Kitchen: A Brief Before and After

Everything that we have restored and renovated in our old house has been planned to follow the original 1848 design as much as possible (with allowances made for modern life) and to use every scrap of original material that we can ... the exception to this is our kitchen renovation.  The kitchen is in the Manor's 1967 addition, and it was 1967 to the extreme (and in desperate need of repair).  I knew from first glance, during our initial real estate showing, that we would replace and modernize it.

In 2005, the plan came together, the old kitchen was removed, and the new kitchen was born.

First job was to remove most of the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  I would NEVER have done this if the wall was 1848 construction.  I owe the most respect possible to the original part of this house, and I renovate the 1967 part of the house to complement 1848 as much as I can.  ('After' photos are unstaged and were taken this morning, 3/12/17.  'Before' photos show the kitchen shortly before we dismantled it in 2005.)

The footprint of the kitchen itself remained the same.  Layout, for the most part, was good.  (Here is a floor plan to help you get your bearings.)

Only the range and microwave are out in plain sight.  Everything else is mostly hidden.

Trash and recycling are in a pull-out on the right of the range.

The old kitchen was cramped and dark.  Not anymore!

Do you see the dishwasher?

The only appliance that we moved was the refrigerator.  This gave us the opportunity to wrap the awkward outside-corner wall with cabinetry and to open up what had been a really cramped area ... with the sink, dishwasher, back door, and refrigerator all competing for space in a tiny triangle.

The white donut-looking thing on the floor is an a/c vent.

With the refrigerator out of the way, we now have this L-shaped run of cabinets and counters.

The whole kitchen was designed around this refrigerator ... 48" Subzero with custom faux-icebox panels and hardware.  Sometimes, newcomers ask, "Where's your refrigerator?"  It blends in THAT well!

This kitchen wasn't cheap, but it has turned out to be worth every $$$, because I love it even more now than I did when we built it 12 years ago.  I like to think that the house loves it, too.

Not to be Outdone by Her Sister

Alice found her own toasty place to relax ... on my laptop.

Yes, she's on the kitchen counter ... but it's the tall bar counter, so we look the other way most of the time.  Beside her to the left is a contraband hair tie that she has obviously stolen from the dish in my bathroom. 

Oh, I just noticed that you can see the finished crown molding in this photo, too!!  (As soon as I get some decent light in here, I'll take photos and do a true reveal on the molding ... it looks SO GOOD!)

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This post edited to add:

After I hit 'publish' on this post, I walked away from the laptop for a SECOND, and I found THIS when I returned:

lousy photo quality, but you get the idea.  Bad kitty.

Kitchen Crown Molding.

One day, I will sit and gather photos to do a comprehensive post describing the renovation of the kitchen in this old place of ours ... perhaps it will take a series of posts, because it has been a long process with lots of twists and turns along the way.  The design of the kitchen itself was fairly straight-forward.  Cabinet installation went well ... and this is where things stalled.  It has been six years since the first hammer was taken to the walls, and we are finally, FINALLY in the home stretch!

The big hold up in the process has been the installation of the crown molding on top of our cabinets.  It's a two-piece crown, solid cherry with a natural finish, like the cabinets themselves ... and it must be installed on the cabinets, not the ceiling, because the ceiling is 3/4" out of level across the length of the kitchen.  I have had three trim carpenters come look at the job, each of them tried to convince me that I should run the molding along the plane of the ceiling and that I'd never notice the unevenness on the cabinets themselves ... WRONG!  I want the molding to be parallel with the opening of the cabinet doors, no matter what happens at the ceiling line.  They didn't get it.  Bye bye.

Since 2005, this is what the top of our upper cabinets has looked like.  That 'trim' is a piece of 3/4" plywood, which is there to act as a backing for future crown molding.

In early December, while we were mingling with guests at the Christmas party at Hartwood Winery, we made a connection with Jim, a fellow guest and a cabinet maker who appeared to have the skills necessary to maybe, hopefully help me get this kitchen finished.  I asked questions, he gave great answers ... we see eye-to-eye on the project ... and yesterday he arrived here to get to work.

The first piece of the two-piece crown is up!  The lighter wood is a wedge of poplar which will support the second piece of the crown.

