Kitchen remake..

[yarborough house]

Okay I uploaded pictures of my nasty kitchen in an album. They are all the before pics as I have decided that June is my month to redo the kitchen. So, hopefully by July I will have new "finished" pics to show you.

You'll notice the cabinets are nasty green. What was I thinking when i did that I am not sure. :( But now I am playing around with paint colors. I am going to take them all down and sand them and do it right this time.
So, options -
#1 a brown painted cabinet uppers and lowers
#2 a brown painted cabinet on lowers and a cream on uppers
#3 a cream painted cabinet on all
#4 a distressed cream or white on all...

I ordered my new stainless side by side fridge and dishwasher yesterday and will order a new stainless range- trying to decide whether to get 30 inch like we have or bump up to 36 inch. And we have a couple of countertop ideas we are muddling through - very neutral looking.

any inputs?

[Zuzu's Garden]

Hi Tammy,

I just visited your albums. Your kitchen is going to be great. It already has "great bones". Love, LOVE your porch pics. Since you love those too, why not carry your shabby chic look indoors into the kitchen? I think your options #3 a cream painted cabinet on all, or, #4 a distressed cream or white on all would look fantastic! I used to tell my kids if they gooped something up, they cleaned it. It worked simply because they didn't want to clean it up. ;):p

Zu

[yarborough house]

Thanks Zu,

I do love the shabby distressed look and with kids maybe it is the route to go. I just had all white cabinets done poorly before the green went on. The white just showed so much dirt...my kids are SLOBS. husband included. But maybe I'll start threatening them with their lives if they leave a mess.

I'm trying out looks today so we'll see what "speaks" to me.

[yarborough house]

Heather,
What type of can lights are you going to use in your kitchen? I haven't researched them much but there are ton of different ones aren't there?
Any recommendations?
And we'll do like you are going to do..cut the holes then paint then insert the cans..

[RoseMary]

What a great kitchen, Tammy~ personally, I love all those cabinets! Maybe it's because my kitchen is so small. I defintely need more, but I'm maxed out on space as it is.

As for color. I would consider doing the bottom cabinets darker than the top. I painted mine white last year and loved how they looked. But since we drink tea 24/7, it wasn't long before they were truly 'tea stained':p. And no amount of scrubbing took it out. Now, I have red on the bottom cabinets (which still need another coat or two) and white on the top shelves. It has worked out much better and I don't notice any stains on the red doors, like I did the white. No sayin' their not there, of course:p. That's just my two cents worth:D.

[annielinz]

What a wonderful porch, love how you decorated it!

Your kitchen is going to look fabulous, you have a great space to work with.Look forward to watching your progress.

[Heather]

Tammy that wasn't me with the lights-cans, I got Ikea ones (they had the deal on for every $1000 you spend on a kitchen you get $100 in Ikea gift cards so I have Ikea all over the house now!) What I WANTED was the hurricane lamps - oh well!

Now if you want my 2 cents (you get it anyways!) I'd go for distressed brown-almost black on lowers (kid proof the suckers!) and then distressed cream uppers because you're getting stainless appliances, right? Would that "go" with your countertop ideas? What about flooring? Change or keep?

[yarborough house]

Sorry Heather,
Why do I keep thinking you posted something and you didn't? Maybe getting too confused reading all of these :)
I did do a distressed on my top cabinet to see how it would look. I like it.
I painted two mock up areas..one with dark up and down and one with dark down cream up..I would love all cream but well with 4 kids you get the picture.
I don't know about really dark almost black but a walnut color would be good..we'll see.
The countertops can change - haven't ordered them and I can just pick one that will work better. As for the floor I am going to do distressed checkerboard so whatever I decide will work..
thanks for the input..this is hard stuff...

[Heather]

Is that the distressed black checkerboard paint over wood like what we were talking about before?

Can we see the mock ups you did?

[Lynzee]

Your kitchen space is wonderful! I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures as you make changes.

And I love your porch!

[Lisa S]

Tammy,

I think your kitchen is beautiful. Did I see the original hinges on the cabinets? When you repaint, consider stripping them and spraying them black. They're so beautiful. What about adding crown to the cabinet tops?

Personally, I like your bank of cabinets ~ but if you feel it's too much, what about removing some of the doors? Or what if you removed the wood panel and added glass instead? I found the original kitchen cabinets for our house (they were in the basement) and turned them into display cabinets for our guitar collection. I removed the panel inserts, had a glass cutter cut glass to fit the opening and then glazed them myself. Easy, easy and not expensive at all. (I'll look for a picture)

[yarborough house]

Hi Lisa,

Well the hinges are the original ones to this set of cabinets that were built about 5 years ago. Not original to the house. I will probably take them off when we remove the doors to sand and paint. Figure I'll do the old put them in the crockpot with some soapy water for a couple of hours..at least that is what this old house says to do :)

We are going to add molding to the top. I am actually going to do what
Lalya on the blog theletteredcottage.blogspot.com did. She added a 6 inch board to the top then crown on top of that to take them closer to the ceiling.

