Kitchen Remodel - The Plan

Ever since we moved into our home in October 2015, I've planned on updating aspects of the kitchen. I would have never guessed that a year and a half later, we'd be taking on a whole kitchen remodel on our own, let alone even consider it...

This was our kitchen right before we moved in and had it repainted to Sherwin Williams North Star:

Last January I decided to decorate the open space above the kitchen cabinets. I turned to Pinterest for some help, and noticed the gap from cabinet to ceiling was much larger in my kitchen than any of the kitchens I was looking at . Turns out there's a 24" distance between the ceiling and cabinets due to our 9' ceilings. I found some decor that worked well for most of the year and I was pretty content. Part of me still hated the 3.5" or so gap from the top of the fridge to the ceiling. I just couldn't find the right decor to fill the space.

Being content didn't last long, I liked the decor I used, but hated that there was still an additional 12-15" of open space still. I also didn't want to put taller items above the cabinets to try and fill that space because then the kitchen wouldn't feel balanced. This January I went back on Pinterest to find other options for the space and saw a bunch of posts about adding a thick piece of trim to fill the gap, but like I mentioned before that was for kitchen's that had a 12" or less gap. It crossed my mind that I could buy cabinets to put above my wall cabinets, but I quickly dismissed that idea because the particular cabinets in my home are no longer produced and they would have to be custom made to fit the space.

-sigh-

From March - September 2016, I stopped obsessing about the kitchen and focused most of my attention on the laundry room remodel. Also during that time our friend installed a new faucet for us because the old one was rusted and the sprayer didn't work.

The would be the last kitchen update until December 2016 when I started obsessing about my dream kitchen again.

Around Christmas, everything changed when I came across another Hoosier blogger. Thrifty Decor Chick, transformed her kitchen on her own and dealt with the same dreadful 2-foot gap. She fixed it by building open upper cabinets and trim that reached the ceiling. I was in love! Better yet, her step-by-step blog posts made the project look relatively simple! So thanks to her I took on the exciting, yet daunting task of remodeling my kitchen. Check out her blog below, I've added the link to the upper cabinet tutorial.

http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/2015/09/building-cabinets-up-to-ceiling.html

I figured this project was doable because the upper cabinets are essentially plywood boxes prettied up with nice wood trim. Although it sounds relatively easy there was still going to be a lot of planning, numbers, measuring, and more numbers..ha...oh boy... The only prior woodworking experience I had was in one of my Ball State art classes. and Nate has worked with metal but not with wood. Our last major remodel, we had help when it came to the big job of putting up the cabinets, and those were pre-made! I presented my crazy and ambitious idea to Nate and he decided to attempt this with me. This kitchen remodel will be our first project building on our own and the plan is to do as much as we can on our own. It doesn't end when we finish making the cabinets though, this has developed into a full-blown 7 phase project. Each phase is about a bijillion mini projects. Yes I'm crazy.

Sample Sketch

Here's one of the first rough sketches I made. I mean rough.

This is going to be quite an experience but I think we'll come out on top! Here's a breakdown of the whole remodel plan: Phase 1: We're building upper cabinets to our wall cabinets with trim all the way up to the ceiling, building a fridge cabinet, and adding crown molding throughout the kitchen. Phase 2: We'll paint the cabinets white and add hardware Phase 3: Rip out the linoleum and carpet in kitchen and living room and replace with wood laminates/wood style tiles Phase 4: Build a kitchen island with seating since the kitchen doesn't have a lot of counter space

Phase 5: New quartz countertops, including island, and a white cast iron sink

Phase 6: Add brick veneer backsplash, white wash it

Phase 7: Update lighting, replacing existing lighting with recessed lighting above cabinets, light in front of window, and pendant lighting above island

We began Phase 1 in February, this phase will most likely take the longest to complete. It is completely DIY and most of the work will have to be done on weekends. I haven't even created soft deadlines for this project... I'm hoping this whole remodel is all finished and done no more than two years from now. I know that sounds like a long time, but with Nate's work schedule and busy weekends, and our wedding this year, weeks pass and we get nothing done.

My next post will cover the beginning process, challenges, and progress of Phase 1!

If you read through this entirely too long post, you deserve a gold star...for real.

I wouldn't necessarily have had the courage to take this on if I didn't have supportive friends and family behind me and my ambitious ideas!

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