Lessons in Demolition

1) Demolition is fun for the first swing. Then you will get tired. Lil effectively removed zero material but has been a trooper about entertaining herself while we work.

2) You will need a sawsall. We had two going at once a few times.

3) You will struggle with certain tasks until you find a way that works. Eventually Alex figured out a wedge method to remove three ceramic tiles and backing at once, which made that layer of tear out go much more quickly.

4) All the demolition will create dust and debris. Everywhere. You will sneeze, sweep, dust, and sneeze some more.

5) You will find surprises. Like this soffit under a soffit. And the person who used square headed screws every two inches in the tile underlayment. And the person who was really excited about the stapler and added spiral nails to the sub floor just for good measure. Curses all!

6) Eventually you will come to a stripped down, patched, empty room that represents serious satisfaction.

Next up is adjusting electrical, plumbing, and gas. Then new lights, flooring, cabinets, and appliances. The hardest labor is over!

Lessons in Demolition

1) Demolition is fun for the first swing. Then you will get tired. Lil effectively removed zero material but has been a trooper about entertaining herself while we work.

2) You will need a sawsall. We had two going at once a few times.

3) You will struggle with certain tasks until you find a way that works. Eventually Alex figured out a wedge method to remove three ceramic tiles and backing at once, which made that layer of tear out go much more quickly.

4) All the demolition will create dust and debris. Everywhere. You will sneeze, sweep, dust, and sneeze some more.

5) You will find surprises. Like this soffit under a soffit. And the person who used square headed screws every two inches in the tile underlayment. And the person who was really excited about the stapler and added spiral nails to the sub floor just for good measure. Curses all!

6) Eventually you will come to a stripped down, patched, empty room that represents serious satisfaction.

Next up is adjusting electrical, plumbing, and gas. Then new lights, flooring, cabinets, and appliances. The hardest labor is over!

10 Days to a DIY Kitchen

In my last post about our kitchen plans, I mentioned that we think we can do this project in ten days. Our last kitchen went from demo to functional in about the same time, so we have some confidence that we can do this again.

Why Rush The Timeline?

We love to cook and want to minimize our time without a kitchen. Second, Alex has limited ability to be away from work, so we want to maximize his time off. (I'm still working farmers' markets and teaching Bitter is Better and Kids Keep Chickens during the project.) Finally, we're putting housecleaning and homeschooling and social plans on hold while we renovate but don't want to keep those things at bay for very long.

10 Day Renovation Schedule

Here's how we hope it will play out:

Day one - Tomorrow! - tear out Day two  - tear out Day three - fix problems in sub floor, walls, hopeful we uncover nothing else Day four - adjust gas line, plumbing, electric, venting for new configuration Day five - install pre-finished flooring Day six - build island base, build and install cabinets Day seven - build and install cabinets Day eight - build and install cabinets Day nine - install appliances, sink, lights, vent Day ten - build and install counters

Cheats and Delays

The savvy among you may realize that there's a lot missing from our schedule - trim and handles and unpacking and decorating. Our ten days is counted from the time the old kitchen was semi-functional to the time the new kitchen is semi-functional. We don't expect to be truly finished for awhile later. We lived in the last kitchen for almost a year before we had finished wooden countertops!

And already we have a delay. The universe must not believe in a ten day kitchen because when we ordered appliances, the range top we wanted wasn't available for delivery until April 17. Other models that met our timeline cost $500-1000 more - for that amount we can afford to wait.

I'll take pictures and share updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if you want to follow along. 

10 Days to a DIY Kitchen

In my last post about our kitchen plans, I mentioned that we think we can do this project in ten days. Our last kitchen went from demo to functional in about the same time, so we have some confidence that we can do this again.

Why Rush The Timeline?

We love to cook and want to minimize our time without a kitchen. Second, Alex has limited ability to be away from work, so we want to maximize his time off. (I'm still working farmers' markets and teaching Bitter is Better and Kids Keep Chickens during the project.) Finally, we're putting housecleaning and homeschooling and social plans on hold while we renovate but don't want to keep those things at bay for very long.