I would love to see pics of the ones that you did. I am toying with the idea of either putting glass on some of the upper ones, or chicken wire with fabric..we'll see. Hubby doesn't like the idea of no doors..but we'll see. Not like he does anything in the room.

I am pretty much decided on dark lower cabinets and the uppers cream with the lower cabinet color glaze worked into them. Gonna work on some this weekend. This week is busy with kindergarten stuff...
Speaking of - dang it I have to come up with 2 teacher gifts- darn.

Heather- I am hoping to checkerboard the floor but this morning I noticed that there is not a break in the floor from kitchen to mud room or kitchen to butlers pantry and I do not want to checker all of it so gonna have to think on that one- come up with a definitive breaking point.
Will post mockups of cabinets soon..

thanks for all your input decorating shouldn't be so difficult to do :)

[chyna]

Did you say you were thinking distressed cream for the tops and perhaps bottoms? To me that would be the way to go becuase well they are distressed, who is going to notice smudges unlike the solid cream I have. Maybe your hubby and mine can move in together and let us have drip proof kitchens. No matter how much crap I give him about that he still does it. Honestly how does a grown man manage to drip ketchup, mustard and whatever else down the front of cabinets?!:mad:

[yarborough house]

I agree Chyna. I am a firm believer that every house should have a guest house or an apartment over the garage for husbands to reside in. That way they can have their messy hole and we can have the houses we were meant to have. :)

[Heather]

Hey Tammy - if the kitchen, mudroom, and pantry all have the same floor you could paint a border around just your kitchen and checkerboard inside it. Kinda like Elizabeth at http://elizabethhousestlouis.blogspot.com/ but maybe just a thinner stripe. Know what I mean?

[Zuzu's Garden]

I like your idea for the floor, Heather!

[mac78]

i agree chyna. I am a firm believer that every house should have a guest house or an apartment over the garage for husbands to reside in. That way they can have their messy hole and we can have the houses we were meant to have. :)

i love this post!

[annielinz]

Tammy, while searching the web for pics I found this example of wood painted floors in the harlequin pattern. Is this what you are planning on doing still?

Wondering how the kitchen progress is coming along any pics to post yet :D?

[Gigi]

I see a charming kitchen in the make! I love the cabinets- the inset wood, etc... and I love the window over the kitchen sink (a must to keep an eye on kiddies outside!).... can't wait to see more.

[yarborough house]

Well we hit one snag after another last night while ripping out some cabinets. It is funny when you are dealing with cabinets built by a DIY'er who really should not have been allowed to DIY. :) We hit a good stopping point last night and then took this morning off to run some errands before we head out of town on the 1st. The little ones needed some new crocs and such so we hit the outlets up the road.
Anyway they are at the pool now since it is so hot and we'll get at the kitchen again this evening. I have some pics from the mess- here goes:

Here is before 658
Here is after were tore out cabinets..yikes 659
And here is my nice new fridge with the plastic still on it because we won't take it off till it is in its final resting place haha :)
660

And MaryAnn - yes those are the floors I want to do but do them dark walnut brown and floor color as my kitchen will be in brown not black..
It will all work out - that is what I keep telling myself anyway. But it is such a mess now we can't even get in there to do anything..arrrghhhh
OH well take out anyone?

[yarborough house]

Another snag- I am reminding myself that it can all work out in the end or i just may go insane..haha

We got the fridge moved to the other wall. Not an easy feat..cabinets had to come down, one had to be cut a bit- yikes..
But once there it just did not work at all. It is too big depth wise and in the old place it did have the wall taken out some so it could sit receeded in some. So, we will go back to the plan he didn't want to do but now realizes would have been much easier.

Enlarge the door opening to accomodate the fridge door to swing open the whole way..We have decided we might keep it this way for a week to see but I can tell right now I HATE it this way so it won't work.

Dang - 1 step forward and 3 back - again. :)

[Heather]

Oh Tammy! Good you'll try it for awhile at least.... What's plan D? Or is it E? F?

