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Fabby's Kitchen Renovation Begins


FabulousFoodBabe

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It started on Thursday, officially. What a wild ride this has been! I've started a blog elsewhere, for day to day postings. I don't want to bore my family, associates and friends with discussions of flitch beams and electrical subpanels, but I do want everyone who wants to see it, see it.

So far, no nasty surprises under the drywall (we have a flat-roofed contemporary home with lots of cool angles and detailing, and if it's not roofed right -- which it wasn't until we got it -- it can be awful). I expected families of squirrels, or at least water damage to the supporting beams. So far, so good!

Because I do tend to go on, I'll answer questions and post the occasional photo. But this forum was so helpful to me, and so much fun to watch others' kitchens rise up, that I wanted to share my thanks and excitement with all of you.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Oooh, how exciting! How long do you think the remodel will last? Can you show us plans or layout? What style are you going for? Will your cabinets be stained or painted? Countertops? Floors? Are you doing any structural rejiggering (moving or removing walls to reconfigure the space)?

we want to know!

"I just hate health food"--Julia Child

Jennifer Garner

buttercream pastries

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Oooh, how exciting! How long do you think the remodel will last? Can you show us plans  or layout? What style are you going for? Will your cabinets be stained or painted? Countertops? Floors? Are you doing any structural rejiggering (moving or removing walls to reconfigure the space)?

we want to know!

It's very exciting, and the construction manager says he'll be out completely by mid-September. Heh. This has been so long in the making that every decision down to the hinges has been confirmed. (The delay was due to cabinet issues: First, with an Italian cabinetmaker, and then with one locally; Maker #3 has been doing a beautiful job.)

Cabinets will be bamboo, full overlay doors, and the lower cabinets are all drawers. Countertops on the wet bar, pass and "not really an island" will be fabricated stone (no seams!); in the work area, stainless with two integrated sinks. Floors were going to be Ipe, but that's not practical for the interior, maintenance-wise. We'll do hardwood stained to match the outdoor Ipe; we'll have a nice flow through the house.

One supporting wall has to be moved to accomplish what we want -- a tiny, boxed-in kitchen and a nice-sized living room will become a nice-sized kitchen with a wet bar and sitting area.

I'm going to try and figure out how to upload the plans, and do that later.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Cabinets will be bamboo, full overlay doors, and the lower cabinets are all drawers. 

This is awesome, I have drawers for my lower cabinets as well, definitely the way to go. Well looks like a door, which opens, and then the hidden drawer slides out, for all my pots and big kitchen stuff.

What is Ipe?

Anyway, this is a remodel I will be watching carefully, good luck, and remember contractors like coffee once in a while, just don't spoil them too much.

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This is awesome, I have drawers for my lower cabinets as well, definitely the way to go.  Well looks like a door, which opens, and then the hidden drawer slides out, for all my pots and big kitchen stuff.
Most of mine will be plain old drawers -- I'm too impatient to do two motions! I've got drawers for just about everything you can imagine, but the big pots will have to be stored in a special cabinet.
What is Ipe?

Anyway, this is a remodel I will be watching carefully, good luck, and remember contractors like coffee once in a while, just don't spoil them too much.

Ipe (EE-pay) is a Brazilian walnut wood. It's very durable and tough to work with, but lasts forever. We used it to rebuild the back deck and it's gorgeous -- but took a long time to carve around the rock outcroppings.

And thanks for the reminder not to spoil them too much. :biggrin: I tend to go overboard, especially in the heat, with the sodas and Gatorade.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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I'll be watching too!!

We're currently waiting for our last estimate to come thru on our kitchen( and a bedroom addition). I think we'll be making our decision early next week. We have 3 ppl we're considering. 1. A kitchen design firm. They don't make their own cabinets. 2. a local guy who makes all his own stuff. 3. Another person who makes their own cabinets.

So far, I like the design from #1. Number 3 person's quote was 2k cheaper, but I dont like his ideas for the kitchen. We're waiting on #2.

Maybe I should start my own thread.

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I'm having some trouble with my ability to post here -- not trying to ignore everyone! It's really booking along here. The workers have put up zippered dust barriers between the rooms being redone, and the rest of the house. All I hear is machinery, hammering, at least three different languages, and some music. I see nothing. When they leave at 5:00, Mr. FB and Jean-Luc and I go in and look at it.

The ugly is gone. The dirty remains.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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I'm still having trouble with images -- uploading, and getting access to the "reply" and "PM" buttons on the forums. I'll figure it out soon enough, and thank all of you for your interest and patience!

My CE (Contractor Extraordinaire) likens his approach to this renovation as "Braveheart" leading the charge. He refuses to paint his face (even for me), though. We've had an unpleasant surprise or two, in the form of inherited water damage and boneheaded builder decisions, but the latter is to be expected.

Nanawalls next week, they say. Woo hoo!

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Nanawalls next week, they say.  Woo hoo!

I am sooooooooo jealous! I so wanted Nanawalls along the back side of my kitchen, but the budget wouldn't allow. So I'll be following your progress with a faint tinge of green.

