Our kitchen renovation has been a work in progress for several years, well, ever since we actually moved in more than four years ago. We knew six years ago when we purchased the house, the kitchen would need renovation, but I wanted to live in it awhile to make sure how it would best serve us.
Sadly, we started right off the bat with a big plumbing fix at the kitchen sink and new electrical panel, so nothing pretty was in sight for a long time. The addition of my lovely range went a long way to making my life easier in the kitchen after trying to keep going with the “vintage” O’Keefe and Merritt range that was left in the house.
Once we got the range and dishwasher (a package deal), the peninsula was removed and farm table moved in, which gave me some counter space finally to work with.
This was the kitchen when we bought the house.
More years passed and as other projects were completed, the kitchen countertops made it to the top of the list…finally. But, nothing is as simple as ripping out the old and installing the new, like on TV. There is still electrical stuff to deal with.
My husband likes to refer to some of the electrical work done in our 81 year old home, as Hillbilly Handyman work. He has traced electrical work from the kitchen to outlets and lights all over the house; so he’s been sorting and separating all of that which takes t-i-m-e. I am so grateful for his expertise and willingness to do this work that I do not spend time tapping my toes, waiting impatiently any longer— I was much younger then.
After the peninsula was removed and dishwasher moved.
As I look back on the old pictures of the evolution of this remodel I can appreciate all the baby steps we took to improve the kitchen a little at a time.
Plumbing and some electrical, then wait. Refinish cabinets, again wait. Purchase range and dishwasher, yup, wait. Take out peninsula and move dishwasher, bring in farm table, you get the picture— wait. Removing the 1” thick cement and wire mesh and tile from backsplash took much longer than even my husband expected. Trace electrical wires and separate, get them into new conduit, two weeks—there was a lot of pushing and pulling and finally separating into smaller bundles. Connecting electrical wires from under the house to outlets etc. is now complete.
The goal will be to extend the counter top beyond where it currently ends at the dishwasher, to an additional two feet which will enable us to enclose the trash and recycling into a closed cabinet.
Removing the backsplash for extension of counter tops.
Plumbing will be next, again nothing pretty quite yet, but the new faucet did arrive today and it is handsome!
The current state of affairs.