Kitchen Remodeling — Where to Start?
My husband and I will be remodeling a kitchen that hasn’t been touched since 1972 - the original appliances (double-oven, range top, dishwasher, sink and fridge), cabinets, flooring and lighting have not ever been updated and are still in place.
We want to remove the carpeting and replace with hardwood or laminate and continue it throughout the house. The kitchen and adjoining “den” area are all paneled and we would like to paint over the paneling as well and we need to replace cabinet doors.
So, the main things we need to do before we move in are:
1. Pull up and replace flooring
2. Remove old appliances and install new ones
3. Remove doors from cabinets and replace with new door fronts (cabinets themselves are in good shape)
4. Paint walls
5. Install “canned” lighting instead of fluorescent lights / light fixtures
What should we do first? We’ve never remodeled anything before and are at a loss as to what to do first.
Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
Question posted courtesy of: Donald
You Ask, We Answer
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Hi: Well its a very good idea you have remodelling your Kitchen. This is the place in which,can add value to your home. I would start with painting first off. As not to get any paint on your new flooring, along with moving your Kitchen cabinet doors prior to painting paint your cabinats the same time as your walls. After painting install your pot lights. The next phase would be to rip up your old flooring and repair any damage wood below it and then install new flooring. Either Tile or Laminate. If you happen to install tile. ensure you have a good base. Lay 1/2 plywood sub floor before installing your tiles. This prevents tile’s from cracking along with your grout cracking between the tiles. When installing laminate flooring. Ensure all trim is removed around door entrance and base boards. If your kitchen is downstairs. Make sure you buy vapour barrier and lay this prior to laminate floor installation. Good luck with your Reno, hope everything goes well for you. I hope I have answered your question. Cheers, Renovated many homes my self and have installed lots of laminate flooring. to many to homes to count. ops ensure you leave 1/4″ gap around the perimeter of your laminate flooring, this allows your floor to float, it will keep your laminate from buckling if your house shifts in winter
April 25th, 2008 at 11:58 am
You need to start with a top down approach. Here is the order that most GC’s use, which will make your life much easier.
1-Install “canned” lighting instead of fluorescent lights / light fixtures
2-Pull up flooring, remove appliances, and remove cabinet doors.
3-Paint walls
4-Replace cabinet doors
5-Install flooring
6-Install new appliances.
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April 25th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
The first thing, they very first thing is what you have done. Make your “wish list.” The second thing is make a budget. And it costs more than people think. And that includes professionals that do it for living. There is always something you didn’t think of, or something that goes wrong, or a might as well item, something you decide to fix or change because you are already working on something nearby. For instance you said new cabinet doors, but you didn’t say new hardware. I don’t know if you considered that, but I’m using that as an example to illustrate a point.
Then you can make educated changes to your “wish list”. You can prioritize and say I’m willing to spend less on one item to spend more somewhere else. Or you may have to eliminate something completely. An example would be the cabinet doors. That can be an expensive item, but can be done easily later with minimal mess, when you have more money.
After you know what exactly you are going to do, which it sounds like you know, and maybe you have done a budget, I don’t know, with your list as is, I would proceed as follows:
Demolition. Removing old appliances, fixtures, flooring, trim, etc.
Mechanical rough-in items. New things to rough in like the recessed lighting, any receptacles or switches that need to be moved or added. Also plumbing changes, you don’t mention any, but now is the time. This is just rough in, so I’m not saying to install new fixtures, but fix things that need to be done that would damage drywall.
Fix any drywall. See why I said to finish rough-ins. Any way, any holes or patches.
Now people will give a different order to things to do. All with valid pros and cons. I would get a good coat of paint on the walls. At least to the point where you only have minor touch-ups. And expect to have a few touch-ups. You can easily scratch the walls accidently when doing flooring.
I would go ahead and do any remaining electrical items, so you can have lights, and electrical trim-outs can be messy with little pieces of wire and boxes. Clean-up the mess.
Then do the floors. Depending on what type of flooring means different prep work, so without knowing exactly what the flooring is and for brevity, I will just say flooring.
Then any trim to cover the gap between walls and flooring. This could be adding shoe molding or if you removed the base, reinstalling.
Next any plumbing fixtures, appliances, cabinet doors. Basically the punch items. Then any touch up paint.
Then move in and have a beer, you earned it. Good luck.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Pull up old carpet (don’t replace yet though) This gives you a more dust free environment to work and messes won’t matter on subflooring.
Install canned lighting first. (this is cheap and will light the work you have to do ahead. Plus, the ceiling may have to be painted too so this should be done first) Note: When my dear sweet husband installed our canned lights, he didn’t wear gloves and got the clean white ceiling dirty with black fingertips. It has to be repainted now.
Paint walls (do this before the cabinets so you won’t have to worry about dripping on freshly done cabinetry)
Paint cabinets and replace doors.
Remove appliances
Replace flooring
Replace new appliances.
Sit back and be really, really proud of your beautiful new home. I can’t wait to see it!!!