The Kitchen: Reno Day 1

Finally the day is here, demo day! This is what we started with, the old, dirty cabinets that tip forward and whose doors don’t close tight. The off-white range hood, the Ikea pantry and island both falling apart, the counter that incline forward so everything rolls off onto the floor. 

So we took them out! With my family’s help, the appliances went out easily, the doors came off quickly and even the cabinets were simple to remove.

And then we got to the floor. The first layer of vinyl came off in huge pieces with little effort. Underneath was this hideous yellow and brown patterned vinyl attached to plywood with glue. We decide the best course of action was to remove both layers as the plywood was only nailed down. 

With many crowbars, hammers and an ice chopper, we pried up the floor. It split into pieces and was hard on the back but for the most part it was fairly straightforward.

Once those layers were removed, it turns out what was underneath was even worse. Someone had put down tar paper or some kind of paper with mastic on the hardwood floor and it was not going to come up easily. After a failed attempt to scrape it off and loosen it with warm water, it was very apparent that this was not going to come off without great effort. Tom and I analysed the situation, trying to decide if the hardwood was worth preserving or if we should leave it and put down tile overtop.

In the end we liked the idea of hardwood, although it will be more effort up front, it will be cheaper and we won’t have to worry about tiles cracking on the uneven portion of the room. Research suggested steaming the adhesive, much as you would wallpaper, so we rented a steamer. It is slow going and after 2 hours we had little progress to show for it. 

And now we know: the previous owners really liked using tar in unconventional ways apparently. Why would anyone ever adhere something like this to hardwood flooring? Weird and irritating. 

The Kitchen Reno: Some Painting and Some Progress

After my problems with the paint flaking off the melamine, I consulted an expert and got an oil based primer. Most of the pieces just needed sanding, but for the island wine cubbies, I actually used a metal scrapper and the paint came off in chunks.

Once they were all white (ish) again, I put on the primer, luckily it adhered really well.

For the island I put together the end panel that will face the fridge. It is about 4 ½” wide and has a shaker look like the doors. I ran out of oak and refused to pay $50 for a piece, so I used pine for the ends. 

Although the pantry is too large to be assembled in the basement, I did attach the shelf supports to the side panels. 

I also completed the pantry doors. They are much larger and heavy than I anticipated…it took Tom, my brother and myself to get them glued together. You just needed lots of hands to get everything lined up at the same time.

The front room is now even more chaotic...

And now we know: well I know the way to properly paint melamine now and that an 8 ft high pantry door is going to need a lot of hinges…

The Kitchen Reno: Painting the Lower Doors and Drawer Fronts

Since I am running out of time, I’ve been doing some work in the evenings this week. All the drawer fronts now have 2 coats of black paint on both sides.

The lower cabinet doors also have 2 coats on each side and both sets are waiting their 48 hrs of drying time before they get a clear coat of polycrylic.

For the upper doors the frames are all cut, the ¼” groove is routered into each piece and the biscuit joints are cut. 

I started assembly and the boards are now joined in pairs.

And now we know: a small can of paint was definitely not enough, even before my mistake painting melamine. I had to buy a 2^nd small can. Also painting with black outside at night with only a porch light is not the best plan.

The Kitchen Reno: And the Pressure Is On

All of a sudden time seems to be sneaking up on me and I am feeling stressed about all the work still to do before our install date of October 1^st. What happened to the month of September and all those free weekends???

My plan was to have the base cabinets complete by the end of the weekend, leaving the doors, drawers and bases as the only remaining work. I will tell you now I was not successful. To start I cut, sanded and primed the shelf supports then installed the shelves in the cabinets

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Before I could attach the face frames, I wanted to get the wine slots painted, so I started with the black. The first coat was fine, but as soon as I started with the 2^nd coat it was chipping and scratching like crazy. Not sure what to do, I tried a coat of primer overtop, which also chipped, so I abandoned it for the time being.

By this time all the cabinets except the sink one had migrated upstairs into our front room and I attached the corner cabinet and the one to the left of the stove together. This is now enormous and hard to rotate.

The face frames for 2 of the cabinets got attached with the finish nailer and the holes filled. They still need a coat of paint or 2, but that’s not a priority right now.

 Sanding and priming of the drawer fronts is also complete now…

As is priming of the lower cabinet doors

The front room is looking a more than a little chaotic at this point…

And now we know: don’t paint directly on melamine. Don’t prime directly on melamine. After consulting a professional I was advised to sand them use a special primmer. Not looking forward to sanding all those wine slots…

The Kitchen Reno: Building Doors and Migrating Upstairs

This weekend was all about assembling the doors and drawer fronts for the lower cabinets. Since the boards were already cut to length for the outside of the doors and drawer frames, I spent some time routering a ¼” groove into the inside edge of the door frame pieces. This is what the centre panel will sit in. 

Once the biscuit joints were cut, the boards were assembled in pairs to form corners. 

Then I cut all the central panels out of ¼” plywood, filled any problems areas and sanded them down. After the first pairs glued overnight, I assembled the doors with the plywood panels in the middle. 

The island cabinet got a back on one side and migrated upstairs into the front room. It is the first cabinet to make it out of the shop. To cover the front edge of the wine slots, I cut and primed small pieced of oak which got nailed in place.

All the face frames that are assembled got sanded and primed, ready for a coat of black paint.

The backs of the face frames did get painted and the black is a great colour. I’m waiting on painting the fronts until they are nailed to the cabinets.

And now we know: I’m happy to actually see my door design in practice and really glad that the construction method worked!