10 Day Renovation Schedule

Here's how we hope it will play out:

Day one - Tomorrow! - tear out Day two  - tear out Day three - fix problems in sub floor, walls, hopeful we uncover nothing else Day four - adjust gas line, plumbing, electric, venting for new configuration Day five - install pre-finished flooring Day six - build island base, build and install cabinets Day seven - build and install cabinets Day eight - build and install cabinets Day nine - install appliances, sink, lights, vent Day ten - build and install counters

Cheats and Delays

The savvy among you may realize that there's a lot missing from our schedule - trim and handles and unpacking and decorating. Our ten days is counted from the time the old kitchen was semi-functional to the time the new kitchen is semi-functional. We don't expect to be truly finished for awhile later. We lived in the last kitchen for almost a year before we had finished wooden countertops!

And already we have a delay. The universe must not believe in a ten day kitchen because when we ordered appliances, the range top we wanted wasn't available for delivery until April 17. Other models that met our timeline cost $500-1000 more - for that amount we can afford to wait.

I'll take pictures and share updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if you want to follow along. 

The DIY Kitchen Master Plan

I asked on Facebook about what parts of our DIY kitchen renovation you want to hear about and people commented that they want it all. Ok, here we go: The master plan.

Overall Vision

We plan to create a highly functional cooking space by updating to more powerful appliances and adding much more storage. We're aiming for a clean farmhouse look with stained white cabinets and warm, earthy accents.

From The Bottom Up

After the old cabinets are re-purposed in other areas of our home and the old flooring is sent to the dump (sadly, we can't think of anything to do with cracked tile and worn vinyl), we'll lay in new wood or bamboo flooring. Unlike last kitchen when we spent big bucks for cork, this go-round we will choose something within our budget from whatever's in stock at a local flooring company.

Leonard Krashoc, mastermind behind the mudroom and children's book author (go buy his books!), will help us out with the kitchen. He's a whiz with drywall, so he's going to expand a doorway to allow easier flow through the house. He'll also help extend the gas line, fix the goofy wiring, and troubleshoot any unexpected projects we might uncover. Everyone cross your fingers that we don't find too much trouble behind the walls.

We went to IKEA today to order cabinets during their 20% off kitchen sale. It's not as boring as Lil makes it out to be - if you've done your homework with the 3D kitchen planner like we did, staff just does a double check, prints the list of every individual part, and collects payment. We opted for $149 delivery to our house which could have come as soon as this Sunday! (But we pushed them off a week because we aren't quite ready for stacks of cabinet boxes.)

All the base cabinets we ordered, including those in the island, are full of drawers. We miss drawers! Because we despise corner cabinets, we arranged for straight runs of cabinet only. Straight lines will make counter construction easier too.

We're going to make our own countertops again - this time with zinc over a plywood base. Zinc is food safe, easy to work, and will patina over time to add to the farmhouse feel. Catch up with how we made wooden countertops at our previous house in 2009.

The next big purchase to be made is the gas range top, double ovens, and outside vent hood. We're going with large, semi-professional grade cooking appliances in brushed stainless finish. We are not replacing the dishwasher and refrigerator right now because they're still working fine and we're wanting to stay within our budget of cash saved.

Lighting, paint, and decor will be simple and comprised of some pieces we already have.

Our plans sound straightforward when I write them out and perhaps that's why I only have ten days set aside for the project. I'll share our schedule and why I think we can remodel a kitchen in this timeline soon.

What do you think of the master plan? Will our third IKEA kitchen be our last?

The DIY Kitchen Master Plan

I asked on Facebook about what parts of our DIY kitchen renovation you want to hear about and people commented that they want it all. Ok, here we go: The master plan.

Overall Vision

We plan to create a highly functional cooking space by updating to more powerful appliances and adding much more storage. We're aiming for a clean farmhouse look with stained white cabinets and warm, earthy accents.

