A 6 year kitchen renovation – Part 2!

The plan

• Tear out all the carpets on the main level. Replace with LVP from Home Depot.
• Open the wall up between the kitchen from 30 inches to 6 feet
• Rotate the kitchen island and pendant lights
• Tear out all the rest of the soffits above kitchen cabinets
• Buy new counter depth fridge and create a new bank of cabinets on the empty wall you see above in the left photo
• Tear out closet in the kitchen eat-in area
• Replace laminate counters with butcher block and Quartz
• New kitchen sink
• Shiplap the back wall
• Repair ceiling and retexture
• New light fixtures above sink and dining
• Tile backsplash with antique salvaged tin tile
• Replace cabinets with salvaged wood from my dad’s land
• Rewire for the new lights and move wiring in wall between the rooms.
• Replace laundry room door with Barn door

We got the party started by tearing out the living room carpet and laying the new Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring from Home Depot. The one we chose is called Walton Oak and its by Lifeproof. We chose LVP because its super durable, environmentally friendly and doesn’t have the off gases that laminate and engineered hardwood have. Since I have 4 autoimmune diseases, having a safe and healthy home is very important to me.

When the living room floor was almost finished, it was time- IT’S DEMO DAY!! (Picture my hubs as Chip Gaines.) Matt tore out the wall between the kitchen and living room, the dining room closet and the soffits. The mess was unreal! We made sure to tarp off the rest of the house. I have a saved highlight on my Instagram page where you can see the tear out.

Here is a photo of the closet before and after-

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We spent the next few weeks working hard

The goal was to get the majority of the work done by Christmas time. We worked night and day. So many late nights when Matt got home from work. Below you’ll see how opening up the doorway and moving the island allowed the new cabinets to fit- I can’t believe how much storage we have now!

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Not exactly the same angle, but you get the idea!

We worked super hard replacing drywall, painting and doing the kitchen backsplash. Matt was lucky enough to salvage all the tin tile from a local building, he ran it all the way around the cabinets for interest. He used electric tin snips to cut it, we installed metal tile edging before the tin so there wouldn’t be sharp edges. Over the tin is the open shelving with lumber from trees from my dad’s land.

We purchased the Butcher Block countertop from Home Depot as well. It’s solid walnut and we sanded and finished it ourselves. I used Watco Butcher block finish from Lowe’s, I’ve used it before and does and amazing job!

Our sink we decided to go with a large stainless undermount that I found on Amazon for an amazing price! It’s a Kraus and it came with a large grate which was handy. Can definitely wash a baby or pup in this thing! I chose a 16 gauge so it wouldn’t be noisy, it’s not at all. Our Quartz is by Hanstone and the pattern is Arete. I kept our Delta faucet from our other kitchen as it newly replaced.

Another new view is this one between the Kitchen and Living room

A final last few views, all in all it was a great project. Words of advice, hire someone to do the drywall, its worth it! We did it ourselves and its such a mess, totally worth the professional help. I’m still so shocked the only thing we didn’t do was the Quartz counters. Guess we really are a great team! Thanks for reading along!

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Here is a link for another big project we took on- Our Fixer Upper Inspired Fireplace project