I officially started the kitchen renovation about a year ago, and between February and May I tore most of the kitchen apart, rearranging cabinets…
Taking the backsplash out (with the help of my mom and grandma)…
And taking out the granite counters and sink….
And then I started putting it all back together. I put new cabinets in (and built a few of my own to add to them)…
I installed a new farmhouse sink (which I freaking love, by the way, it’s amazing)…
And I spent a lot of time sanding, patching, and priming a whole lot of wood on the walls, ceilings, and cabinets…
And then, mid-Spring, I put some MDF down for temporary counters, plugged the new range in, and called it good enough for now…
That’s just a part of the cycle on the farm. All of my indoor projects go on hold in April/May so I can go outside and garden, plant trees, maybe do something crazy like plant a bunch of grapevines, and I basically don’t come back in again until it snows.
So, progress on the kitchen was stalled until mid-December when I decided I was absolutely not going through another year looking at all the junk inside my cabinets and spent 5 hours after work every night for a week painting cabinet doors.
Yeah. That’s a pretty accurate description of the turn my life takes when I try to fit 30 additional hours of work into an already full week. Massive. Disaster.
However, once I got through it, it felt like the best 30 hours I’ve ever spent on a project in one week…
Hanging each door was like another weight off my chest (and brought a little bit of peace back into my life.)
It looks better, but it’s still not even really close to being finished. I don’t have any illusions that it will be done before the spring work sets in this year either, but here are the 3 things I’d like to be able to check off the kitchen list in the next couple of months.
1.) Finish the cabinets. Which means:
- Paint/hang the 4 doors and 4 drawer-fronts that haven’t been done yet
- Build and install box for range hood
- Build and install small filler cabinet for right side of new upper cabs
- Build drawer and sliding tray for new end cabinet
- Re-install crown and toekick
- Add trim and paint back side of “bar” area
2.) Install counters. I’d been on the fence about something like quartz vs. butcher block, and putting the cabinet doors back on made me realize how much I want the warm look of dark wood on the counters, so walnut butcher block it is. The big question is whether or not I’m going to buy the slabs and assemble/install them myself or hire that job out. We’ll see.
3.) Install backsplash. I’ve still got a few sections of drywall to replace, and then I plan to put up a tile membrane (like this one) and I’m leaning toward a traditional white subway tile backsplash (possibly hand-glazed like the tile I used in this bathroom) or, possibly a white hex tile? I’m undecided, but I’ll make the final call after the counters are in.
There will still be a fair amount of work to do on the walls, ceiling, and floors after that, but checking those 3 big items off my list will bring me a hell of a lot closer to a finished kitchen in 2017!