[yarborough house]

Heather - you crack me up..
Lets see plan E - everything goes and we just order cabinets to fit
plan F- we set it on fire
plan G- gut it..

wow those sound scary..haha

[Gigi]

I'm laughing.... :D :D :D

[Heather]

H - Hire a contractor
I - Invest in Home Depot
J - Join "self help group for kitchen reno DIYers"
K - Keep the new appliances, toss everything else
L - Lay down your new black checkered floor and build kitchen around that
M - Make yourself a margarita and relax on your porch
N - Nap out there on your porch
O - Open another bottle of tequila, this time forget the margarita mix
P - Piss off your neighbors by throwing empty bottles at them
Q - Quietly go back into gutted kitchen and hide from from neighbors
R - Rest from all that excitement outside
S - Sing ( I usually start singin' after margaritas...)
T - Think about new kitchen layout
U -
V -
W -

Help me out gals, I'm getting carried away!!!!!!!

[Gigi]

Heather- You are cracking me up!

H - Hire a contractor
I - Invest in Home Depot
J - Join "self help group for kitchen reno DIYers"
K - Keep the new appliances, toss everything else
L - Lay down your new black checkered floor and build kitchen around that
M - Make yourself a margarita and relax on your porch
N - Nap out there on your porch
O - Open another bottle of tequila, this time forget the margarita mix
P - Piss off your neighbors by throwing empty bottles at them
Q - Quietly go back into gutted kitchen and hide from from neighbors
R - Rest from all that excitement outside
S - Sing ( I usually start singin' after margaritas...)
T - Think about new kitchen layout
U- Understand what you are doing---is the way life should be. If confused refer to "O"

[RoseMary]

"DIY that probably shouldn't be"~I think that is me and hubby:p! But since necessity is the mother of invention for those of us without $$$, we have no choice and just plod along trying to make things work out:o!

Tammy, I know it's taking longer than you planned, but I'm sure it's gonna work out for you, girl:).

[cheapdiva]

Here's where we are ;

exposed hidden window, waiting for contractor to come deal with it - layers of drywall, plaster and lathe and brick back there causing issues with the depth of the wall. contractor will "cut out" the wall from right of the window (where the layers start) into the corner - to the left of the window. build out a frame around the window (very deep sill area) and then we'll try to blend the old plaster wall to the new drywall. it's either that or spend a fortune fixing issues - and we already did that with the sink wall - NO THANKS!!!

electrician is to come back later this week or next and then contractor can finish the rest of the drywall on the other walls.

cabinets come in next week but won't get installed until mid-July. we should have plumbing - sink and dishwasher by then also.

the bulk of the big things will be complete by August 1, but we'll still have lots of finish things to tackle including: flooring, trim work, door from kitchen to new laundry/bath (which won't be done until next year - I'm broke!!), window treatments, etc.

All I want is a sink!!!!! I'm so tired of doing dishes in the tub (my new disposal is the toilet!!).

[cheapdiva]

Gigi - you're a crack-up

V - vanish when you've had enough
W - wait and wait and wait for contractors to show up but Watch how fast their bills arrive!!
X - Xercise your right to demand getting what you pay for or Xcuse yourself when you've had enough
Y - yikes! It's how much????
Z - zydeco music in the background will help keep your mood up or catch some zzzzzzz's when you've had enough (see a theme???!!!!):D

[yarborough house]

Okay Heather, Gigi and Cheapdiva - you all need to step away from the keyboard. You have lost your minds. No really, you all crack me up and put a huge smile on my face.
The kitchen doesn't seem so bad right now as I brought in a bakers rack from out on the front porch and put it in the old fridge hole to hold dishes. Got all the mess cleaned up and found places to "put" stuff till the cabinets come back in. So, it at least is functioning and not looking like a tornado zone..
So, it is okay for now.
Just for now though. I already called hubby and told him he needed to take leave thursday and friday so we can bust out the doorway and move the fridge, get the cabinets back in and go with it.
We'll see.

[Heather]

Tammy I came across this pic of the floors you want but in countertop! Cool, eh?

[Gigi]

I'm laughingggggggggggggggggggggggg :D:D:D Can you hear me???? :rolleyes:

[yarborough house]

WOW that is the kitchen I want. I think we are going to just try to get the appliances where we want them than get the cabinets back in and then readjust from there.
But wow that is awesome..How cool.
I constantly imagine what a cool kitchen I could have with unlimited funds then come back to reality and realize that I need to work with what I have..boo hoo. Oh well- I'd rather have money to vacation and make memories than to spend it all on this dang house..

[Heather]

Oh Tammy, I came across another painted floor checkered pic and thought of you! This one would be good to mark off the area (kitchen) and not interrupt the flow coming from the other rooms.

