Kitchen photos

[weinoo]

8 hours ago, gfweb said:

Following with interest.

Thinking about an outside vented hood?

 

That hood looks like it vents to the outside already?

[gfweb]

57 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

That hood looks like it vents to the outside already?

Looks like the other kind to me.  Perhaps it will be revealed...

[rotuts]

might vent to a garage.

[gfweb]

12 minutes ago, rotuts said:

might vent to a garage.

Maybe, but I'd be surprised if  that met code.

[FauxPas]

18 hours ago, heidih said:

Do you like the floor?

 

Hahahaha, no I don't.  🙂

 

I was going to mention that little item. There are 3 different kinds of wood laminate (similar look, but I can see the differences) in the house and it is all being replaced. We just paid the deposit for the new flooring and there is some in stock in two different Canadian warehouses, but we don't know about shipping and delivery times yet. 

 

Also, the flooring in the kitchen is at a different height from the dining/living room areas and since it's such a basic open-plan house, it should have a smoother transition. It's currently a tripping hazard! 

 

 

[FauxPas]

8 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

That hood looks like it vents to the outside already?

 

Yes, it does. It vents through the wall. It would be better in some ways if it had been vented up through the ceiling, since I want to install a low-profile over-the-range microwave and vent combo, like this:

https://www.kitchenaid.ca/en_ca/major-appliances/hoods-and-vents/microwave-hood-combination/p.900-watt-low-profile-microwave-hood-combination.ykmls311hss.html

 

Because we already have a hole in the wall and exterior siding and we didn't really want to try and patch those and make another hole, we will have a bit of a gap between the bottom of the upper cabinets and the top of the microwave, but it will have a filler made from the cabinet material. We had to do the same thing in the last house and I didn't mind it. We end up with a slightly indented space there which could be filled with some decorative tiles or something, but it's not all that noticeable even if left as-is. 

 

They promise decent air exchange and quiet operation with this M/W. Hard to tell in the showroom, but the specs are better than the last one I had, which wasn't too terrible. 

[FauxPas]

Here is what I mean about flooring heights and variations. The kitchen transition piece is too high but even if we smoothed it out, there is a slight height difference between kitchen and the other flooring. We are hoping we can rip out everything and start over fresh with the same height and same flooring and no transition strips. 

 

It's not that noticeable to some people (here is another of the original lisitng pics), but I can see the difference in the two floorings here. 

 

 

And as Mijo quite rightly points out, this transition piece is very dangerous for his humans. 

 

 

And a different flooring again in the hallways, den and bedrooms. They are all fairly well matched in colour but once you see the difference, you know it's there. And this is not a high quality flooring. 

 

So, all of this flooring will go and be replaced with one single product. We'll keep the bathrooms and laundry room flooring for now, it's not bad. 

 

[FauxPas]

Mijo also chose our new flooring.  😺

 

He always wanted to sit on this floor sample. Fortunately for him, it's also the one we like best. 

 

It's hard to know how true the colours of things come through. This is a nice light grey with bits of darker grey. 

 

[heidih]

Well I have used wide thresholds that have a gentle transition - very common in commercial applicatiions and  ADA. So wood but same tone or?  I think it affects the mood of your kitchen and you do stand on it a lot  

Oops just saw yur sample post .  A fauxx wood prduct or?

Edited March 26, 2022 by heidih (log)

[rotuts]

@FauxPas 

 

Mojo has fine taste.

 

 

[FauxPas]

The other thing I've already done is to replace the dishwasher and range. I really like this Whirlpool dishwasher, it's very quiet and has all the cycles I wanted and it was a surprisingly good price. I also really like that it doesn't have any big logo/label advvertising the brand (what are those things called on appliance fronts?), I like the clean front lines.

 

The range is a Frigidaire induction with air-fry. To be honest, the temp controls were probably better on the Kenmore that I left behind in the old house. I was tempted to bring the Kenmore along, but it was about 8 years old. I still like this one, not sure about the Air Fry feature, as I've only used it once for cooking frozen fries and it didn't seem to add a lot. I should really try something else. 