I am totally thrilled with the results so far!!  Jim is meticulous and his joints and corners are PERFECT ... which is what I demanded on this project.  Natural cherry molding means there's no room for error, and he is definitely up for the job.

Our one unforeseen challenge while Jim was working yesterday was our dog Daniel's reaction ... Daniel is deathly terrified of loud sharp noises (nail guns and hammers), and he spent the afternoon panting and drooling and whining on his bed in the office ... which was the farthest he could get from the kitchen.  While Jim is working here later today, Daniel is going to spend the day at our friends Andy and Kim's house hanging out with TJ.

Alice says, "Look, Daniel, nail guns aren't scary.  I'm sharpening my face on this one."

(I have to go now, to get Daniel out of here before Jim arrives.)

Cookin' With Gas!

The building inspector was here on Monday morning to give his blessing to the rough-in gas lines and tank installation for our new stove.  Yesterday afternoon, the guys from the propane company came to hook up everything and slide the stove into place. 

I love it when a plan comes together!

The Gas Man Cometh

Last month, I told you that we are installing propane for the new, beautiful, not-here-yet-gosh-darn-it stove in our kitchen.  This plan also includes a new propane tank for the greenhouse ... which is undergoing a bit of a renovation.

This 100-gallon tank means that we will no longer have to drag our 25-gallon tank to the gas place every 3 weeks to be refilled.  No more stressful monitoring of the greenhouse temperature as cold winter temps drag on and on, worrying about running out of gas.  The gas company will fill this baby on a regular schedule and I can sleep peacefully.

What about the tank for the house?  More on that tomorrow.

I'm participating in The August Break 2011.  I will post a photo a day in August, with or without words (you KNOW that I HAVE to have words ... I'm too chatty to go wordless.)  Let's see how far I get into the month before I bust out and break the rules.  :)

A New Addition to the Kitchen

When we were looking to buy this house, I knew from the moment I saw it that I would tear out the old kitchen and put in a new one.  (One day, I'll have to do a big 'before and after' post on our kitchen ... not any time soon, I'm afraid.)  I researched every aspect of the new kitchen, buying exactly what I wanted without compromise.  That's not EXACTLY true, there was one compromise ... the range.  Out here in the country, we don't have natural gas service, and I wasn't sure about installing propane, so we chose a top of the line Frigidaire electric range, with a flat cooking surface and double ovens.

I have hated the cooktop portion of this range since the moment I first turned it on.  It takes forever for pans to preheat, but it only takes an instant to go from not-hot-enough to I-just-burned-dinner.  For the past four years, I have tried to figure out a way to deal with this, and now I am giving up.  Out goes the electric range, and in comes my new love ...

The GE Cafe Dual Fuel range.

This is a photo of the range at the showroom.

Yesterday afternoon, the nice man from the propane company (Hi, Gene!) came to give us a price on installing LP gas to the kitchen for the new range.  The installation will be very straight-forward and the price is reasonable, and I quickly signed the contract to get the process started.  After the permit is processed by the county, we will schedule them to come set the new tank and run the lines.

Look at this stove!!  Isn't it gorgeous?  What's even better is that it should cook as good as it looks.  This range is Dual Fuel, which means that the cooktop portion of this range is gas and the ovens are electric.  No longer will I have to tolerate an electric cooktop with a thermostat that cycles the burners on and off to maintain temperature.  The flame I set is the flame I get, and I expect cooking to become fun again.  The new range has dual ovens like my current one ... that bottom drawer you see is a small oven that can be used to bake or as a warming drawer.  This range has a lot of function in a very compact package.

As soon as the gas is installed and the range arrives, I'll show you how it looks.

I'm really, REALLY excited about this!!

Workday Weekend Tutorial: Tiling the Backsplash

( This old post continues to get a huge number of hits each week.  Be sure to leave a comment to tell me how you discovered it and if it is helpful to you.   I will be happy to do what I can to answer any questions via email ... my email address is in my profile)

This project has been on my To Do list longer than any other, I do believe.  We remodeled our kitchen five years ago, as part of the never-ending renovation of our historic house, and I have had the tile on hand since then. 

