Kitchen

The Kitchen Remodel

The starting point.

As you can see, the kitchen was almost in the original condition as it was built, excluding the appliances of course.  I liked the idea that I was starting from a blank canvas.

The first thing I did was remove the cabinet doors.   This was a very easy task for one person to perform.  I had borrowed my brothers' drill/driver set made by DeWalt.  I have to say if I didn't have use of these state of the art tools my remodel would have been more tedious and labor intensive.  The sweet LED lights on the impact driver made it very easy for me to see when I was removing the sink.  This and the ease of use made my job amazingly easy.  The battery life was also very long and I never had to stop what I was doing and switch batteries or recharge.  The sad part was when I was done with my remodel I had to return them.  Maybe one day I can afford to purchase my very own set.  For now I will settle on just borrowing them for my next project.

The next step was to remove the sink.  I had never done this in my life but it was not difficult to figure out.  At first I unscrewed the clips underneath the sink, this was a little painful given I had to lay on my back, but I used a pillow to ease the discomfort.  Plus remember to wear goggles.  There will be dust and debris that will possibly fall and you don't want that in your eyes.  It stings.

Then I disconnected the drains by unscrewing them.  You will need a wrench for this part since you have to break the plumbers putty seal or anything else the prior owners may have used to prevent leaks.  Just saying this because the prior owner of my house used duck tape.  But hey, he is a mechanic not a plumber.

Then you have to break the seal that connects the sink to the counter top.  I used a butter knife and a crowbar.  I did however, in my first attempt accidentally, slightly bend the corner of the sink.  Oops.  Please be more careful than I was.  Maybe do more scrapping with the knife, and of course there are always better methods out there for doing this.  I would recommend asking someone who is a pro or at least searching it on the web.  I did not since I just wanted to get it done.  I also had assumed that my limited brute strength and leverage with a crowbar would be enough but not do any damage.  I was wrong.

Next, was the removal of the counter tops.  This was not an easy task.  At first I was banging on the underneath with a sledge hammer, which my brother was so kind to loan me.  It did not budge.  Then after I discussed the issue with my brother who was glad to come over and examine the issue.  He found that I needed to remove the laminate from the counter top first and then remove the nails that were hidden under the laminate.  This was excruciating.  He demonstrated that I had to use the crowbar and hit with the hammer to get the crowbar wedged under the laminate and then pry up the permanently attached laminate from the counter top.  Whoever made these counter tops did an amazingly thorough job in making sure the laminate would stay in place.

After he demonstrated, I went to work.  Some of the pieces came off easily and the others took some digging.  Many came off in large strips.  I found as I went along that the laminate on the back splash area was part of the same large piece of laminate.  So I just ripped off the back splash all at the same time.  This saved me time later.

After the laminate was completely removed my brother demonstrated how to dig out the nails.  

The method involves a crowbar, a hammer, and sledge hammer.  Begin with hammering the crowbar under the nails and then prying them up.  I found that sometimes you could not use this method but would have to dig up the wood around the nail and then use the sledge hammer to hammer the hammer under the nail to pry it up.  Good luck with the nails next to the back splash.  I had on occasion, took a piece of the wall out.  

This was the most time consuming and labor intensive portion of the remodel.  I was exhausted after I removed all of the counter top.  After, a nice relaxing break of a cold pop and fresh air. Where I had a break from wearing my dust mask.  Then I returned to work and measured and cut the 2x8x10 lumber I got from Lowes.  Which by the way is not really 2 by 8 by 10, but in actuality 1.5 inches by 7.25 inches by 10 feet.  This kind of messed with my measurements for the width of the counter top.  So I had to return and get 2x4x10 (also not the exact measurements) for the part against the wall. With this I achieved a good 1 inch overhang for the ledge.  Please see diagram below for layout of counter top.

The sink area was difficult.  I ended up cutting the boards to the necessary 9 foot length to fit and then putting the old counter top pieces on top.  Then tracing the sink hole.  I then removed the boards and cut to fit.  Then placed them back on and brought the sink over to see if it was correct.  I had to remeasure and cut several times.  I also sanded the edges to make them smooth for installation of sink.

I began installing the boards. I used wood glue between the boards and underneath were they met the cabinets.  I used a 2 by 4 underneath to keep them together for reinforcement.  I then screwed up from the underneath attaching them to the cabinets.  I also did the other sections around the stove.  Afterwards, I used a putty knife and applied a generous amount of wood filler in between the boards.

Below is a picture of some of the products I used in this project.  You can also see the counter tops before sanding but after wood filler.

Then came the sanding.....

Do not forget to get a good dust mask/respirator and goggles.  

These are very important.

I already owned a sander from a project I did years ago.  So I didn't need to borrow one this time.  All I needed to do was buy some new sanding belts to get started.  I ended up getting the one's by Gator.  I started with coarse ones and then finished with the fine.  

I had also begun painting the cabinets, cut out the paneling at the top of the cabinets, and installed a new light above the kitchen sink.  I believe this was the moment when I realized, I think this is going to turn out looking good, because I had doubts up until this moment.

Next, was the staining and polyurethane.  Please only use stain and polyurethane in a well ventilated room.  I had all of the windows and doors open for this portion.

Wear gloves to protect your hands.

I applied the first coat as directed by Minwax.  They have very good instructions on their staining products.  Please follow them.  They are very helpful and each product may have varying instructions.

After I applied two coats of honey stain that also had polyurethane in it I then applied the polyurethane coats.  This took three days.  One coat everyday after work.

Then I reinstalled the sink.  Which was the reverse of what I did to remove it.  I also had purchased new drains to spruce it up since I could not afford a new sink.  Also since I did not remove the faucet from the sink, all I had to do was reconnect to the water.  Very simple.  plus don't forget to re-glue the sink to the counter top.  I purchased GE kitchen silicone caulk since it guaranteed to be mold-free for ten years.   I thought that was a good idea.

I then moved on to the black splash!

Here is a picture of the completed counter tops after the back splash installation.

And still it is a work in progress.

The only disappointing part of this project was the wood filler cracked after the polyurethane.  I would recommend buying the top of the line wood filler.  Like for instance ProBond by Elmers.  This will not crack.  I used it on my desk project a month ago and there are no cracks unlike this project.  You can see the crack I am referring to in this picture.