The Fitts Family's
Kitchen Remodeling Project
An illustrated journal describing the project from start to finish

I initially wanted to blame those cable TV home improvement shows for this idea, but in fact there were a number of things in our kitchen that badly needed attention.  The cabinets were scratched and chipped in several places, and some of the doors no longer closed properly.  They were cheap ash cabinets with an out-dated blonde finish, and Rosann never liked them too well anyway.  The vinyl floor was beginning to pull apart at the seams.  Some wood trim had suffered water damage, and needed to be repaired and painted.  The appliances were aging, except for the dishwasher which had been replaced recently.  And of course, we wanted the storage and functionality of a modern kitchen.  If the cabinets were going to be replaced, the countertops would need to be replaced as well, and at that point it became more sensible to upgrade the entire kitchen.  Here are a few pictures of the "before" kitchen, so you can see where we started.

Stage 1 - Planning the project
Many people would have started shopping for the components of their new kitchen at this point, but we are not that type of people.  We lack the free time, skills, and experience to attempt a project of this scope ourselves.  Therefore, our first task was to find a kitchen designer who could provide a turn-key job.  We set the budget for the project at 15-20% of the value of the home, because studies showed that there was a reasonable expectation of recovering this level of investment in the future.

We interviewed people at several design firms before choosing Don Fleck at Urban Designer Kitchens.  Don seemed to have a lot of experience and explained the project at a level of detail that made us feel comfortable.  Don was the only designer that was willing to give us a ballpark budget for the entire project during the first meeting.  This was important to us, because we wanted to be sure that our budget was adequate before shopping for a home equity loan.

With the selection of a design firm under our belt, we moved on to the materials.  Don suggested that we select the cabinets first, then the countertop and flooring materials, and finally the finishing touches like backsplash tile and cabinet hardware.  The cabinets would be the focal point of the room, and all of the other materials needed to coordinate in style and color with them.

We chose maple cabinets from Custom Cupboards, with a finish that was not too light or too dark and a fairly simple door design.  We studied several countertop materials, finally going with granite.  We selected porcelain tile for the floors, and a different tile with a border for the backsplash.  Material selection is an area where we definitely benefited from working with a designer.  Left to our own devices, we would have selected some beautiful individual materials that might have looked absolutely awful when assembled together in our kitchen.

During this planning stage, Don came to our house for a walkthrough of the kitchen, took his own measurements, and discussed our ideas for layout and functionality.  We wanted to keep our walk-in pantry and leave the plumbing and electrical appliances in their original locations.  We also wanted to keep our current dishwasher and microwave.  Don's resulting design layout gave us a lot of additional space, and some nice extras like a corner cabinet with glass door, a pullout trash drawer, and a rack for our various medicines (yes, we keep them in the kitchen).

We placed the order for the cabinets, and then started making decisions for other items such as granite, tile, sink, faucet, cabinet hardware, lighting... all the way down to the grout for the floor.  There were many choices to make, but again it was much easier with someone else providing the checklist and recommending suppliers.  We also shopped and selected a refrigerator, ovens, and a cooktop.  It was fortunate that we did this work up front, because our refrigerator failed a week or two later and we were forced to buy the replacement on short notice.

This initial phase of the project took about two months, but we didn't work on it every day.

Stage 2 - Demolition and Prep
Errr... what?  Yep, that's right.  In order to get a new kitchen, you must demolish the old one.  Of course, that means you must plan to be without a kitchen for a while.  We retreated to the dining room, and set up temporary headquarters to prepare for the siege.  The workers moved in, and this was the scene after the dust settled (well not exactly "settled" more like "covered").  We had been warned about the dust storm, so everything was covered and small items were stored in drawers.

The picture above shows some pipes and wiring that were found under the soffit (false wall between the cabinets and the ceiling).  These needed to be re-routed behind the wall before the new cabinets could be installed, since they go all the way to the ceiling.  We had been told to expect this, so we were not surprised and neither was the contractor.  Instead of having to find a plumber and an electrician to do this small job (no easy task) while the entire project waited, Don had the specialists on site that day and the repairs only delayed our progress for a few hours.  The entire "demo & prep" process took about one week.

Stage 3 - Walls and Flooring
The walls and ceiling were painted next, so that any drips would go on the concrete slab instead of our new floor and cabinets.  The work took 3-4 days including the priming and touchup, and the color looked great.  The flooring crew arrived the next day, and the tile floor was laid over the Super Bowl weekend.  The entire job took about five days, including the grout.  We also had a hallway leading to the bedrooms done in the same tile, so the whole house was disrupted for a few days.  Sweeping the kitchen prior to laying tile also resulted in one more horrific battle with sheetrock dust.  Hopefully, we have seen the last of that.

We have apparently made a very good choice on the floor, as all the contractors and subsequent workers commented on how nice it looks.  It is a porcelain tile made in Italy, and it is designed to look like limestone.  Limestone floors cost $10/sqft as opposed to roughly $4/sqft for our tile, so I guess we did get a good deal.  There's a closeup of the tile below in which you can see the edges that give the impression of a stone floor.  There is no doubt that some paint and a floor worked wonders, as it is beginning to look more like a room than a construction project at this point.

Stage 4 - Cabinets and Counters
This is the turning point of the project.  If the cabinets are damaged or don't fit, then you must wait while replacements are fabricated.  If everything goes well, you can begin to use your kitchen again, albeit on a limited basis.  The 18-wheeler loaded with cabinets pulled up at 6AM on Friday and was unloaded in a few hours, but we had to hold our breath until Monday when the installers got to work.  Fortunately for us, there were only minor problems and we were on the downhill side of this project in a couple of days.  The cabinets must be in place before the granite can be measured and cut for the countertops.  So next we had a week of downtime (and no workers in the house... yay!) before the counters were installed on the following Friday.

The counters and backsplash were installed over the following week, and at this point we could begin to use our appliances and sink again.  This portion of the project did not go perfectly, but the end result was good.  The installation of the cooktop caused some tense moments, because the vent for the cooktop did not fit without some "modifications" to the interior of the base cabinet.  Also, the garbage disposal needed to be moved to the left sink, and the drawer under the sink had to be shortened.  All of these modifications turned out to be minor problems, and we got over it quickly.

Project Complete! - Before and After Pictures
We had to wait a while for the window coverings, so these pictures were taken without them because I couldn't wait to finish this page.  The entire project took six weeks, which is exactly what we were told before we started.

And, a couple of bonus pics of the new kitchen...

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