Keeping it basic!

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Kitchen Renovation Demolition Putting It Back Together

The main wall of cabinets had exposed brick behind it, which is pretty sweet, but it was looking totally disgusting from years of grease buildup. After a little bit of deliberation, we decided to simply clean it up and paint it glossy white to match the rest of the trim in the house. It looks like a rustic subway tile now and I love it (photos to come on that!).


Next to go was the old tile. The floors were pretty uneven, so a lot of the tiles were cracked and some had been replaced over the years with non-matching tiles. My father-in-law spent a lot of time scheming and figuring out how to make the floors dead flat so the new floors wont have a tile cracking problem in the future.


One little fun fact - we only went without a sink for two days during this who renovation. It was amazing! We waited until the very last minute to swap out the old one with the new sink and sink cabinet, so those of you who are going through or are planning a kitchen renovation, see if your contractor will work with you to do this. It makes living in a construction zone so much less bad.



After everything was disassembled and cleaned up, we started installing the new IKEA cabinets! I spent many, many hours assembling them while my father-in-law did the skilled labor in the kitchen, but it really wasnt so bad. I had 13 cabinets and 17 drawers to assemble and let me tell you, IKEA has an incredible system that just works. Its pretty difficult to mess up if you follow the directions. And though its time-consuming, if you break it up over the course of a week or so it doesnt feel totally overwhelming.

Heres an awkward picture of me putting one together. Youre welcome.



We also purchased a new range, microwave/hood and refrigerator for this project. Ive never had new appliances in any of the places weve lived and they make me oddly happy. They have all these fancy features that I never knew I needed (ha!), but now that I have them theres no going back. :)


These two tall pantries are amazing. We put a lot of shelves and a few drawers in them and theyre perfect for dry goods, small appliances and our coffee station (more on that soon...). These are helping us keep our countertops clear, which was one request from my husband, and he doesnt request much, so you know I had to make that a priority, right?



Once all the cabinetry was set, it was time to take on the radiant heat flooring project. This was on my dream wish list and Im SO happy we decided to do it. Our kitchen gets ridiculously cold in the winter because it hangs over our garage and the outside world. These radiant heat floors will make a huge difference.


We went with a loose coil system from Warmup (best customer service ever, by the way. I cant speak highly enough of them - and no, theyre not sponsoring this post!). You basically nail down these guides and then weave the wire through them, keeping the wire at least two inches apart throughout. You also want to make sure you keep the wires out from under appliances and cabinets.

Heres another fantastic picture of me for your viewing pleasure. Im adding some hot glue to places where the wire wanted to stand up. This helps keep them from popping up when youre pouring thinset onto the system. And no, I didnt do this by myself - my father in law gets most of the credit for making this dream happen!



After a layer of thinset dries on top of the wires, its time to tile!

So thats where Ill wrap up for today. I think thats enough to take in for one day! Our countertops were install this week, so its looking even better now. Theres some finishing work to be done including painting, caulking and installing knobs and pulls, but were thrilled with how it has turned out so far!

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