In order to take down the walls and closets our engineer friend told us we needed to reinforce the header, a large beam that essentially spreads the load of the roof to the walls. We got him to do all that and build in the new partial wall we decided to construct in order to save money by not having to rewire almost everything, allowing us to keep light switches and circuits in the same places. Our contractor friend Chris was really smart about suggesting ways to cut costs and be conscious of the remodel footprint. He reused much of the timber from the demolition and not only saved us some money but also a tree or two.
While undergoing the pain of the usual remodel woes - over time and over budget - we lived on a mattress in our basement, the laundry room, our makeshift kitchen. Fortunately our dear friend and accomplished home remodel guru Daniella Conchita Consuela [hereby known as DCC] advised us to keep the fridge from the old kitchen and put it in the laundry room. This ended up being more than convenient during the remodel and saved us a ton of grief due to some hard decisions on appliances that really made the kitchen come together - again, grwat advice from an awesome friend. Which brings up a good point. Talk to your friends about your project, especially those with experience. It will save you great pain.
After demolition, and base construction the fun part started - designing the space and choosing materials, appliances and hardware. We chose Ikea cabinets and hardware as well as cut costs by going with Ikea Formica on the kitchen counter. Ikea was also our choice for the faucet and sink apparatus, while the dishwasher, fridge and gas range were all from Sears - a smoking deal We paid to have gas put in to the kitchen - another solid recommendation since we love to cook. I had never had gas before and I can't say how much this was worth the couple hundred bucks to put in the line. Another friend recommended to also get the line put out to the patio, so we have a natural gas grill and never run out of fuel. It rocks.
For the backsplash we used this fake stainless steel from Ikea. it ended up looking great with all the stainless appliances and saved us big dollars for not having to tile or install stone.
Finally the hood was form Home Depot as were the dark porcelain tiles, paint and odds and ends. Home Depot loved us. Finally our plans called for a nearly six foot by six foot island in the center of the kitchen. We simply stacked Ikea cabinets against each other and then sunk, what was for us big bucks, into two large slabs of warm buttery colored silestone to top off the very center of our home. Another place where it paid off to invest the few extra dollars we really didn't have, but money we didn't really have, well spent.
For the fridge our dear friend, DCC advised us to spend a few extra dollars and get a counter depth fridge. Because kitchen cabinets aren't as deep as standard refrigerators a standard fridge would stick out like 6 inches or something. It would not look slick, custom or modern like the look we were going for. The caveats to these models is they do cost more but you also lose storage space. So, keeping the other refrigerator was critical in order to have the storage needed to feed a family of four, two dogs and guests over all the time. Since the old fridge was only a couple years old it was efficient and met our goal of being as light on our remodel footprint as possible.
For anyone attempting to design and assemble an Ikea kitchen...you can do it yourself like we did...but be prepared to make at LEAST ten trips back and forth. Our first trip back was because after painting the ENTIRE interior of our top floor, I decided that the dark red cabinets we picked out wouldn't work and that we'd have to go with a more neutral color. It ended being the right decision but was a little frustrating. :-)
So about 45 days and $20,000 later we transformed our kitchen and subsequently the entire house. If you lok closely here and there, you can see the mickey mouse job on some things...it was our first time and for a lot of it we really didn't know what we were doing, but with the help of some smart friends and a lot of elbow grease and take out food, we created a modern look for our Mid Century home that perfectly meshed with our lifestyle, opened up the view of Lake Washington and the Cascade foothills and now serves as the cornerstone of our daily lives.