From The Bottom Up

After the old cabinets are re-purposed in other areas of our home and the old flooring is sent to the dump (sadly, we can't think of anything to do with cracked tile and worn vinyl), we'll lay in new wood or bamboo flooring. Unlike last kitchen when we spent big bucks for cork, this go-round we will choose something within our budget from whatever's in stock at a local flooring company.

Leonard Krashoc, mastermind behind the mudroom and children's book author (go buy his books!), will help us out with the kitchen. He's a whiz with drywall, so he's going to expand a doorway to allow easier flow through the house. He'll also help extend the gas line, fix the goofy wiring, and troubleshoot any unexpected projects we might uncover. Everyone cross your fingers that we don't find too much trouble behind the walls.

We went to IKEA today to order cabinets during their 20% off kitchen sale. It's not as boring as Lil makes it out to be - if you've done your homework with the 3D kitchen planner like we did, staff just does a double check, prints the list of every individual part, and collects payment. We opted for $149 delivery to our house which could have come as soon as this Sunday! (But we pushed them off a week because we aren't quite ready for stacks of cabinet boxes.)

All the base cabinets we ordered, including those in the island, are full of drawers. We miss drawers! Because we despise corner cabinets, we arranged for straight runs of cabinet only. Straight lines will make counter construction easier too.

We're going to make our own countertops again - this time with zinc over a plywood base. Zinc is food safe, easy to work, and will patina over time to add to the farmhouse feel. Catch up with how we made wooden countertops at our previous house in 2009.

The next big purchase to be made is the gas range top, double ovens, and outside vent hood. We're going with large, semi-professional grade cooking appliances in brushed stainless finish. We are not replacing the dishwasher and refrigerator right now because they're still working fine and we're wanting to stay within our budget of cash saved.

Lighting, paint, and decor will be simple and comprised of some pieces we already have.

Our plans sound straightforward when I write them out and perhaps that's why I only have ten days set aside for the project. I'll share our schedule and why I think we can remodel a kitchen in this timeline soon.

What do you think of the master plan? Will our third IKEA kitchen be our last?

Wooden Countertops Tutorial Part Two

This is a continuation of the Tutorial.  Part One covers materials. Construction

First, dimensions of the surface to be covered are measured, and the plywood subcounter is cut to shape.  Screw this into cabinet sides immediately so the kitchen can be used. We lived with construction plywood counters for just about a year, so I suppose you could just stop here if you were ok with counters that can't be thoroughly cleaned and are pretty ugly.

Care needs to be taken with complex shapes so that the dimensions are accurate and the countertops fit when installed.  I worked in the garage and made trips inside many times to measure, dry fit, and trim.

Next, the solid wood edge pieces are cut to length.  I fashioned the edge pieces to hang down so that the edge makes the countertops appear to be 1.5” thick.

Now the edges are installed on the sides of the plywood using the biscuit jointer.  For those unfamiliar with a biscuit jointer, it cuts slots in both edges of wooden pieces on their butted sides.  Wood glue is inserted in the slots, biscuits inserted in one side, and the pieces are fit together.  They are clamped and allowed to dry thoroughly.

The entire assembly is finish-sanded to 220 grit and then the polyurethane is applied.  I let each coat dry completely, and then roughed the surface with 00 steel wool before applying the following coat.

I applied 6 coats of polyurethane and then finished it by buffing with 0000 steel wool.  If we notice down the road that the polyurethane is damaged or wearing, we can simply sand and then re-coat with additional layers as needed.

After this, the countertops are dropped into place and secured with liquid nails.  With a generous application of liquid nails between the two sheets of plywood, you essentially have a one-piece solid surface.  Edges around the sink are protected with clear silicone caulk.

Final Look

We are thrilled with the look and feel of the wooden countertops.   The cherry contrasts just enough to be pleasant and not distracting.  They are simple to clean and in the month since installation show not a single scratch.  We look forward to years of enjoying the beauty and function of these affordable counters.