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Thread: not quite TCB kitchen upgrade

  1. #1
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    Default not quite TCB kitchen upgrade

    As some of you know this has been the summer of "Sean doesn't want to move and Amy wants to."

    Amy had a list of complaints and one of them was the kitchen -- the kitchen sink, faucet, the bar between the breakfast nook and kitchne, the countertops, the backsplash, the floor tile, the fridge (I'm glad the list ends there).

    We started with looking at countertops and backsplash designs and holy hell that stuff is expensive. We have ~95sf of countertop, so at most places that was going to be 35-50/sf ($3,325-$4,750) just for the material (sink, install sink, remove old countertop, remove old backsplash, put up new backsplash are more $$).

    I looked at doing granite tile, but I'm not a fan of grout lines and materials were going to be around ~$1000 + who knows how much of my labor.

    Amy saw a post on craigslist for $24/sf granite and it turns out that it was a legit deal :) They threw in a sink and in true TCB fashion I got out the sawzall and sledgehammer and got down to business.

    First I had to remove the bar between the kitchen and nook:


    The builder didn't screw the bar on. They used so many finish nails that it took the top plate of the wall out with it rather than separate!

    So here's a view with the bar removed. Note the nice formica and "builders special honey oak cabinets that everyone in the world has":


    Then I did my part to stimulate the local economy and had a handman come out and remove the backsplash. When you do this if the sheetrock loses it's paper you have to replace it. I'd removed a couple tiles to test and it was simply easier to cut out the old sheetrock and replace it with new. He also moved the outlet up in order to make the backsplash design not be broken up by the outlets.



    For the backsplash we went to three different stores to save our pennies :) Seconds and Surplus had just the right amount of mosaics (for $2.95/sf, so dirt cheap), then Floor Expo in Plano had 4x4 tumbled tiles for $0.22 each and then HD had (retail price ) the trim piece for $4/lf. That was a fun waste of a Saturday.

    We also wasted time that day going and picking out our slabs of granite (I say wasting because the pulled a slab out and said "you like?" Amy says "Yes" we paid our money and left.

    So Tuesday night, I pulled all the plumbing, the sink, and the existing countertops. Minor flood from corroded water pipes, but a new valve cured that problem. We had also heard horror stories about the cabinets not being level so we made sure that they were pretty level to begin with (a couple small issues that the trusty sawzall took care of :)

    Today they showed up around 10 and got to work.



    The new area that used to be a crappy 9" junk holder bar that's now a useful space:


    We've still got to install the plumbing (including the RO tank), supports for the granite overhang (ebay, $15 each vs. $85 from the installer), some trim boards, and obviously the backsplash (the handyman comes back on Saturday to do that, I've laid tile before and I'll let someone else have that fun :))

    So our initial cost estimates were almost 10k for all of the work. We'll have spent right around ~$4k by doing part of it ourselves.

    And the most important thing? is happy and I don't have to move!

  2. #2

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    Very nice!
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    Very impressive. I had no idea counters were that expensive.

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    looks nice!
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  5. #5

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    Nice!

    I want to redo our countertops in granite too, but ours is about 30' of countertop. IF we could even find a piece large enough, I don't want to know the cost.

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    30' long? Not going to be one piece. most slabs are 55sf, maybe 60. Out big piece around the sink is actually three pieces (and took a bit of massaging to fit just right even though they came out and built templates).

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    Looks good....we took the same route for the most part. I demo'd everything and put up new sheetrock for the backsplash areas. I let the pro's install the granite and tile the backsplash.

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    Very nice!
    Iain

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  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by goofygrin View Post
    30' long? Not going to be one piece. most slabs are 55sf, maybe 60. Out big piece around the sink is actually three pieces (and took a bit of massaging to fit just right even though they came out and built templates).
    Yeah, I looked into granite for my house in NY, but ended up with some other granite-like material (forget what it was though..), so I know they section them. I just don't think the breaks would line up where I'd want them. But really, I just don't want to pay for that much granite. lol Not for this house, not right now anyway.

  10. #10

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    granite is expensive, and not nearly as 'clean' as people believe. Looks nice though. Are you going to refinish the cabinets? That is a bitch and a half, my task last summer, lol.
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    Quote Originally Posted by sxk122 View Post
    granite is expensive, and not nearly as 'clean' as people believe. Looks nice though. Are you going to refinish the cabinets? That is a bitch and a half, my task last summer, lol.
    no chance in hell we're refinishing or refacing the cabinets. There are a ton of them and with the new countertops they don't look nearly as bad as they did with the formica.

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    come on.... white, orrefinished a deep brown.... you know you want to.....
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    nope, wife is not into the white painted look. It looks like you did a good job though!

  14. #14

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    white was an example. you could always re-stain them.... we debated it.

  15. #15

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    I need to make sure my wife doesn't see this thread.................
    By the way, looks great.

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    I was up til 2am installing new under cabinet lighting. Last minute decision by the wife meant yet another trip to the local trifecta (Lowes, Home Depot, Ikea) in order to figure out what we wanted.... and about 4 hours of me installing lighting and running new wire to support it.

    The guys are here now making a new big mess putting in the backsplash.

    I can't wait to eat a meal in my kitchen again!

  17. #17
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    Two days and the backsplash isn't done. I think they misunderestimates how long it was going to take :)

    All we have left is the grout and sealing.


  18. #18

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    what under cabinet lighting did you choose? we looked in ikea and lowes, btu nothing was exactly what we envisioned.
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  19. #19

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    that backsplash looks sharp. nice choice on the tiles!
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  20. #20
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    Thanks.

    We ended up with the cheapest flourescent fixtures that Lowes carried. We bought (and subsequently returned) some of the LED fixtures from Home Depot and Ikea and we didn't like the color of the light and that it reflected as sharp points in the granite. The Xenon lights put out the most pleasing light, but they got hot and it seemed like that was a bad idea when screwed to wood :)

    These are the ones we got (in 18" and 24" length): http://www.lowes.com/pd_69486-1390-G...net%2Blighting

    They are the hard wire ones.

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