Before
Notice how the sink is in front of the window instead of in the corner. The corner cabinets are very difficult to get into, especially one on the floor.
The counter space is limited to the left of the sink and non existent by the fridge which is next to the stove. The bottom of the window is level with the bottom of the counters.
Old Pantry
The doorway into the living room was very narrow. We removed the old pantry and wall and increased the width of the doorway.
Old Storage Closet
This storage closet was by the entry into the kitchen. If you look at the blue tile on the floor and then compare to the final picture, you'll notice the extra width of the doorway. It's only about 5 inches, but it makes a huge difference. We doorway is also quite low and you feel you almost have to duck to walk through.Notice the wood walls and opening into the kitchen. It's quite dark and we will be replacing this too.
Looking up the Stairs
Here you get a good idea of how dark it looks
Holes in the wall
When we removed the kitchen cabinet, we could see a big hole in the wall. Looks like it got wet at one time, but it's very dry now. The floor is built on joists that are sitting on the dirt below. There's a cleanout for the sewer, but it's going to be difficult to get to if we ever need to.
Phil installing new window
Lots of wires running in the wall below the window. We had to lower a few of the wires to make the window fit.
Electrical
We moved some of the electrial plugs. The one for the stove was bolted to the outside of the wall and was interfering with the stove, so we moved it into the wall. There were only two circuits in the kitchen for the fridge, microwave, coffee pot and other devices, so we added two more circuits from the electrical panel - one for the fridge and one for the microwave. Now there are two circuits for other things on the counter top.
Old wood trim removed
Scrap Gyproc
Lots of small pieces of gyproc under the old panelling. It must have taken them a huge amount of time to assemble all the small pieces and nail them in, but it probably saved them $8 in gyproc at the time. We're not sure why they just didn't just attach the panelling without gyproc underneath. There are at least 10 pieces in this one small section at the top of the stairs.
New gyproc
Place is brightening up as the new gypoc is installed. We used 3 sheets in total, trying to keep the filling and sanding to a minimum.
New kitchen arrives
Lots of boxes, hard to even move around in the kitchen.
Kitchen starts to go in
Microwave stand
The electrical plug for the microwave is in the right place. The hood fan is connected to vent all the way to the outside.
Hood Fan
It's almost in the right place, but with flexible hose, it works fine. The final cabinets were slightly different from the plans. At least that's the excuse we'll go with.
Five Drawers
Upper corner cabinet
On the way to the TV room.
More roll out drawers
For pots and pans.
New Pantry
And china cabinet on the other side of the now wider opening.
Phil hooks up the sink
Lots of plumbing work to connect the sink, dishwasher and fridge. He managed to keep the pipes up high under the sink, giving lots of room for "stuff"
After
This picture is taken from the same place as the first before picture above.
Final
Another view of the finished kitchen. There is still some tile work and painting that needs to be done. Phil will be adding the tiles on his next trip to Penticton in a few weeks. We also have a few scraps of wood to put around the vent above the stove.
Tile Work
While Phil was up in December to build the garage he finished the tile work in the kitchen.