 

[FauxPas]

38 minutes ago, heidih said:

Well I have used wide thresholds that have a gentle transition - very common in commercial applicatiions and  ADA. So wood but same tone or?  I think it affects the mood of your kitchen and you do stand on it a lot  

Oops just saw yur sample post .  A fauxx wood prduct or?

 

It's a laminate flooring (with a manufactured wood base) installed as a floating floor over an underlay. This one has high water resistance and abrasion resistance so it should hold up pretty well. It's made in Europe. And it shouldn't require much for transitions at all so we can have a very smooth floor throughout the main part of the house. 

 

I think laminates have come a long way. They have really improved over the years, though of course some people would like real hardwood. The last time we did hardwood was in our townhouse in Victoria and I hated worrying about damaging it, to be honest. The laminate we have had held up really well. 

Edited March 26, 2022 by FauxPas (log)

[FauxPas]

Is this too much detail, too much info? I was going to talk about our fridge, because it drives me crazy. It's this model.

 

I could write out my complaints but someone already has said most of it on the Kitchenaid site:

Quote

 

Among my complaints:

- The doors do not close with a light push. You actually have to intentionally close them and ensure they are shut. 

[...]

- The shelves do not offer enough vertical adjustment options. Unless you remove a shelf entirely, which means you sacrifice storage. This means that the tallest think you can store in this refrigerator... anywhere in it... is a carton of milk. Seriously, you can’t even stand up a bottle of wine. And none of the Tupperware beverage containers I have will fit in it. Seriously.

- The shelves on the doors are stupidly sized and hardly hold anything. There’s also a plastic bin on one of the doors that could be a shelf, which would have been helpful, but it’s not. It’s a plastic bin that’s supposed to be used, according to the manual, for delicate leafy greens. FFS. Delicate leafy greens don’t last long enough to warrant a bin. I need more space for things like salad dressing because... wait for it... salad dressing bottles are too tall to fit on any of the shelves except the top one.

- The shelves in the body of the refrigerator are designed to be adjustable... like where the front half can slide back to allow for taller items on the shelf below. This feature is so poorly designed that it should never have been incorporated. First, it means there’s a big hump of a seam in the middle of the shelves that prevents you from using that part of the shelf unless you want things to fall over. Second, if you do slide the front part of the shelf back under the back par of the shelf, it takes up so much space that the shelf underneath becomes unusable.

 

 

Another problem with this kitchen is that the cabinets were installed so that the maximum fridge height is about 68" and most decent-sized fridges are a bit taller than that. The previous owners of the home replaced the original fridge (probably quite recently as this fridge was only manufactured in 2020) and would have been limited in their choices. 

 

I don't care that much about the way the doors close, we got used to that fairly quickly. But the shelf/bin design really is awful. There's so little space in the door bin compartments, it's crazy to have French doors on a fridge that's only 30" wide. To put in any tall items (like milk, wine or juice) you have such limited space and you pretty much have to have one of the fold-back shelves folded back all the time to put things in the main fridge section. Once you have it folded back, you are blocking access to all the shorter items in behind and you have to pull things out to get to the smaller ones. We cooked a turkey for Xmas and it was quite the procedure to find room for even our moderately-sized turkey. 

 

So, another reason to be thankful for new cabinets, which will be installed up to the ceiling and will have a larger and taller fridge opening. In the meantime, I am wondering how long I can handle using the existing fridge. I hate to replace it when it's still so new, but it's been hard going from a 26 cu ft fridge down to a 20 cu ft model. Not sure what to do. 

 

On the plus side, the icemaker has been great! 

