superjedi

Hi all,
Hopefully this is the right section for this. I mentioned in a couple of other threads several months ago that we were getting ready for a kitchen renovation. It took a bit longer than we anticipated (doesn't everything?) but it's finally done! Not a perfect job by any means, but this is the most complex DIY project I've ever attempted and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out.
Our home was built in 1964 and as far as we could tell the kitchen was original to the house. Typical 1960's style decor; harvest yellow linoleum flooring, turquoise (very faded) paint on the walls, built-in cabinets which went to the ceiling, and white "flecked" laminate counters complete with metal trim! I always expected to see Alice in there making 6 school lunches. Here's the before.





There wasn't anything wrong structurally, but we really wanted to update the look. We began by deciding on a mainly neutral color scheme. We knew we wanted dark flooring with light cabinets, and as we went along in the design phase, we decided to do wallpaper, too. After tearing out all the old cabinetry and scraping up the old linoleum floor (ripping stuff up is fun!) I prepped the walls by removing an old chair rail, as well as all the door and window trim, then washed and sanded the walls well. We chose a sort of distressed plaster look. The pics don't show it well, but the wallpaper has a nice pearl sheen in certain lighting.



Continued below.

superjedi

Part 2:

Here are a couple of shots of different sections after all the old stuff was torn out.







The cabinets we chose were from "Diamond Select" sold through Lowe's. They're finished in Amaretto Creme with a Mocha glaze. Very nice off-white cabinets with just a subtle glaze to highlight the shapes. Nothing too over the top. I began with the wall cabinets. I screwed a 1 x 4 to the wall to keep everything level during the installation.



Part 3 below.

superjedi

Part 3:

Once the wall cabinets were up, I put the bases in place.



I hadn't laid the flooring yet. We decided to go with a laminate floor tile with a slate look. I didn't want to trap the flooring under the cabinets, so I shimmed the base cabs up to what would be the new floor level.
The next shot shows the new flooring, along with some of the toe kick installed. The new Whirlpool range is in place along with a thin black backsplash, too.



The cabinet package we ordered came with some small crown molding. I've never done crown before, so I read up on cutting the angles almost obsessively and managed to get it right without running out of material!
This pic also shows the valance above the window.



Part 4 below.

superjedi

Part 4:

Being a total noob to crown molding, I debated this next step for a day or so. I wanted the crown at the left end of the cabinets to come out and lay flush against this part of the wall. I managed to figure out the cuts and I think it came out looking pretty nice.



The countertops were the only part I didn't install myself. We ordered some laminate counters with a beveled edge in "Honed Slate" and had a pro come in to install them. He did a terrific job.



Everything is nice and straight and level, and part of the package included installing our new sink and disposal. The sink is a dark granite composite (composition?) by Swanstone, and I paired it up with a matte black faucet set from Moen. Simple and modern looking.



He made a nice cut to fit this smaller section in where the wall juts out.



Part 5 below.

superjedi

Part 5:

The final purchase was a new dishwasher. We decided to go with all black appliances to set off the neutral shades. We discussed stainless, but in the end we just preferred black. So here's the whole shebang.



I know I've left out several details, like the lighting, the crown around the ceiling, etc. But I wanted to hit the high points.
Just for fun, here's the before and after, side by side.



Sorry for the multiple parts. Didn't realize I was limited to 4 pics per post. I'm rather proud of the way this turned out. Thanks for looking!
Eric

oldognewtrick

Superjedi, super job man, turned out fantastic. Thanks for sharing the pics!

BrianKiernan

Nice job on the kitchen. Your before pictures look just like my sister-in-laws old kitchen I had to do a double take.

How long did the project take you?

__________________
Good Luck,
Brian
[URL="http://www.install-crown-molding.com"][COLOR="Blue"]http://www.install-crown-molding.com[/COLOR][/URL]

superjedi

Thanks guys. We're very happy with the way everything turned out.

Brian, we worked on it in stages starting around April 1st. It wasn't constant though. A good portion of the time was spent waiting for items to come in. So figure about 12 weeks start to finish. It wasn't easy being without a kitchen for that long, but it's just me and my wife in the house. No kids to worry about feeding, so that made it easier. We still had the fridge and microwave through the whole process.

AngieR

Great job, makes me want to want to work on my kitchen

mark681137

love the pics, I know there is a ton of hard work in there.