I think we're on about the same construction schedule--I wish you great luck with your project. Hopefully we'll be planning kitchen-warming parties at about the same time!

Feast then thy heart, for what the heart has had, the hand of no heir shall ever hold.
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VERY exciting, but your dust looks clean in comparison to ours, I'll have to post some pics for a couple of reasons, 1. your old kitchen pics are almost exactly like the one we just demolished, and 2. our demolition will make you feel good, we're adding windows, putting in an all glass (sliding doors) wall at one end and several new windows, and the dust has made it to places I can't for the life of me figure how it got there. However, given the hot housing/reno market in Vancouver it took a year to get a designer and contractor to do the job...fun days ahead!

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Augh! I still am getting NO graphics on this thread or any other. Can't see 'em, can't upload 'em, can't do a "reply to." So ...

BekkiM, when I did my Atlanta kitchen, a friend in Phoenix (who was building a home in the mountains in Flagstaff) challenged me to a 'race.' We both started demolition on the same week ... guess who won? Not me! Anyway, what-say we do the same? I never ever learn :-)

Vaughn: Because of *my* cabinet delays (made two very bad decisions), our work had to be bumped way back by the contractor; he was ready on time but I was about, oh, 8 months late. he's worth the wait.

And Bekki, the green really enhances your eyes! I've been green over others' renovations, and am sure I will be over yours, too.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Where's the blog? Where's the links? Where's the pics?

I'm dying to see this renovation! As you'll recall this sort of thing is dear to my heart.

Please quit teasing. I want to see!

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I'm still not able to see any sort of graphic on eGullet, from smilies to avatars to "edit" buttons, nor can I post photos or individual replies. All I can do is "fast reply" and pray that the techno-mavens help me out here. I'd love to post more photos and answer questions on this thread. I'd love to edit what I write!

watta, you sent me straight to Google, worried that "squirrel monkey" was an architectural detail that I absolutely MUST have in my new space! :-D

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Image issues have been fixed. The problem was with the browser my sons installed for me. It took them about 2.5 seconds to figure it out and they sighed, rolled their eyes, and said, "Mom, why didn't you ask us first?"

Anyway. Here's the kitchen before. What you can't see is the handy planning desk for micromanaging others' lives, and the 2' x 2' breakfast room with a white light fixture that bumped us in the head every time we sat down.

What you can see is that good old '80s white tile and white laminate cabinetry.

gallery_25501_4925_3135.jpg

Next, I'm going to try and upload plans.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Okay, I've got to figure out the plans and it's time to be outta here soon. So, briefly --

The wall to the left in the photo is GONE, baby. In its place, under the flitch beam :wub: will be a wet bar with a sink, a dishwasher drawer, and a wine refrigerator (to supplement the Eurocave downstairs). We'll also have a coffee center and a speed oven, a warming drawer and beverage refrigerator. This is designed to keep Mr. Foodbabe, First- and Second-born and all their buddies, the heck out of my way when I cook.

The wall to the right will have a Bluestar Range, and a hand sink with a foot pedal. The back wall, where the refrigerator is now, will have a big double-cleanup sink with a pull-down faucet (which my younger son dubbed "SnakeyBoy" years ago). The current dishwasher will live in this area, too.

Down the center where the island is now, will be a row a cabinets, with a pass-through counter space so Mr. FB and the young men can shove dirty dishes through, pull the door down, and pretend that's what I mean when I say, "clean up behind yourselves, dammit!"

And on the end of that current island facing toward where you're looking, will be a big refrigerator. The breakfast table will be replaced by a 10 x 4 island'ish structure with lots of storage underneath.

Once I figure out how to get my plans from Adobe to something I can post here,I will. There are many cool details and I'm grateful daily for my architect and contractor. In the meantime, fire away with questions -- and I'll find more photos to post. Thanks for your patience, everyone!

Edited by FabulousFoodBabe (log)
"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Our house is a series of stacked boxes, sort of like the Brutalist contemporary designs of whenever. It's not a big house but it's got a lot of odd levels and angles, which makes for a really cool look but a VERY difficult routing of pipes, ventilation, etc.

As you can't see here (not a typo!), we've had to disconnect the furnace to thie fourth level of rooms (where the youngsters sleep), and may have to remount the heat and a/c outside. No biggie; in two years we'll have a completely empty nest :biggrin: so having more control over that area will work for us.

The plan is to get the Nanawalls in, and leave the flooring open for inspections next week. Then, as CE says, "we close up whatever we can, turn this into a box, and then the real fun starts."

So here ya go:

gallery_25501_4925_442064.jpg

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Day 15 of the Renovation just ended, and when I was bringing a snack to the workers, I managed to get a snapshot of the back of the house, sans walls. They open them up during the day to get the frames and rails run for the Nanas, and nail everything shut at night.

This is from the foyer -- both walls will be replaced. You can see out onto the back deck, which we had built into the rock outcroppings last fall.

Don't tell Mr. FB, but I have a major crush on the dude in the blue tank top. :wub:

gallery_25501_4925_800624.jpg

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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