[FauxPas]

Fridge pics. The shelves are too close together, but to lose one would mean a lot less storage overall. It's tricky to fit in tall items, the door bins aren't separated enough either and although adjustable, I can't find positioning where it works for our storage needs. The lower left door has that odd extra bin for leafy greens. Why? The crispers are fairly decent in size. The deli drawer is useful but might be better to have left it out and allowed for more spacing between the higher shelves. 

 

 

Here's a closer shot of the top shelf folded back. Now there is even less height at the back of the second shelf. And you can see the seam on the second shelf, where it can also fold back. It's just awkward. 

 

 

That awkward bin again. I would much rather have another standard door bin there, but they won't fit into this spot at all. So no choice in that. I have tried to order an optional bin which I hope will replace this one and allow for a bit more condiment storage. We'll see if it works. 

 

 

[FauxPas]

Kitchen will have white cabinets and quartz countertop. Obviously, our kitchen won't look like this, but this is the quartz. The showroom samples had a few silvery sparkles in them, I am hoping that our slabs will also. It's a pretty basic/simple look, but I liked it.

 

Some of the other samples with whites/creams in them just didn't look right with our white cabinets. 

 

 

I am not a fan of the existing backsplash so happy to be replacing it also. I decided to go with the same quartz for a backsplash, because I like fairly clean, simple lines. It will be 6" high and then curve up behind the range. 

 

I hate using this photo because the overall kitchen is so fugly, but this is the general idea. They can cut the quartz anyway we want and there is enough left over on the already-required slabs so that I have some leeway on the size. I'm looking for suggestions. I can start the curve on the outside of the range like this or maybe have the curve only above the range itself, maybe going straight up and then curving over the 30" width of the range. I'm thinking it needs to be at least 12" high to allow for splatter protection. Above the quartz will be painted drywall up to the cabinets. 

 

Anyway, this will give a rough idea despite the odd colours of the cabinets, walls, countertops, etc. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by FauxPas (log)

[Smithy]

1. I agree that refrigerator looks awkward. Even the Princessmobile's fridge seems better thought out, although it's a lot smaller.

2. No, absolutely you are not giving us too much detail!

3. Will you have to eliminate a lot of your cookware, now that you've gone with induction? If so, will you put it in storage until you're sure about the induction stove, or will you summarily get rid of it?

[blue_dolphin]

51 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

Is this too much detail, too much info? I was going to talk about our fridge, because it drives me crazy. It's this model.

 

Not for me - I like hearing all the deets!  And I can see why you want to renovate for better function even though it looks OK.  Will you be keeping the layout the same, as far as where the appliances are?  

I'm totally on board with upper cabinets that reach the ceiling, assuming they're not so tall that you need an extension ladder to reach them. That microwave/vent fan looks really nice.  I have a very ugly one with a fan that does nothing and have been saving up to get a proper exhaust hood but keeping the MW could be handy so I should consider that option.

Could Mijo's flooring choice have been at all influenced by that shaft of sunlight?  Either way, it looks like a great choice. 

I like the quartz a lot.  I'm not a fan of 6" granite backsplash I have in my kitchen but maybe that's because I'm not a fan of that particular granite to begin with.  My MW is 19" above the surface of the cooktop and I get spatters clear up to the top of that and on the bottom of the MW.  If I could afford to refresh the kitchen, I'd take that section of backsplash up to the microwave or hood. 

 

If I had that fridge and was re-doing the kitchen, I'd try my best to get a new one into the budget.  That one looks so annoying!  You should be able to sell or donate that one so it gets used and not tossed. 

 

Looking forward to following along!

 

 

[FauxPas]

50 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Will you be keeping the layout the same, as far as where the appliances are?  

 

Yes! I actually quite like the existing layout. It will be new kitchen materials but the same basic footprint. Did I say the cabinets are white IKEA ones, actually the same ones we put into our last place. And the same pulls and handles, because I never got tired of them.  🙂

 

I can't reach the upper cabinets even in the existing kitchen without a step-stool, so I'm ok with high 3rd shelves. My (tall) husband uses them to hide things from me, hahahaaha. 

