It all began with what we thought would be the poor mans route to remodeling a kitchen. Living with our 20 year old terra cotta tile floor and equally as old yellow oak cabinets that we would paint white with the Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations paint, DIY concrete counter tops, and a new island that would house our oven and cooktop (moved from their existing spots to make room for more dining area.)
How it all started
Before and After the Cabinet Paint
Don’t get me wrong the paint worked fine and the cabinets turned out ok, and we were going to live with them. But we’ve always wanted wood floors, and I realized the tile ran under the freshly painted cabinets. To remove the tile, meant removing the cabinets, which in turn meant damaging the paint on cabinets we already didn’t like.
New Cabinets…
It became apparent that planning new cabinets that we would like became a priority. We were already going to build our island from Ikea cabinets. The reviews and the price point seem to point to a decent product without breaking the bank.
After a ridiculous amount of frustration with the Ikea designer tool, we were able to come up with a cabinet design and style that would be close to the layout we need (keeping the sink and refer in the same place) while giving us an updated look and feel.
Island and cabinets
Now we just need to get up to Portland to Ikea to purchase the setup and demo the existing kitchen.
Demolition
Speaking of demolition…. remember how I said we wanted wood and the tile would have to be removed? This is the first, “what have we gotten ourselves into moment.” Removing the tile is pretty easy, actually my 9 year old has removed more tile than I have. It’s this product called Wonderboard that is proving to be extremely difficult to remove. I was really hoping it was just some nailed down backer board, but this Wonderboard is a whole different beast. It appears to be glued, there’s thinset, and the board appears to be nothing but gravel wrapped in some mesh. Every once and a while I get lucky and get a good chunk worked up, but others areas are like chipping through stone.
Starting at the door working in
Eager to help
Giant mess…
