the old base cabinets).The boy helping remove spacers while doing the tile backsplash. (just like his Dad…on the counters)FINALLY! My new kitchen! Love, Love, LOVE it! (want to do a red window treatment yet)The amount of space that I have now with the island and a full counter top is amazing!

By the way, that’s a full oven in the island. It is a slide-in oven, just doesn’t have the high back on it. LOVE IT!

View from sitting in the living room. You can see the dining area, and the kitchen. One big open floor now.The baking center that I showed you yesterday. I don’t even have to remove my flour containers now, just scoop!The huge lazy susan that makes everything in my corner cabinet totally accessible now.My little cabinet that I use to store my rolling pin & cookie sheets. LOVE it!Had a small space, so I made it into a small bookshelf for some cookbooks.Love it! A pull out cabinet where I can keep all the tall bottles, and I don’t have to reach to the back of a cupboard.

So, there ya have it! Thanks for stopping by and letting me share what has been keeping me busy for the past number of months. Now that the inside of the house is done, I guess I can move onto working on the yard!

The Baking Beauties » kitchen renovation

The Baking Beauties DIY Kitchen Renovation