Deferred Maintenance Kitchen Renovation

[Porthos]

I purposely waited until the cabinet refacing/new cabinets task was done before contracting for the flooring.  I just placed the order last Thursday. 

[dscheidt]

On 3/17/2021 at 1:24 PM, heidih said:

Worse cuz the stuff does not go on the moving truck. When we did big office suites at night  the carpet guys actually had a system where they moved and laid in an orchestrated way. Including those big old file cabinets with lateral drawers.They were worth every penny and the next morning the tenants were equally amazed.

 

A former office was recarpted overnight, while I was working the overnight shift.  It was not communicated to anyone working in the space it was going to happen, the guys just showed up at about 8pm.  So no one had done any cleaning or other prep.  They cleared a small area, ripped the old carpet up, glued the new stuff down, and put stuff back. This was carpet tiles, not rolls of carpet, which made it easier.  Huge crew, they did several thousand square feet by five am.  Apparently, many people didn't even notice the work had happened (it was a different color carpet, but not by much). 

[kayb]

Kitchen is looking good! Anxious to see it with the laminate installed.

 

[Porthos]

Our flooring is out of stock at Pergo so that won't happen until May. Since I have a working kitchen again it's an acceptable delay. In the meantime I've been busy installing a bunch of these:

 

 

There will be a total of 8. They are a godsend to cranky old bodies.

 

 

[Shelby]

I LOVE your new kitchen.  Very pretty.  Isn't it nice to have it all super clean and new?  Very smart on the pull outs that you just showed.

[Porthos]

Late last week I received a check (amount purposely omitted) from the store chain with whom we contracted our renovation. My guess was that is was compensation for the mess the countertop guys left, but I wasn't any form of curious to verify this.  I want to remind people that when I sent my complaint email to the salesman for the subcontractor I made it clear that I wasn't seeking any compensation for the serious level of mess, but felt that they should know what their installation crew left behind.

 

My Sweetie was very interested in why we got the check and so early this week made a lengthy call to the store. She was able to verify my suspicion that the check was indeed compensation. I figured that since I made it abundantly clear that I wasn't seeking compensation I would accept it without any qualms.

 

With the flooring on back-order we're using the time for other necessary projects, the latest having been replacing our non-working furnace and AC, and now on to exterior stuff.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Porthos (log)

[johnnyd]

Just finished our reno. New cabinets, new sink, new gas range with powerful hood fans, stamped tin backsplash, new stone island countertop, new range-side laminate countertop. Whole thing took two weeks - bought a new carbon-steel wok to celebrate!

 

[gfweb]

Two weeks!

Exceptional in all respects.

[weinoo]

19 hours ago, johnnyd said:

Just finished our reno. New cabinets, new sink, new gas range with powerful hood fans, stamped tin backsplash, new stone island countertop, new range-side laminate countertop. Whole thing took two weeks - bought a new carbon-steel wok to celebrate!

 

 

The fact that mine took 3+ months only aggravates me a little.

 

But with the look of the contents in that jar (and that roll of something in the sink cabinet), were people even allowed to take a bathroom break?!

 

[johnnyd]

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

The fact that mine took 3+ months only aggravates me a little.

 

But with the look of the contents in that jar (and that roll of something in the sink cabinet), were people even allowed to take a bathroom break?!

 

 

Well, to be fair, we are in a 2k' 100yr old condo that had already been reno'd 20 yrs ago, so we were replacing cheap chipboard cabs with solid maple ones; pulled out an electric range on it's last gasp; put in a sink with a faucet that works, then capped the island with a stone slab. Cab guys were chums from my old life as a commercial water/fire damage restorer, so it all came together like old times.  Nothing special, just fresh and functional.  I'll make something and post soon - it's been a while.

[Porthos]

Our flooring will be delivered next Wednesday to start acclimating. This afternoon we're off for my Sweetie to select material for the valance over the kitchen window.

 

Overall we're loving the new kitchen.

 

Part of the cabinet refacing was all new doors and drawers. The style of the hinges on the new doors was not expected. I just never gave it any thought. The ole hinges allowed the doors to swings as far as you wanted.

