Time for a new kitchen

The kitchen was the first project that we started when we moved into our new place.

Thankfully, the updates were only cosmetic.  Everything was clean, solid, and functional, so it was just a matter of making everything pretty too.

We put down new floors in the entire house (there is a funny story about those floors that I will leave for another time, but involves a company going bankrupt and leaving us floorless) replaced the trim, lights, backsplash, counter-top  and cabinet doors.  We needed to keep the kitchen remodel pretty modest, so as usual we did as much as we could ourselves.  In the end, the only trade we needed to call in was an electrician to install the dishwasher because it involved creating a new line and tying into the main panel which I am smart enough to know is over my head.

The cabinet doors were probably the most satisfying part of the kitchen remodel for me because they were definitely the best money spent, and the most enjoyable to do.  The boxes of the cabinets were solid and sufficient for what we needed so it was an easy decision to keep them.  This meant an easy transfer of the measurements of the old doors to make some new shaker style doors.  Painting the doors gave us a bit of a challenge though – we moved at the end of winter, and quick drop in temperature meant that if I sprayed the doors outside or in the garage the paint would not dry properly.  Since the rest of the house was in demolition mode anyways, we turned the living room into a make-shift paint booth.  Likely the last time I do that.

All in cost for the door materials, hinges, and knobs was less than $200.  That’s why the doors were my favourite.