The Kitchen Remodel Begins!

Last weekend (Saturday), we decided to tear out the Kitchen.  I figured that we'd better get started, since there always seems to be a bump (or two) in the road.  And there certainly have been!

DH spent Saturday morning re-arranging the furniture to corral Luke for the next few months, while I dropped Luke off at Grandma & Grandpa's house for a full day of playtime & walks while we tore stuff out.

Here is a shot of one of the last "before" pics - before we removed any built-in item from the Kitchen.  It is fun to look back and see how things used to look, hence the bazillion pictures. :)

Another shot of the Kitchen in all its glory!  (Plus a cat, who was interested in hanging out, but soon ran once the sledgehammers & crowbars came out.)

This is DH after removing the wall cabinets.  We found out that there must have been existing cabinets (the ones we tore out), but the wall wasn't there - they added it later.  It was some CRAZY construction on the Cabinets, let me tell ya!

If you ever tear out a countertop with a seating overhang, this is the only way to loosen the top.  It has worked twice now!  :)  (P.S.  you need a hunky guy with amazing leg strength, too.)

We tore out the corner base Cabinets and started seeing more of the beautiful handcrafted Cabinetry.  (belchhh!)  It sure feels more open!!

Proof that the wall was built AFTER the Cabinets were installed.  Retro doors!  Wow!  I wonder why they covered this up?  

After tackling the right side of the Kitchen, we skip the sink base and move to the left side.  We move the appliances (or start to) and realize the refrigerator has a water line for the ice maker (which we did not use).  We disconnect the water line, wondering if it is hooked up ... and sure enough, it is!  We shoot water into a trash can & shut off water to the whole house while we go to the hardware store & DH finds a cap for the line.  Thank goodness he is so handy!!

We removed all the Cabinets that we plan to (for now).  We are leaving the sink for as long as we can.  The sink cabinet is built as one big cavity with the corner cabinet, so for now, it all stays.  

The mess outside after Day 1 Demolition.  We didn't get a dumpster, so this will sit for awhile until we find a vehicle to take it to the dump.   #GhettoFabulous!

On Wednesday of this week, we break into the soffits that were framed in above the Cabinets and also tear out the stud wall that separated the Kitchen from the Living Room.  We took a break for a few days, as we found a few things that looked like structural issues & made the Kitchen Designer in me want to tear my hair out!  The stupid "half-wall with decorative posts between the Refrigerator & Stove actually concealed the vertical post you can see in the picture (it is wood at the bottom & sheetrock covered above), which we believed was sitting below a ceiling beam, making it structural.  Also the end of the framed wall was sitting below that same ceiling beam, making us think that was structural too.  After calling in a contractor, we thankfully discovered both were not issues!  I was trying to think how to modify the Kitchen ... the post wasn't an issue ... but the framed wall was!

Some of the beautiful wallpaper we found when we knocked out the soffits above.  There were three different kinds of wallpaper, some of which my dad said dated the house to the 40's & 50's.  It was really kind of neat to find that there!

My little brother found a picture of our house being moved (it was in our local paper back in November 1996).  We knew it had been moved & a new foundation was installed (which makes our basement that much more open & less creepy!), but it is SO cool to see the history behind it!  This is showing the back of our house.  The back door from the Kitchen (same door!) with the criss-cross glass pattern, the window to our dining area, and the open hole is the back door down to the basement stairs.  It looks a little rougher then than it does now, but we are sure thankful for its journey!

Well, now that the fun stuff happened to transform the Kitchen, we're doing some glorified camping.  The plastic to the right of the picture contains the old Kitchen, Dining area, Laundry closet & Bathroom.  We have segregated ourselves in the Living Room for the near future.

DH and Luke (who looks thrilled!) showing off our Kitchenette area.  We have a toaster oven, microwave, paper towel holder, plastic plates, plastic bowls & plastic silverware to tide us over until the new stuff can be installed.  We are actually thankful we have so much space to be in during this remodel.  Our last house remodel in Kansas left us segregated in the Master Bedroom only, as we had the Living Room, Kitchen & Dining Room torn up for 2 months.  Good thing it was just us two at the time ... it was crazy tight quarters!  

A smiley little boy today!  We have him barricaded off with the chair you see in the bottom right of the picture.  So far (thank God!), he has not tried to climb through the chair legs & sprint off into the debris that is the Kitchen!

Currently, we are waiting on getting a plumber and electrician in to do their stuff.  They are both supposed to come next week (which is a short week, due to Thanksgiving).  Hopefully we can make some progress, as they have to be done first before we can do the sheetrock, then paint, then Cabinets, Countertops, Flooring, Appliances & Backsplash Tile.  We have a LOOOOONG way to go!