Kitchen Remodel Project
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Here is the kitchen that my parents have cooked in since the mid 70s. The house was built in the early 60s. Not one bit of touch up or improvements have been made in over 30 years.
For the last 15 years my mother and father have been planning a kitchen remodel. By planning I mean having a discussion that would within minutes devolve into a War of Wills, with my father storming off in a huff, and my mother retreating into passive aggressive silence. If you wanted to drop a bomb in the living room, all you had to do was say the words "kitchen remodel". Tensions would rise, past unproductive actions would be revisited, the noise volume would increase, and finally all discussion of the prospect would be tabled, so the arguing parties could recover before the next idiot kid brought it up with them again.
You see, the problem with a kitchen remodel is that there are simply too many decisions to make. It's a huge project, and when the kitchen in question will be used by avid cooks, not one that you take lightly. Dad wanted 2 sinks, 2 ovens, and a gas range. Mom wanted induction, and frankly would probably be perfectly happy with the existing kitchen if there just weren't other people in it also wanting to cook. Yet at least 2 people share the kitchen in the house, and when I'm around, that makes 3. Back to the decisions. Kitchen layout, should you push out the house (they are) or make do with existing dimensions, appliances - ovens, refrigerator, stove top, dishwasher, sinks, counter tops, cabinets, lighting, flooring, colors, tile, drawers, pantry, room for cookbooks, island or no island, and the list goes on.
Last year my father asked me to project manage the kitchen project. I think perhaps he thought we could bypass my mother and just get it done. I said I would if he and mom could agree on exactly what role they wanted me to play.
I never heard from either one of them about this again.
And then, as if a remodeling fairy had alighted on our house and sprinkled fairy dust over my parents, mom and dad went off to a local builder's public presentation about how they do remodels. The company does everything - architecture, design, general contracting.
Thank God.
A reputable firm who could gently guide my parents into a plan.
So they could have a nice kitchen "while they're still alive" (quote my dad).
And now, after months of planning, with surprisingly few meltdowns from either camp (talking about the parents here, not the builders who are peaches to work with), demolition has begun.
Foundation has been laid. The outside wall and roof built. (They are pushing out the back of the house by 6 feet. And that quaint little kitchen with the paint peeling off of practically every surface (don't even get me going about the tile grout), is now wrecked and piled up in a heap in a garbage container the size of the driveway (which is where it is sitting, btw).
The porch has been pulled down from the back of the house, and another has risen its place, with a new gabled roof.
Sort of giving it a Whole Foods look.
Dad gave me a mischievous look yesterday and said, "I think I'll tell the builders we've changed our minds, and want to put everything back the way it was."
Want kitchen remodel updates? I'm posting new photos as the remodel progresses on Flickr.
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Oh my, oh my, oh my....
I never knew hood vents came in that color:))))
It will be very interesting to compare the after to the before.