Matt and I’ve our new plans for our home in place (which you can see here) and as I’ve shared these plans on the weblog not too long ago, I’ve had a couple of feedback like, “Kristi, didn’t you simply end that room not too way back?”
I needed to chortle as a result of I truly had somebody ask me that about our kitchen. “Didn’t you simply end that room not too way back?” Another person mentioned, “I keep in mind how laborious you labored in your kitchen, and now you’re altering it?”
I suppose time actually does fly once you’re having enjoyable, as a result of no, I didn’t simply end my kitchen not too way back. 😀 Actually, it’s been virtually precisely a decade (WOW!!!) since I reworked our kitchen and turned this…
…into this…
I completed that rework October 14, 2014. That was so way back that the room subsequent to it (which is now the pantry and breakfast/sitting room) hadn’t even been touched aside from a little bit of demolition. You possibly can see it to the precise of the kitchen within the photograph above with the very tough wooden partitions, plywood ceiling, and dirt in all places.
I did repaint the kitchen in June of 2017 after I realized that the inexperienced was too laborious for me to brighten round. However even that has been over seven years in the past now.
After I did this kitchen rework ten years in the past, I desperately wanted a usable kitchen. The unique kitchen was one of the crucial inefficient kitchens I had ever seen. It had two partitions of cupboards reverse one another. There was this wall of cupboards with the sink…
After which on the other wall was this financial institution of cupboards with a countertop.
After which on one of many facet partitions was the hookup for a standalone dishwasher and area for a fridge…
And reverse that was the hookup for a fuel vary with no cupboards or countertop.
So the structure was one thing like this…
(Ha! That IKEA kitchen planner is one useful software not just for planning, but in addition for illustration functions! 😀 )
Anyway, that kitchen was laid out so inefficiently that I’d get pissed off simply attempting to make a sandwich in there. Truly attempting to prepare dinner a meal was subsequent degree frustration. That simply goes to indicate you that simply because you may have a piece triangle, and simply because that triangle has the correct measurements, that doesn’t robotically imply that the kitchen goes to be straightforward to make use of. The work triangle is only the start.
All that to say that there was no manner I needed to prepare dinner all of our meals in that kitchen, so if we needed to eat at residence, I wanted a change, and I wanted it to be fast (as fast as I might DIY it myself, tearing it all the way down to the studs and rebuilding it) and as low cost as doable. We didn’t have any cash saved up for a kitchen rework on the time as a result of we had simply spent all of our cash on the downpayment for the home.
So I did the most cost effective rework doable. I used inventory oak utility cupboards from Dwelling Depot and dressed them up as a lot as I might with trim.
Strong floor counter tops weren’t within the funds, so I labored with a concrete countertop firm that offered all the supplies freed from cost, and my brother and I poured the concrete counter tops.
And whereas I did purchase new home equipment again in 2014, they had been removed from top-of-the-line. They’ve served me very effectively over time, although.
In all, I spent proper at $10,000 on that kitchen rework ten years in the past. And I’ve positively gotten my cash’s value out of that kitchen since then. At the moment, the counter tops are stained, one burner on the range doesn’t gentle by itself, the dishwasher not works, three wall tiles are cracked, one drawer deal with got here off and is misplaced, and the fridge ice maker leaks.
This kitchen has served me effectively, and it has labored laborious for me for ten years now. I’ve been so grateful to have such a fairly little kitchen these previous years. However I don’t really feel a single little bit of unhappiness in letting it go. I’ll all the time have photos to look again on if I need to revisit the work I did after we first purchased this home, however I’m prepared to maneuver on, and I can achieve this with not a little bit of unhappiness or guilt. I solely really feel pleasure about it.
I nonetheless have some time longer earlier than I’ve to say goodbye to it. I nonetheless have a bed room and a closet/laundry room to complete earlier than we get began on the kitchen. I’m not taking a sledgehammer to my present kitchen at present, and even subsequent month. I’ll be utilizing it for a couple of extra months.
However I did meet with a plumber final week in regards to the new kitchen as a result of I needed to make sure I might even do what I need to do (i.e., transfer the kitchen to the one room of the home with a slab basis), and to get an estimate on how a lot it would value to have the drain pipe, water to the tap, water to the dishwasher, fuel line for the vary, and water to the fridge all moved over to the room with the slab basis. Plus, I need one other water line for a small built-in nugget ice machine. All of that got here to $9000. I needed to chortle. The plumbing alone for the brand new kitchen value virtually as a lot as my complete kitchen rework ten years in the past.
Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I rework and embellish the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do nearly all of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.
