A year ago I decided to remodel my kitchen, and to do so as cheaply as possible. Little did I know then, that a year later, I would still be working on the project and doing so on a Furlough Friday budget. It took me a week or so to give the kitchen walls a fresh coat of white paint. Then I painted over the faded blue cabinet doors with a thick coat of sage green paint. The messiest bits I 'improved' were the white painted cabinet door hinges. I soaked them in gelatinous water soluble solvent to reveal pretty copper door-hinges.
The tall pantry cabinet on the left, helped tremendously
to increase reachable cabinet space in my kitchen.
Details/photos on the fridge replacement are
here.
Now, that brings me up to yesterday, when work started on removing the grubby white tile cabinet tops with granite. First, here's a look at the kitchen view with some of the old tile visable on the nearest to the camera bottom cabinet.
Things already moved around,but tile surfaces visable - dirty grout and all
The workmen striped off all the tile surfaces;note the stove was moved out before work began.
The real work began Saturday morning. Workmen arrived and started measuring and cutting the granite slabs in my driveway.
Cutting granite outside
All the cabinet tops had to have new
wooden boards to lay the granite on.
It cracked me up when they put up sheets of plastic in the kitchen to cut down on dust. It reminded me of the the cable show Dexter, when he prepares his work room for his - upseting - dastardly deeds.
Dexter! Is that you in there?Anyway, there was dusty galore in spite of the plastic sheeting. I had the whole house fan on and I like to think that helped move the dust up and out of the house (or maybe just out of the kitchen? Oopsy).
By mid afternoon the work was done & I am happy with it. The lady who runs the company with her husband delivered all she promised. I like the granite behind the stove area as a backdrop for splatters and such. A fumes hood needs to go up there.
With one job complete, others
suggest themselves, like a hood over the stove
The window side of the kitchen is looking slick
The lady had one great idea I would never have thought of. There is a space between one cabinet and my dishwasher. I keep a narrow garbage can there. It was her idea to extend the granite counter top across that space to the dishwasher. Great idea! Doubled my countertop space there and covers over the garbage can.
Love the increased counter space
over the little garbage can slot
I like that they suggested that expanded counter top. Also she told me since the sink had to be removed for the work, that if I bought a new garbage disposal she would have the men install it for free. As the old one sounds like one is grinding up chain-mail, I took her up on the offer.
Work's not totally done on the granite yet - it needs sealing which they'll do in about a week, and then again, 6 months after that, as part of the original costs.
Hurrah! Of course, one job down, several more to go. I need to finish the kitchen painting - the upper cabinets and some work on the bottom ones. The stove needs a proper hood and as is obvious in the photos above, I intend to have a tile floor installed; all the fresh new paint makes the old linoleum look cheese-yellow.
Meanwhile there is post-job clean-up to contend with. Everything in the house is covered with the delicate white blush of dust. Where the heck did I stash the sponge?