 

The new MW has 500 CFM venting, compared to 300 or 400 in other OTR MWs and some hood vents, so I hope it handles things ok. It should be ok for my style of cooking. 

 

50 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Could Mijo's flooring choice have been at all influenced by that shaft of sunlight?

Maybe that time, but he still chose it to sit on several other times. 😺

 

I can still talk to the quartz people and see about extending it up to the MW, but if it meant another slab purchase, that would only make sense if we wanted it up to the cabinets all the way around. And that would be a signifcant jump in cost and would depend on availablility as stock was getting low. The owner is the main fabricator and likes doing custom work so they seem very happy to work with me on this and they made it clear they are happy to modify if changes fit the existing slabs. When they come to do the final measure after the cabinets are in, we can still make changes. So I can shape that section behind the range however I want, within reason. I liked the idea of a curve there, because the kitchen itself is going to be very white and grey and I thought a bit of a curve would give some kind of design element that was perhaps lacking in other ways. But I could take it up higher, I think, looking at the fabrication layout. Looks like another 2 to 4", maybe. 

 

Would you start the curve outside the width of the range or stay within the 30" range width? Or would you do a curve at all? 

 

50 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

If I had that fridge and was re-doing the kitchen, I'd try my best to get a new one into the budget.  That one looks so annoying!  You should be able to sell or donate that one so it gets used and not tossed. 

 

It really is annoying. If we donated it, we would check with either the food bank or the wildlife rescue people. We have donated appliances to both before and they really appreciate them. But in this case, we also have friends who keep eyeing the fridge when they come over. They recently bought a 45 year old home with some gorgeous views, but the kitchen really needs work. They are buying our old cabinets from us, because they are a big step up from the ones they currrently have and will mostly work in their space. They might want the fridge as well. 

 

Edited to add: We would also offer our cabinets to Habitat for Humanity's Restore shop, if we didn't have friends who really wanted them. They will often offer to remove them for you, if they have the necessary labour available to do it. We offered old cabinets in our last house to them. 

Edited March 27, 2022 by FauxPas (log)

[FauxPas]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

Will you have to eliminate a lot of your cookware, now that you've gone with induction? If so, will you put it in storage until you're sure about the induction stove, or will you summarily get rid of it?

 

We had an induction range in the last house here as well, which was purchased back in 2014 or so (the range). It was pretty amazing, actually. Great temp control on the stovetop and the oven racks were porcelain-coated so you could leave them in during a high-heat oven clean. I already have mostly induction-friendly cookware. 

 

I wanted an induction range in the Arizona house also when we bought new appliances in 2010 and I don't know why I let a salesperson talk me out of it. She thought they were too pricey, but some models would have fit into our budget. I ended up using portable ones quite a bit because I hate those ceramic-top electric models that burn every spill on to the surface. 

Edited March 27, 2022 by FauxPas (log)

[DesertTinker]

@FauxPas “I also really like that it doesn't have any big logo/label advvertising the brand (what are those things called on appliance fronts?)”

It’s “badging”

[FauxPas]

I was also going to say something about all the talk about I and Me in this story. I guess it's clear that I'm basically the "general contractor" on these jobs. Initially we tried to find someone to manage all our jobs, but it's a crazy time and people are busy. We do know a couple of good contractors but they are in-demand and working on much bigger jobs than this! They did throw us some bones of advice here and there, a couple of recommendations, etc. 

 

We installed a whole-house heat pump, which meant removing the electric baseboard heaters, getting sheet metal guys to create ductwork in our crawl-space and electrican to clean up the panel and wire the compressor/air handler units. That was completed two weeks ago. We also had a multi-zone irrigation system installed which also required a bit of electric work and a bit of plumbing above and beyond all the trenching and pipe-laying. And we had a landscaper do a major clean-up on our garden beds and create some new ones and add some new plants. Plus, we have a lawn maintenance guy liming and punching the lawn and he'll be doing some top-dressing/seeding when appropriate. All of that also happened within the last couple of weeks because our landscaper had a gap in her schedule and wanted to fill it, our irrigation guy decided we fit in better than a bigger job he had to do, etc.