I got it from here:
http://tinyhomestead.blogspot.com/2009/02/im-painting-my-kitchen-floor.html

[Hillary Black]

Nice pics -- but I am still laughing :D from the a-z list. Thank you! You made my day.
Hillary

[yarborough house]

Glad we made you laugh Hillary. It had me in stitches also...
Now back to the mess I call a kitchen - arrrghhhh

[chyna]

Not sure if I should laugh or not, I may wish I hadn't later on. :p

[Lynzee]

Plans M, N, O, R, S and V have worked extremely well for me during my ongoing kitchen fiasco, but I have decided that if I am ever in this situation again, I'm going to change Plan M to "Move" and go with that one--after I've completed Plan F, that is. :eek: :D

How is the "readjustment" coming, Tammy?

[yarborough house]

Ahh it is letter G...gut it and start over. WE ordered cabinets yesterday and will be taking all the wanna be beadboard down and putting up subway tile. It WILL come together so can't wait.

[frdsmth9]

Paint has the biggest bang for the buck when redecorating any room and especially for the kitchen. It’s fairly inexpensive and easy to use and can change the whole look of the room in a day! You can use paint to update worn out cabinets as well as adding a new look to your walls. If you are adventurous, you can even try some faux painting to give your walls the look of old world plaster or marble. Your local home improvement store probably gives lessons in this for free.

[Lynzee]

Ahh it is letter G...gut it and start over. WE ordered cabinets yesterday and will be taking all the wanna be beadboard down and putting up subway tile. It WILL come together so can't wait.

I saw in another thread that you ordered cabinets from Lowe's. I really wish I had done that! They have some beautiful ones to choose from. Which ones did you choose? Did you choose your countertops too?

Will you do the tile work yourself? I want to put a subway tile backsplash behind the stove, but I've never done tile work before and I'm a little hesitant--especially after the way the rest of my kitchen remake has gone.

You have such a great attitude. I have no doubt that it WILL come together for you! Can't wait to see the pictures!

[yarborough house]

Lynzee- Yes I ordered cabinets. I got the diamond brand and got the style Amherst in painted white. They are square with square inserts as older cabinets had but have a bit more routed detail around the edges. Funny as I wanted just the straight edge but it was $68 more a linear foot than those that are routed a bit more. Oh well they are nice.

I did not order the countertops from there as our Lowes SUCKS in all installation capacities so I dont' order from them unless we can install it ourselves. I like the silestone quartz at Home Depot so will look into that.
I am torn between a dark black countertop or a creamy white one.

My hubby does the tile work. He has tiled 5 bathrooms with all wall shower enclosures and two of those were subway tile so that it okay with him. If he'd prefer not to do it we have a nice ex-con in the neighborhood who is an awesome tiler and have used him on my sisters bath. Very nice man too.

Now I have to decide on a sink, faucet, some lights and hardware..hmmm but that is fun stuff.

[Heather]

Huh? You have a nice ex-con in the neighborhood?

[Lynzee]

I love the Amherst! Those were the ones I was looking at when I first started on this "adventure". They are beautiful!

I am now wishing I had gone with a different countertop. Trying to find a floor to "go with" the butcherblock is proving to be quite the challenge. Even the guy at the flooring store said it was one of the most difficult countertops to "match" something up with. Wish I had gone with black now. :(

We are going to attempt the tile work ourselves. The space we want to cover is only 31" x 20" so we won't do too much damage to the kitchen if we mess it up. :D

[cheapdiva]

We are suppose to have our cabinets installed next week but still waiting for the electrician to come back. Right now I am up to my eyeballs in work and will probably be home this week just to sleep (big fundraiser is this Saturday).

Never again will I agree to a major project while living in the house. I'm going with the "M" for moving also!!!

[vintage girl]

I can make a suggestion about black countertops. I had them and at first I loved them, the first day. The one thing about black countertops is that they show everything. Every water spot, every dust spot, everything!!!! Now of course mine only had small silver flecks in it, so it did not have a lot of contrast. If you get granite or other surface with a lot of contrasting color with the black, it is not as bad. Hubs and I have decided to replace our countertops since the prices have gone down so much. I want butcherblock, but he wants granite. I also have wood floors, and as stated it is hard to match the butcherblock. I would love metal or copper, but too cost prohibitive. Heck I have two old doors that I would love to cut and use. They have some great decorative detail and I could put a clear protective finish over them, but hubs will not go for that. We are planning to retire and sell as soon as the market turns, so now our choices are going to have to take resale value into account. So granite it will be. We have a small kitchen and our cabinets are red and very soft green, so I am going to go with a very light granite, almost white with swirls of grey and a deep fleck that is almost red. It really looks a lot like marble, which would be my first choice, but is not durable enough for countertops.