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| My kitchen was completely functional - in a 1983 kind of way |
I am wrapping up a kitchen upgrade. This is being called an upgrade, not a remodel. I didn't redo the flooring, didn't poke holes in the walls for new windows, didn't have to deal with terms such as "load-bearing wall." It was all pretty straightforward - cabinets, counter tops, sink, some new lighting, a new range, a tiled backsplash and paint.
I also converted my electric range to gas, which necessitated running a gas line to the stove. Even though the house was built with a natural gas furnace and water heater no consideration was made for future use of a gas range. It required running a pipe from the basement into the garage, then up through the ceiling of the garage and through the floor of the kitchen to the back of the range.
In the end not much is really different. I was always happy in the kitchen, now I'm happier. The lighting is better, the countertops are awesome and cooking with gas is great. But the food tastes the same. A lot of money spent for food that tastes the same. Would I do it again? Yes, and fortunately not much would be done differently. I'll go through some of my decisions and experiences here.
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| At this point in the project I asked myself, "What the hell have I done?" |
Cabinets
For the cabinets I went to Andredas Cabinetry, LLC of Scenery Hill, PA. Owner Craig Andredas runs the business that was passed down from his father. It is a professionally run operation employing both family members and skilled craftsmen.
After hours of poring over the options we decided to go with hickory cabinets with a clear coat finish. Despite that Craig says that 75% of his customers go with a "painted" wood I like wood to look like wood and have no regrets about the choice. I should also point out that Craig would answer my questions and explain current trends but never tried to push us in a direction that would go against his understanding of what we were looking for.
My favorite cabinet? The island. Craig built 8 drawers into it and it freed up so much cabinet space that I almost have too much room.
Gas Range
I think this whole kitchen update thing started out because a friend of mine had just converted from electric to gas. I had been wanting to do that for 20 years. I stalled on doing that because although our house had natural gas, it was only plumbed for heat and hot water. A gas line did not run to the range.
Another reason that I hesitated is that the first two plumbers I talked to would have run that flexible gas tubing. Although that meets code I wouldn't have felt comfortable with that. So I called the town's building inspector and asked if he could recommend a plumber who prefers to use steel pipe instead of flex tubing for routing natural gas. He gave me a couple of names. As a point of reference, the plumber charged $300 to run the gas line, parts and labor. It was an additional $200 for the electrician to run a dedicated line and breaker.
When I started looking at ranges I liked the "slide in" look. If you're not sure what's meant by a slide-in range follow this link.
Well the slide-in led to a new backsplash which led to new cabinets which led to new countertops and a new sink. The second picture in this post shows what we ended up not changing.
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| Our gas stove is located above the garage. The yellow wire - per manufacturer's spec - is for a dedicated 20 amp line for the gas range. I have no idea why it needs to be 20 amps. |
Countertops
Even before you pick a countertop you need to make a decision - 4" backsplash built into the countertop, or no backsplash. If you go the "no backslpash" route then you will likely want to install a tile backsplash. That's the direction I went. Usually a little more work, usually a little more money but a modern look. Going with the 4" built-in backsplash - IMO - can make your kitchen look older.
The most common choices for countertops are granite, concrete and quartz. I chose quartz because it is stain resistant (but not heat resistant). Also because quartz is manufactured you can get almost any look that you want. Granite is heat resistant but not stain resistant. Granite is also more resistant to scratches. So choose your poison.
First thing that might surprise some is that quartz is not made from 100% quartz (as is granite and concrete). Quartz countertops are about 90% quartz and 10% resin. For that reason they are not as hard as granite.
I believe that countertops are like cars - some cars have a color that hides dirt. But IMO when those cars are clean they look, ehhh. But those cars that are hard to keep clean, well when they are clean they look awesome. So let me just say this - when our countertop is clean it looks awesome.
Get a Countertop Doggie Bag
When you talk to your countertop fabricator ask if you can have some scraps left over from the job. That way if you have questions such as "will this stain my countertop" or "will this scratch it" you can easily test it. Then you'll know.