 

We had a traffic jam in our crawl space some days, almost. Ha. Someone discovered we had some carpenter ants, so we had to get the pest guy here to deal with that (fortunately, not advanced and easily dealt with at this stage). 

 

And so many decisions. How should the garden beds be shaped, how many, which plants and trees and where, are they deer-resistant? Which mulch? Back and forth questions about irrigation vs landscaping. 

 

And then the kitchen cabinets, countertops, backsplash, etc. And flooring. And painting, because the whole house needs painting. Plus, I made the decision to paint the garage interior at the same time, because we get a break on the price, if we do it at the same time. But of course, we have a ton of stuff stored in our garage right now, because we didn't want to bring it inside while other stuff is going on. 

 

Also, storage in extra pantry/laundry cabinets, which is still a goal I am working on. Meeting with someone Monday morning to optimize those spaces. Pics to come. 

 

My husband has an amazing amount of confidence in my ability to manage some of this stuff. He does help, but he wants me to take the lead because, as he says, he never wants to move again and so he bloody well wants me to happy. Hahahahaha   🙂 

 

Early next month, I have hired someone to remove and transport the old kitchen cabinets. He's also going to help remove the backsplash and flooring. Everything else should follow soon after. 

 

One of my biggest things now is running around to lumber yards to try and match some of our existing baseboard and moulding trim. And then I have to talk to flooring people and painter about how best to organize stuff. Right now I am estimating for the flooring people to remove and replace the trim and the painter to finish. But, if we can't match the trims, that opens up a can of worms. We have gaps where the electric baseboard heaters were located, plus some of the kitchen trim will need to be replaced after the cabinet guys are done. 

 

Some of you may have done this work yourself, some may feel it's not that bad to organize. But I have to say that it's been quite a lot to take on and I'm still feeling a bit stressed. Though I have to say we have connected with some amazing tradespeople over the 10 years we have lived here in the Valley and they have all come through for us when we have needed them. They have been patient with me and willing to explain and flexible in their scheduling, trying to find some time for when we need something done. 

 

My husband, bless his heart, will be the first to say he's not good with some of this stuff. How many people know the Red Green show? "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."  🙂 

 

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

11 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

I was also going to say something about all the talk about I and Me in this story. I guess it's clear that I'm basically the "general contractor" on these jobs. Initially we tried to find someone to manage all our jobs, but it's a crazy time and people are busy. We do know a couple of good contractors but they are in-demand and working on much bigger jobs than this! They did throw us some bones of advice here and there, a couple of recommendations, etc. 

 

We installed a whole-house heat pump, which meant removing the electric baseboard heaters, getting sheet metal guys to create ductwork in our crawl-space and electrican to clean up the panel and wire the compressor/air handler units. That was completed two weeks ago. We also had a multi-zone irrigation system installed which also required a bit of electric work and a bit of plumbing above and beyond all the trenching and pipe-laying. And we had a landscaper do a major clean-up on our garden beds and create some new ones and add some new plants. Plus, we have a lawn maintenance guy liming and punching the lawn and he'll be doing some top-dressing/seeding when appropriate. All of that also happened within the last couple of weeks because our landscaper had a gap in her schedule and wanted to fill it, our irrigation guy decided we fit in better than a bigger job he had to do, etc.

 

We had a traffic jam in our crawl space some days, almost. Ha. Someone discovered we had some carpenter ants, so we had to get the pest guy here to deal with that (fortunately, not advanced and easily dealt with at this stage). 

 

And so many decisions. How should the garden beds be shaped, how many, which plants and trees and where, are they deer-resistant? Which mulch? Back and forth questions about irrigation vs landscaping. 

