Taking out the Soffit

First step of the project is to take out the soffit above the cabinets. We purchased 36" cabinets and will be putting more space between the wall cabinets and counter tops , so the soffit has to go. I wanted to start here to see what is in there I don't know about in case I have to make some adjustments.




Here is the first hole in the wall - ah, that felt good.






As expected there was some electrical and ductwork in the soffit. These I have plans for.






What I didn't have plans for is this bit of plumbing. Looks like someone took a shortcut with a drain pipe. I'll have the plumber come out and rework it this week. It could throw off my schedule a bit. We'll see.

It took about 4 hours, but the soffit is out. I thought I was going to be able to do it with very little mess - I was wrong (my wife knew it though - note the plastic in the doorways). We started packing up the kitchen. This week we'll start taking out the appliances and base cabinets. Anyone want cabinets!

The Before Pictures

Here are some "before" pictures of the kitchen. As I post these, I can't wait to post the after pics! The pulls especially drive me nuts. You might need to zoom in to see the knives, forks, and spoons. The 2 tone cabinets are also an issue, but it might just be painted cabinets too. I'm a big fan of wood.

You'll notice the color of the doors and the fireplace. The wood of the new cabinets matches them nearly exactly. Hopefully it will all tie together!

Reworking the Kitchen

When we started looking at this house I said the kitchen has to go. It's not awful, just not my taste - so much so that it drives me nuts. When we moved in back in February, we started researching what we wanted to do. Mindy and I finally decided on an Arts and Crafts theme. We also decided to limit the work to cabinets, counter tops, sink, and faucet, and now we've added a back splash. We might also look at floors depending on finances

Lowes has been a great help. They did all the design work for the cabinets, and we even ordered some of the cabinets from Lowes. I say some because we got some from an outlet. More on that later.

The cabinets will be Kraftmaid Meredith Oak with a Cognac stain. They arrive Friday 8/31, so pics will follow when they arrive.

Countertops will be Giallo Ornamental (aka Venetian Gold Light) granite. C&C Marble and Granite in Plain City are doing the fabrication and installation. We spent much longer than expected picking out granite, but I really like where we ended up. C&C was the least expensive and easiest to work with. Hopefully the end product will look good, too!

I (Jon) am doing most of the work with cabinets. This is a big step for me, as I've not done much of this. I'm hoping for help from Mindy's brother Jerry and my friends Dan and Matt.

So keep looking here for progress. I'll post updates and pics of demolition and installation as we go.

Jon