I absolutely HATE this kitchen!!!
There are so many features about it that just do not make sense. Also, whoever painted the cabinets used the worst paint imaginable… it is gummy and shows all of the flaws!
The Starting Point
Also, wanna know why there are tiny soffits above the island and above the fridge? The previous homeowners just installed the lighting directly onto the ceiling instead of insetting it.
The drywall is a true disaster… I like to call it the “homeowner’s special” because it actually royally sucks.
Who tiles a kitchen counter like that?? and the flooring looks like it came straight out of an early 2000’s Wendy’s.
Oh and the best part?… mouse shit in almost every single cupboard and drawer…
The Concept
The Disclaimer
Because this fixer upper has many needs, we must be strategic in how we prioritize our projects. Not to mention, we also have a bit of self-diagnosed DIY ADHD… we have so many projects we want to do, that we kinda do them all at once.
So, the following process part of a much bigger picture (check out our other projects for more context!). We have to prioritize some other projects around the house (such as redoing the siding to stop the mice problem…) and also work within some of the confines of the materials already in place. For example, the gray vinyl flooring and white vinyl windows would not be my first choice, personally. But, since the entire house is has new flooring and windows, we’ll be carrying that through the kitchen renovation.
The process
1. Removed peal and stick wall paper… ASAP
First thing’s first… I HAD to remove this peal and stick wall paper. Probably less than 24 hours after getting the keys to this house, I had this wall paper down…
I know what you might be thinking… it doesn’t seem that bad all things considered. Believe me when I say this photo does it justice! It was nasty and the large print really dwarfed the already very tight space. Although the wall behind the wall paper wasn’t much better, honestly it instantly made the house feel more like our own. The previous homeowners left the house very dirty, clearly had a mouse problem, and it was in poor condition in general. Removing this wall paper was a quick win for me to make it feel more like home!
2. Taking down the faux corner wall
I’ll never quite understand why this corner wall was installed. While I’ll admit that the living room side grew on me, the kitchen side was absolutely anti-functional. We did not want to have a galley kitchen, as this space was way too small to do that anyway. The island/peninsula was already there, why wall it off?
We didn’t know what was going to be underneath this corner wall, but we knew it would open up the space so much by removing it. One day we got bored and next thing we knew we were swinging a hammer…
We got REALLY LUCKY…
When tearing down this fake corner wall situation, we found a completely finished threshold underneath! This saved us a ton of time having to temporarily patch up the drywall.
2. Removing the Soffits
Sooo… our luck ran out.
We had every intention of removing this soffit over the oven, so we were shocked to find a header underneath the drywall in this spot. Of all the people we talked to about our plans and all the times we knocked on the underside of it (and it sounded hollow!), it never even occurred to us that we were going to run into this issue.
Needless to say, this completely threw a wrench in our original design plan. I was so frustrated and defeated.
This is going to sound so cheesy, but finding this header was the exact hurdle I needed to push me into creating a much more sophisticated kitchen design. The original plan was to have cabinets and a microwave above the stove… which is totally functional but such a boring design.
We’ve decided to roll with the punch and create a true moment out of this hurdle. Because it is hollow underneath, we have the perfect opportunity to create this space into an alcove! So stay tuned for that 😉
3. Replacing the window
This window was literally rotting on the outside. Unfortunately, due to timing and prioritizing more important projects, we did had to go through 1 winter with the rotting window patched up with a lot of caulk. Thankfully, it held on long enough to provide protection from the snow! Certainly let in a draft however…
The rest of the windows in the house are only a few years old and are all white vinyl. This wouldn’t have been my first choice, however, we have no intentions on replacing the rest of the windows. So, the best option was to match the style that are already installed and in great shape.
We ended up going with a custom size white vinyl JeldWen brand window with a casement opening from Menards. It cost us around $450 and we were able to replace the window ourselves while we were replacing the siding.
The casement opening was the perfect choice to really maximize the amount of visibility to our backyard. Having only 1 window pane instead of 2, really makes the space feel bigger.
4. STAY TUNED
Check back for our next update! It is currently March of 2024 and we are working on more kitchen demo!
This post is all about how to remodel your kitchen and how we are going about our kitchen remodel. This post is full of kitchen remodel tips and kitchen renovation tips. Also, this post focuses on kitchen remodel inspiration and kitchen renovation inspiration. This is our kitchen fixer upper remodel!