Kitchen Remodel
It's Finally Done, After ~1 Year....
Building the countertops from scratch was the biggest challenge. The material is Corian, which isn't the most-durable material, but I don't have any ability to work with granite, so it was a compromise. Corian comes in 10' x 30" x 1/2" sheets. I bought a track saw that made easy work carving up those large heavy panels. It's easy to form, route, epoxy, polish, etc. All edges are built from 3 layers, with full top and bottom routing. It's a bit more complicated than wood, but I learned everything I needed to know on YouTube :-) On one fateful night, the entire kitchen sat 1" deep in shavings, and the entire house was misted with dust, which took several days to clean. The backsplashes were as complicated and time-consuming as they look.
There's two-tiered LED lighting. The front tier (plus paper lanterns) uses a total of 17 Hue bulbs, where I independently control the color and intensity of each bulb (and make lighting schemes that control all bulbs - pictures of 3 different schemes are shown). The entire kitchen color (pure white walls, freshly patched and painted) really does change with the click of a smart phone app. The rear lighting tier uses 26 cool and warm LED bulbs in hidden track-light fixtures pointing up, controlled via dimmer switch. Max power uses only 300 watts for everything -- providing fully-dimmable "operating room" brightness. The lighting was expensive, but it's really sweet. LED light strips (fully-adjustable color and intensity) line all wall cabinets, and the bench seating.
The refrigerator was replaced and I moved the new refrigerator where I tore out an original desk cove. The original island was repurposed as additional base cabinet space where the old refrigerator stood.
We renovated our double-door pantry with all utilities for a washer and dryer, and we installed new appliances.
We replaced our leaky dish washer, and repaired the floor and cabinet damage in that space with ceramic tile (so the space can never be damaged again).
We painted all cabinets black or white (2 prime coats, 2 base coats, 2 top coats), and reworked every door with new hidden European-Style hinges and stainless steel handles.
We installed new plantation shutters on every window, as well as on the Washer/Dryer closet.
We replaced the small pantry door, and turned the large kitchen door into a large black chalkboard.
We created a large 2-tier island with built-in electric. We created bench seating to separate the kitchen from the great room.
The whole thing (including appliances) cost roughly $20K.
Read MoreBuilding the countertops from scratch was the biggest challenge. The material is Corian, which isn't the most-durable material, but I don't have any ability to work with granite, so it was a compromise. Corian comes in 10' x 30" x 1/2" sheets. I bought a track saw that made easy work carving up those large heavy panels. It's easy to form, route, epoxy, polish, etc. All edges are built from 3 layers, with full top and bottom routing. It's a bit more complicated than wood, but I learned everything I needed to know on YouTube :-) On one fateful night, the entire kitchen sat 1" deep in shavings, and the entire house was misted with dust, which took several days to clean. The backsplashes were as complicated and time-consuming as they look.
There's two-tiered LED lighting. The front tier (plus paper lanterns) uses a total of 17 Hue bulbs, where I independently control the color and intensity of each bulb (and make lighting schemes that control all bulbs - pictures of 3 different schemes are shown). The entire kitchen color (pure white walls, freshly patched and painted) really does change with the click of a smart phone app. The rear lighting tier uses 26 cool and warm LED bulbs in hidden track-light fixtures pointing up, controlled via dimmer switch. Max power uses only 300 watts for everything -- providing fully-dimmable "operating room" brightness. The lighting was expensive, but it's really sweet. LED light strips (fully-adjustable color and intensity) line all wall cabinets, and the bench seating.
The refrigerator was replaced and I moved the new refrigerator where I tore out an original desk cove. The original island was repurposed as additional base cabinet space where the old refrigerator stood.
We renovated our double-door pantry with all utilities for a washer and dryer, and we installed new appliances.
We replaced our leaky dish washer, and repaired the floor and cabinet damage in that space with ceramic tile (so the space can never be damaged again).
We painted all cabinets black or white (2 prime coats, 2 base coats, 2 top coats), and reworked every door with new hidden European-Style hinges and stainless steel handles.
We installed new plantation shutters on every window, as well as on the Washer/Dryer closet.
We replaced the small pantry door, and turned the large kitchen door into a large black chalkboard.
We created a large 2-tier island with built-in electric. We created bench seating to separate the kitchen from the great room.
The whole thing (including appliances) cost roughly $20K.