 

And then the kitchen cabinets, countertops, backsplash, etc. And flooring. And painting, because the whole house needs painting. Plus, I made the decision to paint the garage interior at the same time, because we get a break on the price, if we do it at the same time. But of course, we have a ton of stuff stored in our garage right now, because we didn't want to bring it inside while other stuff is going on. 

 

Also, storage in extra pantry/laundry cabinets, which is still a goal I am working on. Meeting with someone Monday morning to optimize those spaces. Pics to come. 

 

My husband has an amazing amount of confidence in my ability to manage some of this stuff. He does help, but he wants me to take the lead because, as he says, he never wants to move again and so he bloody well wants me to happy. Hahahahaha   🙂 

 

Early next month, I have hired someone to remove and transport the old kitchen cabinets. He's also going to help remove the backsplash and flooring. Everything else should follow soon after. 

 

One of my biggest things now is running around to lumber yards to try and match some of our existing baseboard and moulding trim. And then I have to talk to flooring people and painter about how best to organize stuff. Right now I am estimating for the flooring people to remove and replace the trim and the painter to finish. But, if we can't match the trims, that opens up a can of worms. We have gaps where the electric baseboard heaters were located, plus some of the kitchen trim will need to be replaced after the cabinet guys are done. 

 

Some of you may have done this work yourself, some may feel it's not that bad to organize. But I have to say that it's been quite a lot to take on and I'm still feeling a bit stressed. Though I have to say we have connected with some amazing tradespeople over the 10 years we have lived here in the Valley and they have all come through for us when we have needed them. They have been patient with me and willing to explain and flexible in their scheduling, trying to find some time for when we need something done. 

 

My husband, bless his heart, will be the first to say he's not good with some of this stuff. How many people know the Red Green show? "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."  🙂 

 

 

 

- 

What's that thread eG has on degrees of separation - Steve Smith (Red Green) had a big old houseboat he kept at the same place we docked our ketch. He used it to get away from home so he could write uninterrupted - nice guy. 

 

I think it's great that you can do your own contracting - "if you want it done right.." I'm sure if you can't find the molding you can set up a router to shape your own. If your hubby is too handsome - perhaps you can do it yourself!

[kayb]

Re: The fridge. When we bought this house, one of our conditions in the offer was that they leave the fridge, since they had redone the kitchen and all the appliances matched. I didn’t want to plunk my 15-year-old side by side into an almost new kitchen whose appliances were otherwise stainless.

 

The old fridge went into the garage, where it holds drinks and “extra” stuff. A godsend for Thanksgiving/Easter dinners. Might think about keeping it for such a purpose if you have space.

 

Love your plans (and details!) Please keep ‘em coming.

[Kim Shook]

18 hours ago, rotuts said:

@FauxPas 

 

Mojo has fine taste.

 

 

I find that cats do, on the whole.

[FauxPas]

Kitchen pantry/storage. Some of the existing pantry storage is a tall cabinet next to the fridge with adjustable deep shelves on the top and pull-outs below. It's not a bad size but the pull-outs aren't working very well anymore, so looking forward to the new cabinet, which will be configured slightly differently. 

 

 

 

And, if you look at the left background in the first picture, you'll see there are two bifold doors. One of these is already configured as pantry storage (though the shelves are not great, they start to sag under too many canned/jarred goods, for example). Here are the interiors. 

 

 

 

The one on the left used to house the gas hot-water tank. It was the original and time to consider replacement anyway, so we opted for an on-demand tankless system installed in the garage, which frees up more kitchen storage options. The cabinet guy also does other storage and is coming over tomorrow and we'll see if he has any suggestions. I'm interested in a good solution for these two spaces, not sure if I will find a temporary solution for the left side and leave the right for now, or what. And I'm thinking I'd like to continue working with the existing space - no wall removal, etc.   🙂

 

But then again, I look at them and think if they were joined as one large space, get rid of that centre dividing wall, that might have some real benefits....  Arggghhh. What to do?   🙁