My Kitchen Project

My wife and I were able to purchase a display model kitchen from her uncle whose cabinet business is going under. We got the kitchen and counter top for an unbelievable price. We are thrilled with the kitchen cabinets, however they are not the perfect color for our house but we will make due. Of course the cabinets were not custom built for our home either. I have some obstacles to over come. Like trying to fit cabinets and the counter top through supply and return lines for a radiator. Cutting out the original sink to the house. The sink has 3 inch drain pipes on it. We also decided to rip up two layers of old floor that was installed in the kitchen as well. Someone put in 1/4 mdf and stapled it to the hardwoods many years ago and I had to spend about 5 hours pulling thousands of staples out of the floor. We are going to stain the floor a dark color and clear coat it. Maybe some day when we have money (whenever that will be?) we could put tile in. Another problem is we cant put the wall cabinets above the base cabinets because we have a huge window that takes up all of the space for the wall cabs. We do have another location in the kitchen that we can hang the wall cabs. Its just they wont be where they are supposed to be. Currently I am still waiting on my plumber to come and remove the old original sink to the house and he also has to cut out water lines and a drain that someone plumbed through an old metal sink that is currently in the kitchen. Then I can begin putting up the new wainscoting and try to figure out how I will make the base cabinets fit. I have some pictures of the demo process so far and some pictures of the cabinets to go in the kitchen. We also got 2 hickory cabinets that we are putting in a nook in the hall way to use as a pantry.

WOW! nice project! love the cabinets personally I believe the floor might be a wee bit to dark and will show every crumb but its a matter of personl choice. the kitchen cab's look a bit more cherry color than that walnut. that upgrade will make that kitchen beautiful!!

what color do u think the floor should be stained. im open for suggestions. I just thought the dark stain would hide the imperfections in the wood. Or would a more natural color hide the messed up floor better?

i don't have a way to get the pine molding to my house. Plus I don't even know what it looks like

Can you save the two cabinets that are resting on the granite, leave out the 'bridge' of cabinets over the granite's sink, and shrink the window opening with some fancy trim or molding so that it will fit between the two side cabinets?? If so it will look VERY nice..

There is a lot of creativity needed, but it will look very nice in the end..

Just a suggestion on the floor, rent a floor sander, and try to recover the wood in a closer to natural color.. as mentioned above, the dark stain will show dust, dog/cat hair etc very easily. And that wood is 3/4" thick, so you can sand a 1/16" off quite easily and get down to fresh wood,, it may look very nice with a good sanding.. Then just wet the wood to see what it will look like natural,, then sand again, the wetting will raise the grain, and when sanded again the floor will feel like velvet, very smooth.. and take a wonderfull finish..

Greg L

I could possibly rent a floor sander. I don't know what it costs. Money is tight...

Edit: I called home depot and I can rent a drum sander for 54 dollars for a day, plus paper. Pretty cheap if u ask me. And im a cheapskate

I wouldnt know how to go about shrinking the window to make the two outside wall cabs fit. Plus I have those damn return and supply lines to try to work around.

I concur with Greg for sure. a buddy of mine in fla had a hardwood floor refinish biz and the time and patience used with the floor sander (AND SERIOUS DUST MASK) then the wetting and again sand will make it dazzle. I would prob bring one of the cab's in then and just set it down for a look see and you will know if it appeals to ya, err the misses! from there you can darken as needed.

see the contrast..

Any more good deals at unckle's cabinet shop? I could use some in my sons house.

Oh come on!! 40 7 ft pieces of wood wouldnt give the coalfires springs a giggle compared to the bucket brigade! thats where clear packing tape and rope come in handy. now that pine moulding could indeed be stained to match the cab's and would help shrink down the window. naturally by shrinking what is ment is just a "front" kinda like a picture frame that hangs flush. when you reach in the whole window is actually there you just boxed in the outer front sides thus making it appear smaller.

