The Big Remodel

The kitchen remodel has finally begun! We started last Saturday, a few days ahead of the contractor's arrival, by clearing everything out of the kitchen. Only then did we realize just how much stuff was in the kitchen. We moved carloads of food, dishes, and utensils over to Andrew's (the Vacation Home). And still there was more.

We had already moved the fridge into the living room about a week earlier. Wish I had some video of that little adventure. Our fridge is old, and heavy. We noticed after we had pushed it about halfway across the kitchen floor that the weight of the fridge was causing one of its wheels to leave a nice permanent indentation in the pine flooring. Terrific! Good thing the pine floor was destined for the dump (minus any salvageable boards), and will be replaced with tile. It was a heartbreaking sight, nevertheless. If you have ever priced heart pine flooring, you'll understand why. We managed to move the fridge the rest of the way through the kitchen by wheeling it over plywood scraps to its final destination. I guess desperation leads to creative solutions.

On Sunday, after clearing out all of the cupboards

and the Depression cabinet full of Blue Ridge china,

we tackled removal of the kitchen cabinets. The old cabinets were hand-built by the previous homeowner ("PHO" from here on out). The PHO was a fairly good carpenter, except where hanging things on hinges was concerned. Or, building drawers. I know this because the old cabinets had lots of doors, all slightly off-kilter on their hinges, and absolutely NO DRAWERS. Yup...a kitchen with NO DRAWERS. Try finding a place for your silverware, dish towels, spatulas, etc., in a kitchen with NO DRAWERS.

He couldn't build a drawer to save his life, but the PHO could build some strong plywood boxes, now. It took us about 2 hours to remove the two-part set of upper cabinets. One section came out completely intact.


The second set....well, let's just say I'm glad I own a Sawzall.

We managed to remove all of the cabinets without damaging the wall, and without any injuries.

On Monday, the contractor arrived! In just one day, he removed all of the lower cabinets, the sink, dishwasher, and old 1940's Maytag gas range, pictured here:

After that, he ripped out all of the heart pine floor boards, down to the house's original subfloor. After which the kitchen looked like this:




Wherever there is a plywood scrap in the photos, there is a hole beneath it, either due to weak, rotten wood, or water damage. By Tuesday, our contractor had ripped out most of the subfloor, too, in preparation for replacing it with new plywood. Here is a view of the kitchen, sans floor:

I continue to refuse to ever enter the crawlspace under any circumstances, so this is probably the only time I will ever see what lies beneath the house and actually be able to touch it. Very cool. Except for the dead snake he found. And the rat poo. But, that's another chapter.....