When we bought our house years ago, we loved and hated the kitchen at the same time. Loved it because it is so spacious, has so many counter space and cabinets. Hated it because it is so 1980's, everything is so dated. This year we finally had enough. We decided to do something about it. (Many thanks to "jasondand" for her blog on kitchen renovation and her many detailed answers to my questions, so I had some idea on how much things cost before we started to tackle this project.)
Step One: Replacing range hood (DIY)
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: $200
1. Goodness knows how many years the old range hood has been there.
2. The new one though not powerful enough for Chinese cooking (nothing is powerful enough for Chinese cooking in my opinion), at least it looks better.
Step Two: Replacing oven, dishwasher and cooktop (90% DIY)
Difficulty: Medium
Cost: $3,600
3. Believe it or not, we had a Hotpoint microwave oven combo that was made by GE in 1981, and it is still working.
Originally we wanted to find a contractor that does everything we need for the kitchen (countertops, backsplash, appliance, floor etc), but the contractors we contacted either only do countertops, or their quote was so high to do everything we need that we decided to replace the appliances ourselves.
4. Dave managed to take the old oven out by himself.
5. Modifying the cutout to fit our new double ovens is probably the hardest part of the job.
6. Once the cutout meets the requirement, installing the new ovens is relatively easy. Since the ovens weighs ~230 lbs, we can't lift it by ourselves, so we paid $150 to get the ovens delivered and installed.
7. The old dishwasher. Not sure how old it is, but the racks are getting rusty.
8. After the dishwasher is out, it revealed an ugly truth: we have 3 layers of linoleum flooring.
9. Our new dishwasher.
Our new cooktop doesn't fit our existing cutout. We'll put it on once we get new countertops.
Step Three: Replacing countertops, sink, faucets etc
Difficulty: Easy, because we don't have to do the work ourselves
Cost: $5,500
There are a few things we do have to do though:
10. This is what we had before.
11. This is now. We extended the island by 10 inches and let go the indoor grill.
There are still a lot of things we need to do in the kitchen, like adding a backsplash, replacing hardware, replacing the floor, and painting etc. But we need a break. So this is going to be it for a while. I'll update once we get a chance to do anything new.
Step One: Replacing range hood (DIY)
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: $200
1. Goodness knows how many years the old range hood has been there.
2. The new one though not powerful enough for Chinese cooking (nothing is powerful enough for Chinese cooking in my opinion), at least it looks better.
Step Two: Replacing oven, dishwasher and cooktop (90% DIY)
Difficulty: Medium
Cost: $3,600
3. Believe it or not, we had a Hotpoint microwave oven combo that was made by GE in 1981, and it is still working.
Originally we wanted to find a contractor that does everything we need for the kitchen (countertops, backsplash, appliance, floor etc), but the contractors we contacted either only do countertops, or their quote was so high to do everything we need that we decided to replace the appliances ourselves.
4. Dave managed to take the old oven out by himself.
5. Modifying the cutout to fit our new double ovens is probably the hardest part of the job.
6. Once the cutout meets the requirement, installing the new ovens is relatively easy. Since the ovens weighs ~230 lbs, we can't lift it by ourselves, so we paid $150 to get the ovens delivered and installed.
7. The old dishwasher. Not sure how old it is, but the racks are getting rusty.
8. After the dishwasher is out, it revealed an ugly truth: we have 3 layers of linoleum flooring.
9. Our new dishwasher.
Our new cooktop doesn't fit our existing cutout. We'll put it on once we get new countertops.
Step Three: Replacing countertops, sink, faucets etc
Difficulty: Easy, because we don't have to do the work ourselves
Cost: $5,500
There are a few things we do have to do though:
- Measure our countertops and send the measurement to several contractors for quotes;
- Based on the price, color choices and edge choices for the price quoted, pick a contractor;
- Go to local stone warehouses to pick a slab (better bring a cabinet door with you). For the slabs we saw, each slab will give about 50 sqft, so we actually need to pick two slabs. Make sure they match in color and pattern. It is amazing how different the slabs can look even when they come from the same quarry;
- Once we decide on the slabs, our contractor will have the warehouse 'tag' the stones;
- The contractor comes to our house to do a final measurement (new cooktop and sink need to be on hand);
- Pay 50% deposit and wait 3-4 weeks (cutting the stone, wait till it drys, and seals it actually takes about a week, but there are several people in front of us already).
10. This is what we had before.
11. This is now. We extended the island by 10 inches and let go the indoor grill.
There are still a lot of things we need to do in the kitchen, like adding a backsplash, replacing hardware, replacing the floor, and painting etc. But we need a break. So this is going to be it for a while. I'll update once we get a chance to do anything new.
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