On Second Thought

One of the great things about the planning process is that you get to change your mind. In the original plan for the kitchen, we didn't even consider tackling the laundry room, which we hated. But, as I thought about it, there would be no better time to do that construction. Plus, what was nagging at me was the flooring. The gray/pink oddly shaped tiles continued through the kitchen down the back hall and around the corner into the other back hall that contained the closet for the washer and dryer. The room we were using as an office was at the end of the back hall and it had a closet. Of course the closet had some stuff in it, but that room was never going to be useful as a bedroom, so we didn't need that closet in that room. So, it just made sense to blow through the laundry closet into that other closet and make a real laundry room. Likely the best decision of the entire renovation. Here is what that started to look like in the early stages of construction.

The door was removed and would be replaced with a window.

The wall between the two closets has been removed. Plumbing and electrical would also have to be moved to accomodate the new layout with the washer and dryer on the outside wall.

Window being installed.

Finished window and siding replaced. We actually found extra siding in the basement, so we used that. Of course even when you have the same material it won't match because the siding on the house was out in the weather for 25 years. But, close enough and no matter what we did it wouldn't match. This is on the back of the house.

Inside view with new window and electrical rough in.

Framed doorway leading into new laundry room. Door to right leads to powder room.

Putting the washer and dryer on the outside wall was required to make this layout work. We really wanted the sink with the cabinets and that would have to go on the outside wall also. Having plumbing on an inside wall in colder climates is preferable, but we figured our kitchen sink plumbing was on an outside wall, so why not?

Progress continued to be made. Here are some shots of the next steps.

Rough in plumbing in place along with insulation. The white box to the far right with the yellow hose is a gas line. We do not have a gas dryer, but the owners before us did and they are quite popular in this part of the country. So, whenever you are doing construction consider the options and put them in while the walls are open and the additional option costs incrementally nothing.

Sink would be positioned under the window.

It is a great day when drywall goes in. Makes you think it is getting finished. Of course, that is when the project really starts to slow down because drywall is no where near the finish line.

Even unfinished, this view is far superior to the door that was there with laundry piled in front of it.

While the laundry room was getting done, so was the kitchen. Next post we will look at that along with some of the finish options we chose along the way.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

You know you hate your kitchen when you think it looks better after demolition. Here is a reminder of what we started with:

This is from the first night we owned the house, looking into the kitchen from the eat-in area.

Closer into the kitchen.

Looking from the kitchen into the eat-in area.

Daytime shot of kitchen. We originally thought this soffit was just 80's decoration. Turned out every last line of plumbing and electrical in practically the entire house ran through there. We dealt with that in the master bath renovation, which left our ceiling gutted for months.

While there are quite a few odd elements to this kitchen, the pantry closet in the middle of the wall was a real space stealer. It was also unattractive.

Looking into the kitchen from the family room. The little wall covered in flowered wallpaper wasn't that great of a view.

Looking into the eat-in area. You'll notice the door to the garage on the right just on the other side of the opening into the hall. Yes, it faces the other way. So, you are always in your own way going in and out of the garage from the kitchen, which would be the primary path.

With our roof all finished and new skylight in place, demo of the kitchen was the next step in the construction process. But first, cabinets and appliances needed to be on order. The cabinet order was placed based on our final design selection, which I shared in a previous post. Cabinets take 4-6 weeks. And the type of appliances we were ordering would take nearly as long. We had done our research long before we decided to move forward with the kitchen project, so we were ready.

We really missed our Five Star range from the old house. The fully enclosed gas burners that went from very low to very high heat were perfect for a home chef. We could not fit the 48" model we had with six burners, a grill/griddle and both electric and gas ovens, but the 36" with 4 burners, a grill/griddle, and one gas oven would work great. Some of our fondest memories with our grandchildren was making pancakes on that griddle on Sunday mornings.

The single oven Five Star range gave me an opportunity to have two ovens that were both full-sized. The electric oven would be a wall mounted KitchenAid with many baking features such as bread proofing and steam baking and the one we selected came in a combo model with a microwave. I was really looking forward to using all these cool features.

At the advice of the sales person, we selected the KitchenAid french door refrigerator/freezer with freezer drawer. We really struggled with selecting the refrigerator. We had a SubZero in the old house, which was great, but these were topping $12,000 now. By selecting a counter depth unit, we could save over $9,000. That is a ton of money. We were nervous, but we went with this unit and hoped for the best. Sneak preview: we really love it.

We liked our GE dishwasher at the old house with cabinet door on it and Smart Dispense. Smart Dispense is where you can put an entire Costco sized container of liquid automatic dishwasher detergent in the dispenser and it dispenses each time you wash. Perfect for the lazy homeowners we are. So, we got one for this house.

We already had a GE ice machine from our first failed attempt at purchasing a home here in NY. See one of my first posts for more on that. It was the same model we had in our old house. Alan really likes a lot of ice and this machine makes really cool little restaurant style cubes. I can't find it on the web anymore, so maybe they don't make these now. Doesn't bode well for repair or replacement parts, but these are pretty simple machines. Other brands do still make an ice machine unit for the home.

The new kitchen design allowed for two new appliances that we did not have before: beverage center and warming drawer. Because we had selected the KitchenAid oven/microwave combo and the warming drawer would go directly below those, we opted for the KitchenAid warming drawer. I never really thought I needed one of these, but it would fit and I figured we should put it in while we were at it. Seemed like an item that would be expected in a kitchen like the one we were building. And, it turns out it comes in pretty handy after all. I've used it more that I ever thought I would.

We also selected the KitchenAid beverage center. The reason we liked this one is that it was designed for soft drinks and beer as well as wine. And, it boasted three temperature zones. It was the only one I saw that had that feature. We are very pleased with it, but I did learn that the three temperature zones are not separately controlled. The unit is designed to be colder at the top where the soft drinks go and warmest at the bottom where the red wine goes. All three temperatures are measured and displayed on an LED screen, but you can't control each of them. A stickler for exact wine temperature would not appreciate this. But, we couldn't fit three units in our kitchen, so this was way better than one temperature for sure.

Demolition day was here. I was stunned at how big a space it really was with that closet taken out.

Where sink was and where new sink would go.

Pantry closet was now gone. It is hard to see, but there is yet another copper pipe that was hidden in the wall. It is right in front of the black drain pipe, about a foot into the room. It would have to be moved.

This is looking into what was the kitchen. I was really happy with this space and could see how our vision would begin to take shape.

Another view of the wall where the pantry closet was and where the new refrigerator, ovens, warming drawer, and ice machine would go.

This wall is where the new pantry cabinets would go. You can see the baseboard heating unit. Those would all be removed in the kitchen, entry hall, and back hall since we were going to use radiant heat.

This was an exciting time. The old was out and the new was beginning to take shape. Next post I'll show the laundry room portion of the project and some of our other early design selections. Stick around!