Pandora's Box: The Kitchen Remodel

I first tackled the kitchen. The old kitchen we a little gross...so when I first moved in I did a minor cosmetic update. I ripped down wallpaper and painted everything including the cabinets. In October of last year I gutted the kitchen. We replaced the cabinets, appliances, counter tops, backsplash, plumbing including a brand new sink and the light fixture. We shopped around-I love a deal and got great prices on everything. Two of my favorite deals were the light fixture ($5 in the Lowes sidewalk sale,) and the small tile we used in the accent row on the backsplash (a mere $1 a sq foot-also in the Lowes sidewalk sale-I bought all they had-about 6 sheets.) We did all the labor ourselves, with the help of my dad and brother. I will say my Dad knows plumbing and electrical and this was not his first kitchen upgrade. He was a huge help and I learned allot.

Things I learned:

1. Taking down wallpaper is a horrible, evil job. The older the wallpaper the worse it will be.

2. ALWAYS pay to have the appliances delivered-specifically the refrigerator. It's worth the $75 to have to delivered-take my word for it.

3. It takes weeks to get counter tops delivered and installed. We finished the entire remodel in 4 days and then waited two weeks for the counter tops. I made poor Kevin install our sink "temporarily" on a sheet of plywood so we could do our first Thanksgiving in our new kitchen. We got our counter tops a week or so later.

4. Measure, measure, measure. Kevin was in charge of layout. He did a great job-and we did not have to return any cabinets due to mis-measurements. I was impressed.

5. Whatever you budget-no matter how good of a job you do-add at least a few hundred dollars to the top. The incidentals included: toe kick pieces, filler pieces for the cabinets, caulk, new switch plates-etc. You can imagine how these things add up.

All that said-we were very close to budget. We finished the demo and installation (save the countertops and backsplash) in just over 5 days. We were sitting in a brand new kitchen in 6 weeks. Not bad for our first big project together. I LOVE IT!!!

The Kitchen when I moved in to the house. As you will see...the previous owners loved them some country decorating....