Well a month and a half after the demo began, we finally have a completely remodeled kitchen (expect for a cabinet door replacement, but I will get to that later). For those of you who have completed a remodel yourselves, I am in awe. We hired someone and it was stressful! I can’t imagine completing the work myself. Here are some after pics:
Top Left: View from door to dining room
Top Right: View from basement/back door
Bottom Left: Cabinets and stove
Bottom Right: View from living room
Before and after views from about the same spot
1. MUCH better vertical storage. We added metal inserts so they aren’t all leaning against each other. There is also room for a shelf above for bread pans and small tins or pans.
2. I love this drawer! All my silverware is so organized and it is one hundred times better than a buy-it-yourself insert.
3. Every shelf that can pull out does. Every drawer and cabinet door is soft close. Fabulousness. Sometimes I am in another room and forget other cabinet doors aren’t soft close. Ooops.
4. Instead of a double blind cabinet we got a super susan. Everything is much more accessible, but I had a hard time deciding what I wanted in this. So far all my tupperware and miscellaneous baking items fit well.
5. We did not have a pantry before so we added a pantry cabinet to the right of the fridge. I was nervous about it being too wide and closing the dinette area in, but I actually wish I would have gone wider. Oh well, live and learn.
6. Spices are so much easier to get to and more organized!
7. Our refinished floor! You can actually see the wood grain, who knew that was there?! We also replaced all the shoe molding on the baseboards so the stains are gone.
8. We switched our sink from double basin to single basin. It’s great for washing baking items and because it requires a smaller sink base, we were able to fit an extra bank of drawers where we didn’t have one so there is additional storage (it works out for more counter space as well).
9. Our DISHWASHER!! We love it and it is so nice for washing Claire’s toys, too. My hands constantly thank me now.
The Lowdown.
In an ideal world the process should have taken approximately 3 weeks. We didn’t change the footprint of the kitchen (no plumbing change and very little electrical change). The problem we had was with our cabinets. We shopped around and compared options. In the end we went with custom cabinets by Medallion (purchased at Menard’s). They had the features and look we wanted. There were cheaper ones, but we wanted to do it ‘right’ and didn’t want to settle. Maybe in stock or quick ship cabinets have their advantages. There were several issues we had with cracking. Basically with custom cabinets, every time there is a mistake or reorder it takes another 2 weeks minimum. Towards the end it was getting a little frustrating finding one thing after another dragging the process out.
But we are so glad it is done! There is so much more light and storage space. We have empty shelves in spots! Even though some of the storage is high up and I need a stool, it is still storage. I put things I only use once or twice a year. The granite is wonderful and so different than the black granite tiles. You can barely see crumbs or fingerprints. We really like the colors of the backsplash we choose and the floor turned out really well. We hope to have the guy come back and refinish all the bedrooms and hallway the same color (right now the hallway has carpeting over it and the rooms are all in different finishes). Hurray for the AFTER! 🙂
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