Our First Minor Kitchen Remodel - More To Come

I did a minor remodel to our kitchen which consisted of removing a wall between the kitchen and dining room as well as replacing the countertop. We live in a small townhouse and our kitchen was small to begin with. By removing the wall, we added extra counter top, storage and room for a freestanding butcher block. We replaced the kitchen floor, appliances and some of the cabinetry (the cabinetry that we added included roll out shelves and silverware organization-- although smaller in cubic feet than what we replaced the space is much for functional). I did not hire a contractor and did most of the work myself, however I did know a few experienced people I could call for advice when needed (especially the electrician). We purchased a new refrigerator and stove/oven off of craigslist which saved us a significant amount of money versus buying new from Home Depot or Lowes. We visited a couple sellers before we settled on the pieces we wanted-- new or slightly used and stainless. The worst part of the construction was the dust and dirt that was created when tearing down the plaster wall-- it filled the entire house. If I were to do a project like this again, I would make sure to have plastic up protecting the rest of the house. The most important tools for taking down the plaster were a crowbar and sawzall. The sawzall was perfect for cutting through the wire mesh behind the plaster and keeping the portion of the wall we were keeping in good shape. When renovating a part of the house that is used daily (such as the kitchen) make sure that you are able to end each day's work in a position that the room can still be used-- I would not work on days that I only had an hour or two because sometimes clean up could take up half of that time.

The countertop was a different project all together. I had that professionally done. I researched how much do quartz countertops cost and decided that they were what I wanted. I had them cambria quartz countertops professionally installed. They were done in a day. Way more efficient than I was.

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