Now The Kitchen (Part 2)

Now that the kitchen cabinets are removed it was time to start on the floor. As the say "the right tool for the job" is really important. To get the tile up, I needed to get an impact hammer/chisle. So I spent $50 and rented one from Home Depot. It took about 2 hours to take up the tile and another hour or so to load it into the truck and go to the dump.

We then installed the backer board where I used 400 screws to insure it was not going anywhere. After taping and mortaring the joints we began the tiling process.  This is the part I was really not looking forward to. Tiling is not rocket science but it takes a toll on your back and knees.

loaded up

in line at the dump

sub-floor ready

backer board and 400 screws down

plans for the backer board and tile

sorted by pattern

keytile down

Now the kitchen (Part 1)

While the kitchen we inherited when we bought the house was functional it was far from perfect.
It had granite counter tops, a travertine floor and stainless steel appliances. It also had bad lighting, no outlets along one whole wall (not to building code), a dishwasher that actually made the dishes dirtier, an over the range microwave oven that did not vent out and did not have a glass turntable (the previous tenants were using it as storage).

So we decided to continue the modern theme from the bathrooms and use the same flooring and style of cabinets. There will be very little upper cabinets because we will use the wall space to hang our pots and pans and we will also enlarge the window to maximize the southern exposure and canyon view.

We have been working on the kitchen for a little over a  month now. Done all the work ourselves with the exception of the electrical work that we had completed this last Monday.  Our cabinets were delivered last Saturday and we will have the appliance delivered on December 19th.

Overall it is not as bad as I thought living without a kitchen. We eat out more often or eat microwave food and cleanup is really easy since we are mostly using paper plates. I do miss cooking good healthy food though. When we do wash dishes it is in the bathroom sink.

When we demolished the kitchen I was really worried about how hard it would be taking off the granite. We wanted to save the cabinets because we planned to reuse part of them in the garage and donate the rest.  When granite is installed a sheet of plywood is attached to the cabinets from the top with screws and the granite is then "glued" to the plywood.  So I thought I might have to either smash the granite into tiny pieces so I could unscrew the plywood or just destroy the cabinets. Thankfully they only nailed the plywood onto the cabinets. I could not believe how easily they came off. Of course the granite is heavy as hell so "A" and I had to put some muscle into getting them out of the house.

Temporary kitchen

Microwave that doesn't vent outside

Of course the back splash didn't come off easy

Sooooooo easy to remove

200lbs (90kg) of granite

it got dusty

Addition completed

I AM BACK!!

After a 5 month hiatus I will give you an update as to what has happened. The addition is finally done and we have moved into the new house. I thought it would never end but nothing lasts forever.

We are now working on our kitchen so stay tuned for more posts.

Below are the pictures of the completed floors and bathroom.