The tiles I'm using are 3" x 6" handmade subway tiles.  I love how each tile is ever-so-slightly different, creating a pleasingly imperfect look.  See how carefully they were packaged.  The tiles are stacked back to back, with cardboard spacers to protect them and to keep the faces from rubbing against each other.

Here is what the backsplash looked like before I started yesterday morning.  (It has looked like this for five full years.) 

After I cleared the counters, and taped down resin paper over the counters to protect them, and I gathered my tools.  It doesn't take many tools.

Rows of tiles MUST be level, so it's important to start with a level base.  If your counters are installed correctly, they are already level ... double check just to be sure.

For backsplashes, I use premixed tile mastic.  It's easy to work with, and it's perfect for laying tile on walls.  Mastic is NEVER to be used in showers or anywhere that gets wet ... for showers, use thinset.  Because my tiles are thick, I used a 1/4" notched trowel to apply the mastic to each tile.  You can apply the mastic to the wall instead, but be careful not to work in too large an area, or the mastic can skin over and begin to dry before you get tile on all of it.

The ridges created by the trowel apply the exact right amount of mastic to the tile.  When you squoosh the tile in place on the wall, the ridges also create suction which holds the tile in place instantly.

I started laying tile on the outside corner, using a running bond pattern, laying the first row from the corner outwards working in both directions.  Bullnose tiles create a smooth transition around the corner.  The tiles are slightly beveled, creating a roughly 1/8" to 1/16" space for grout between each tile when set in place ... the perfect spacing for subway tiles!

Running Bond pattern simply means that tiles are laid like bricks.  Because these tiles are handmade, some of them didn't sit exactly straight ... I used little pieces of folded cardboard as shims, when necessary if things looked cock-eyed.

The second row is laid with the center of each tile exactly over the space between the tiles in the previous row.  I use a ruler to mark the center on the first tile, to make sure everything is perfect.

The first two rows went on very quickly.  On row three, I had electrical outlets and switches to work around.  Here is a quick lesson to show you how I mark and cut the tiles around outlets and switches.  (Marking is much more accurate than measuring.) 

Before working near ANY electricity, ALWAYS turn off the power at the breaker box and test it to make sure it is OFF!

1.  Hold the tile in place and mark the vertical edge of the electrical box on the top edge of the tile with a pencil.

2.  Now make a mark on the side of the tile below the screw and about in the middle of the ears that secure the switch/outlet.

3.  Use these marks to draw lines to show where to cut, to notch the tile to fit around the outlet.  (Yes, this is my quilt ruler.  It's super handy for making perfectly straight, perpendicular and parallel lines.)

4.  I cut tile with a wet saw set up in our basement garage.  This little saw was probably the best $89 I ever spent!  In the 9 years I have had it, this saw and I have tiled countless backsplashes, three bathrooms, and acres of floor.

To set the tile in place, I loosen the screws that hold the outlet to the box, and slip the tile behind the outlet's ears.  This brings the outlet forward to the level of the new tile.  After the mastic is set, I retighten the screws and replace the outlet cover.

Perfect!

I kept setting tile, working toward the inside corner.

Here's another obstacle.

The last tile in each row must be cut to fit accurately into the inside corner.  To turn the corner and start on the adjacent wall, I think it looks best to keep some symmetry by matching short pieces to short pieces and long pieces to long pieces in each row ... if that makes sense.  Here's a picture so you can see what I mean.

Almost finished.  Each tile on the top row had to have about 1/8" cut off so it would fit underneath the upper cabinets.  This was really time consuming!

I finished off the end of the counter with a short side-splash, using bullnose tiles to transition cleanly to the wall.  I don't have any extra of these tiles with the bullnose on the long side, and I can't get any more, so I was a nervous wreck while marking and cutting this miter joint.

At the end of today, this is what the right-hand side of the kitchen looked like:

I ran out of mastic, just as I put the last tile in place on the side-splash.  Tomorrow, I will go to the store to get more and I will try to finish the tile on the other side of the kitchen ... which I will show you in the next installment of this project ... when we learn how to GROUT!

Tiling isn't difficult.  If you have any questions, or want some clarification, be sure to let me know.  I will answer any and all questions the best I can.