?? just thoughts. check a few tool rental places for prices. 40 bucks a day? dunno but it will be way cheaper than any new floor covering and indeed better than blacking the floor out I think.

You ran into a good deal,I'm sure--good old American ingenuity--been there done that w/ our 200 yr old farmhouse--our kitchen is probably the focal point of the old homestead--take your time--like poconoeagle said,set the cabinets inside & look at them for awhile--you'll figure out your right stain--all that cutting & abortion work only has to be done once--it will turn out outstanding---our house had dark paneling on most of the walls & looked like a cave inside--I wondered what kind of idiot would do that---started pulling panels off to 1/2" sheetrock--he had used masking tape for the joints--& god knows what for taping compound--took it down to studs,lathboard & all--it was a pain in the a$$ but well worth it--again,take your time

i guess my problem is that we love the dark wood baseboard and wainscoting (or whatever it is) in the kitchen. But that cabinets do not match the original wood at all. For now I have to (dont have the money) install the cabinets the way they are live with the miss matched cabinets compared to the houses original wood stain.

But I was thinking it might make more sense to tear down the orginal wood paneling and baseboard and buy new paneling and baseboard and stain it to match or kitchen cabs. But doing that means I have to tear out wood, very nice wood that is original to the house. and the original baseboards are 10" tall and have a very nice profile. It would be rather expensive to match that today

I sort of don't know what to do. I want things to look good,if that means down the road, stripping the cabs and staining them dark to match the orginal wood trim, or tearing out the original wood trim and putting up new to match the new cabs?

And im going to rent a floor sander and use a natural stain on the floors now. I hand sand part of the floor and it looked great. the dark stain I originally wanted needs to go.

I don't think you want to mess with taking the old trim & such out--to re-do--it would probably open a can of worms you don't want to see,Are walls lath & plaster?? Try removing a little piece of trim(a corner)with a flat bar--see how it goes--not real great I would think--If it's just sheet-rock,you could locate the finish nails holding it all on the walls & take a nail set & drive the finish nails through all the way--if you do the cabinets down the road try an inside portion & sand or steelwool(orbital sander works excellent) the gloss or semi gloss off & lightly rough the surface up & try a darker stain--let it set for a little while & wipe it down--see if it takes--it's all trial & error slow & steady wins the race--it's a given Bottom line,me personaly would do the cabinets

Just an observation, but why is it that the pic that your wife is in has the most views??????

Someday I may be able to do my kitchen also. Windows are the priority right now.

Jeff

freetown fred wrote:I don't think you want to mess with taking the old trim & such out--to re-do--it would probably open a can of worms you don't want to see,Are walls lath & plaster??

It is lath and plaster. I tore some of it out in the 3rd floor that was cracked real bad and replaced it with drywall. what a fricken mess

freetown fred wrote:if you do the cabinets down the road try an inside portion & sand or steelwool(orbital sander works excellent) the gloss or semi gloss off & lightly rough the surface up & try a darker stain--let it set for a little while & wipe it down--see if it takes--it's all trial & error slow & steady wins the race--it's a given Bottom line,me personaly would do the cabinets

I believe that is the route I will go as well. Since I am not patient and already cant stand not using my sink after 3 days, I will install the cabs the way they are and then maybe right away or down the road I will strip em or sand them and try to darken the stain. Ive done this at work before. It will be rather time consuming.

ceccil wrote:Just an observation, but why is it that the pic that your wife is in has the most views??????

Thats what I was wondering too ... When I put it on, I sort of though it would have the most views ... and she would probably kick my but if she knew I put her picture on here.

Sounds good---keep us posted as you progress on it Had a couple of rooms upstairs that were lath & plaster & I was just sick of it & just cleaned them up w/ joint compound the best I could & went over them w/ 1/4 inch sheetrock--taped & Momma painted & papered them 10 yrs later they still look real good.

Imo.. If you are not familiar with a drum sander I would stick to a random orbit flooring sander . These are a lot more user friendly. Don't ask me how I know.