The quirky island with opposing sinks and the refrigerator that was actually in the family room were certainly odd, as was the high counter under the windows.
But overall, it looked fairly clean, the appliances were mostly new, and if you didn't open any of the cabinets it really didn't look too bad.
However, upon closer examination . . .
things were certainly amiss. Most of the cabinets were almost unusable, and several of them weren't even finished on the inside. Check out the ancient mini-fridge hiding under the tall counters. There were all kinds of strange configurations of makeshift shelving and weird spaces. Plus, because some of the cabinets were unfinished inside, there was tons of mouse poop in them. G.R.O.S.S.
So we knew the kitchen was going to be a total gut job right away.
Gutting this kitchen took many days, a number of people, and lots and lots of sweat. It was a big job. Thankfully, Cory's dad helped us remove all the cabinets, counters, and most of the appliances and flooring.
It was tricky getting the dishwasher out because it was literally built into the cabinetry. Once it was gone the rest of the island came out with relative ease. That is until it came time to remove the plywood around the sink plumbing.
Cory had to use a Sawzall to carefully cut around the pipes. Let's just say he "missed" on one cut and we ended up with a literal waterfall in our kitchen. Oops! He hightailed it to the basement to shut off all the water to the house but not before the kitchen and family room and even the ceiling were quite wet. We had to keep a Tupperware container under the pipe for over a week before the pipe was properly sealed off.
Slowly but surely we got all the stuff out of the kitchen.
In the photo above you can see the wall at the front of the house - it has the three windows. That wall will be bumped out four feet so we gain a good amount of square footage in the kitchen. It will be a huge help because I have big plans for this space!
In the next photo you can see the four - yes, FOUR - doors that were on the side wall of the kitchen. The first one on the left goes to the garage. It will be closed up and cabinetry / refrigeration will be in its place. The second door in the middle was a closet. It too will be gone. The third door is actually behind the open front door. It concealed the back staircase. It will also be gone. The open kitchen door will remain in that place but since that wall will be bumped out it will also be four feet further up. That will also allow the door from the garage to the outside (it's just to the right of this photo) to become the new door from the garage into the kitchen. So. Many. Doors.
Back to the destruction.
Once all the stuff was out of the kitchen, the guys started working on the floors. And of course, it was layers of linoleum. The top layer came off easily. Then there was glue, a thin layer of sub-floor, and then the dreaded "asbestos suspect" material. They tried to get that bottom layer off but it stuck so tightly in the center of the room that they had to just admit defeat and let it stay put. It shouldn't matter since there will be new wood there eventually.
Next, the plaster had to removed from all of the walls. Yep, more plaster. My mom and sister helped us with this one afternoon and Cory and I did more plaster removal later. It took quite some time to get it all off and cleaned up. If you ever decide to do something like this, be prepared for a house that looks like this:
Pretty, isn't it? Clean-up was made even MORE fun because of course there was heavy blown insulation in the outside walls. I think I spent an entire day doing nothing but shovel insulation and plaster into buckets and dump it into the dumpster. My arms and back were screaming in agony.
This is the view of the kitchen from the family room. Wow.
And this is what it currently looks like from inside the kitchen looking into the family room. It's all cleaned up and the carpenters have installed a new header to make the kitchen totally open to the family room. It's taking shape!
The closet and back stairs are already torn out (thanks to my brother-in-law Barry for doing that task for us) and most of that wall of doors is open to the garage until the new wall is built.
The next step is excavating the porch in front of the kitchen and building the new outside wall. Then the current wall with the windows will be removed and we will have the final defined space for the new kitchen.
I've always wanted a "Dream Kitchen" and it feels like it is actually within reach! It's SO exciting! I can hardly wait to cook meals for my family here, do activities around the new island, and entertain friends and family in the finished space. It makes me a bit giddy just thinking about it.
I like feeling giddy.
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