 

Old hinge style:

 

 

The new hinges only swing out about 90 degrees:

 

 

Our pantry is opposite of the end of our peninsula, and the peninsula is 4" longer than the original. With our old doors we were used to swinging the doors all the way open and pulling things out to use in our main prep area. How we have to open the pantry, retrieve what we want, put it on the end of the peninsula, close the doors and then move the stuff we got out to where we want it. Yes, this is a first-world problem, but it is a small annoyance.

 

[heidih]

Those Euro hinges have been the thing for years but they do have a tendency to get looser and wiggle. Gotta take care to pull th pull straight out and not inadvertently pull down ---- unless you have the skills to tighten them yurself. 

[dtremit]

22 hours ago, Porthos said:

Our pantry is opposite of the end of our peninsula, and the peninsula is 4" longer than the original. With our old doors we were used to swinging the doors all the way open and pulling things out to use in our main prep area. How we have to open the pantry, retrieve what we want, put it on the end of the peninsula, close the doors and then move the stuff we got out to where we want it. Yes, this is a first-world problem, but it is a small annoyance.

 

You might be able to just replace the hinges — you can get wider-opening concealed face frame hinges, up to at least 170°: 

 

E.g. (not sure if these are the right size):

Blum 170 degree face frame hinges

 

They are more expensive than the 90° ones but if you just need them on the pantry doors, it wouldn't be a huge investment.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, dtremit said:

E.g. (not sure if these are the right size):

Blum 170 degree face frame hinges

 

 

All the hardware used in our renovation (door glides, hinges, etc.) (not handles) was Blum. Good stuff.

[Porthos]

At last the flooring was installed today.  Pictures tomorrow. 

[Porthos]

A small bit of humor.  We picked out the flooring last fall. As it was being installed this morning I started wondering what they were doing to already damaging the surface.  Um, we had picked out a distressed surface.  All is well. 

[Porthos]

The completed (except for the window blinds and valance) kitchen.

 

 

 

Between preparing for vacation, getting ready for the flooring, and life, the peninsula became a catch-all.

 

Looking past the peninsula and pantry to the family room.

 

 

I buggered up my upper right arm/shoulder but good last month and it has only pretty much healed up this week. I couldn't support weight with it so I had to put off installing the blinds.

[heidih]

Nice. Looks all set up and ready to rock. But I was asking myself the question about a valance the other day. There are some here and I pitch them when I think nobody will notice (talking with the dingle balls in orange).. This image was on my FB memory this morn - the torn up kitchen which s now maple flooring, stainless appliances, and granite counters. I thought the electrician who is in the image was gonna lose it when he crawled under the long house cuz I forgot where the hidden close crawl space was. Sweet man. The sunflower cup is mine.

[Shelby]

Beautiful!!!  I know you guys are loving it.  The floor is awesome.

[Smithy]

The kitchen looks wonderful! Sorry your shoulder and arm are messed up, glad you're recovering. The work and planning y'all put into the kitchen has really paid off.

[Porthos]

We chose a Moen no-touch faucet for the sink. I discovered that if you pour out boiling water on the side where the faucet is, the steam turns on the faucet.

[Porthos]

The big box store we used was Home Depot. I strongly recommend you avoid them.

 

In the department of surprises: Before the renovation we had a room AC unit in the kitchen window so we never "opened" it. When I went to open it a couple of weeks ago I discovered that the tile guy had randomly smeared grout between the window and window frame. I have taken care of it.

 

The laminate flooring contractor was awesome. The crew of 4 did the complete job in 2 hours.

[heidih]

Lowes was the winner for us. They price matched - and THEY did the research while we browsed. I have previously stated my horrid HD experiemces.

[Porthos]

5 hours ago, heidih said:

Lowes was the winner for us. They price matched - and THEY did the research while we browsed. I have previously stated my horrid HD experiemces.

I would have preferred Lowes.  Unfortunately they don't do cabinet refacing. 

[heidih]

29 minutes ago, Porthos said:

I would have preferred Lowes.  Unfortunately they don't do cabinet refacing. 

Yes tricky area. You are dealing with not only a skill set but the existing condition of the old guys.   We did all new with a cabinetmaker I trusted. Past tense. The cabinet construction was fine but the paint (white). Chipping beginning with year 2. Spare me the litany of California paint regulations. Wish I'd insisted on the factory ones (China?) but was not my call unfortunately.