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| Asking for scrap pieces of countertop allow you to test, "what if I..." Quartz is often described as nearly indestructible. You can see on the lower-left of this scrap piece that I was able to scratch it with a knife. Always use a cutting board. (this outdoor photo makes the quartz look lighter than it does indoors). |
Bucking the Trend
I made a few decisions that weren't popular with current trends.
1. Painted Cabinets
You can call it solid stain, but if it looks like paint I'll call it paint. As mentioned above most people today choose a painted look, often white. That may be a trend. As for me I like wood to look like wood and I can't see a natural look ever being out of style.
2. Stick-Shift Faucets
I was urged to go with the trend of single handle faucets. I resisted and I'm glad I did. I looked at pictures of commercial kitchens and they are almost always two-handle, My kitchen is primarily about function and so I went with a bridge faucet where "left is hot, right is cold." Absolutely no regrets.
3. New Flooring
In a money-is-no-object world I would have got new floors. But they wouldn't have been that different from what I had. I would still have gone with ceramic tile.
The tile that I have in the kitchen - it extends into hallways and the bathroom and covers about 400 contiguous square feet. It is 20+ years old and is still perfect. Not a single crack, no wear and except for a little soil in the grout they are close to like-new. This is a 100 year floor and I chose not to change it.
4. Lighting
Once you're replacing cabinets, countertops and appliances the electrical work becomes cheap. Not really, but throwing in a thousand here and another thousand there doesn't seem to make the final cost change that much. It's already so big that it looks almost the same.
I added under-cabinet lighting. I had considered skipping on that but I'm so glad I didn't. The kitchen looks awesome at night with just the counter lighting on.
But where the electrician and I had religious differences was on my work light. In addition to the recessed lighting that you see in the bottom photo, I had a monster 5000 lumen, 4000K task light installed over the island. When prepping food it's the only way to fly. You can see it in the bottom photo, it is not turned on.
Incremental Design
If I had to pick out cabinets, hardware, countertops, wall colors, backsplash tile and grout on the same day I would have messed something up. I think it's almost impossible not to. On my first visit to the cabinet shop I picked out the wood (hickory) and made some hi-level design decisions. After a week of Interneting I revisited to refine the design, then chose the hardware. At that time I also selected the countertop.
Once the cabinets and countertops were installed I started shopping for the backsplash tile. I brought home several samples. I ended up with tile from "The Tile Shop" in Robinson, PA and it is actually 3" x 6" tumbled natural marble. "The Tile Shop" has a huge display, and you can purchase refundable samples to take home. Then once I decided on the tile I selected the grout. Yep, I said grout.
You Really, Really Don't Want To Screw Up The Grout
Why a separate section for grout? Can't grout just be lumped in with the backsplash? Not in my blog, it can't. Grout is a big deal. Grout is a huge deal! You can spend tens of thousands of dollars on a kitchen remodel and if the grout color is wrong the job is ruined. Eyes will be drawn to a bad color. Well that's simple, you think, pick out the right color.
There's at least two problems with that. First, holding up that little strip sample in the store next to the tile may look at lot different than the grout on the final install. Second, grout color can vary wildly. So the color on the sample can be quite a bit different than the color that you end up with.
To solve this problem I constructed a simple "tile and grout board" in a few minutes. I took a piece of plywood and glued on a few pieces of my chosen backsplash tile. I then bought and mixed colors to test. Yep, a small box of grout cost $10 - $15 and yep, you will likely be throwing some out. So you can choose to bypass this step. I would advise that you not do that.
Also you won't necessarily need to buy, for instance, several shades of gray. I bought a box of dark gray and a box of white and varied the mix ratios.
What I would have done different
Not much. I would have liked an outside vent for the gas range but it would have involved reworking and moving ductwork and plumbing. For that reason I should have probably got a gas range with an electric oven. Also IMO electric ovens make better pizza, which I make about twice a month. Having mentioned that, I'm struggling to come up with anything else that I would have done differently.
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| Last thing to get finished was the backsplash and that was two days before Thanksgiving. This picture was taken on Thanksgiving Eve, 2018. The bread on the counter was baked for the Thanksgiving holiday. Click on the picture for a bigger view. |
