Finally finished (mostly....almost)

Back in August of this year, I posted about remodeling a kitchen. At that point this project was nowhere near completion. Well, it's been a long time coming, but I can finally say it's done. Well, kinda sorta. Just a few tweaks here and there anyway. Everything is in place and functional. Let's take a look.

This is a shot of the right side of the kitchen. The doors are raised panels that were a learning curve in themselves. First lesson...buy hinges first. Little did I know that the hidden Euro hinges come with different overlaps. Overlap makes a big difference on door size. Hard lesson, but learned well. The handles were all hand made, by me of course. Originally, they were going to be store bought stainless bows (like the microwave handle) but it was decided they would look better made of wood.

And here's a shot of the left side.

A look at the lower cabinets by the stove. If anybody was paying attention, they might notice the drawer fronts are different now. I decided to make the fronts raised panels just like the cabinet doors. Just looks neater and matches better.

And the lower cabinet under the sink.

Here is an earlier picture of the mobile island pulled out to the middle with the drop leaf raised. The doors have been added since this was taken.

The pantry beside the refrigerator had shelving added to the inside of the doors to go with all the shelves already there. Fill this sucker with food and there is enough to last through a nuclear winter.

Under the sink, I added a small storage area for stoppers, strainers and such. It was just wasted space, so I used it.

A little shelf to get my coffee and stuff off of the counter.

And here's a little spice rack I put under the upper cabinet. It hinges up and stays inside the bottom of the cabinet when not in use.

When I got it all done and in place it was decided (not by me) that the dining room table didn't fit very well. It's too big. Besides, it won't fit into the breakfast nook going in the far right corner of the dining room. SOOOO....

I made a table. It is 30" wide and 48" long (with the leaf). Made of oak to match the drop leaf on the mobile island, the desk and door handles. The pedestal is hexagonal with 3 legs (feet?). This was made with rough cut lumber from the mill with the bark still attached. This was 2 boards. I don't know how many hours I have tied up in this table, but I'm guessing close to 100. Probably 30 hours of sanding. This picture was taken in the shop because it only has 5 coats of polyurethane on it. It needs at least 6 more coats to be sealed enough to last as a dining room table.

Without the leaf, it measures 30" wide and 36" long.

Here's the table with the leaf out to show the slides. I bought them because it was giving me a headache trying to figure out how to make them.

Of course, right next to the kitchen is the den. In the den is a fireplace that looks really bad. The brick is old and stained and generally looks disgusting. The firebox is about 5" off center. A close look at the right side will show where I extended the fireplace to even it out.

Then......

I covered it with tile and granite. Around the firebox and on the hearth, I put granite. The rest is travertine tile to match the countertops. Looks worlds better.

Here it is finished with the fireplace screen in place.












As I stated at the end of my previous post, the lessons learned in the complete remodeling of a kitchen are many. This has been a very difficult venture but very rewarding in terms of what I learned and how the finished product looks. I have been told by those who have seen this that I should do it for a living. I think I would enjoy that, but wonder if I have learned enough lessons yet. A word of advice for anybody wanting to completely remodel a 35 year old kitchen from the studs out......Be prepared for anything. You have no idea what sort of problems you will run into. Trying to make the new fit the old is sometimes a severe problem. But with patience and perseverance, you can make it fit.

I hope you have seen something here you liked. I have put a lot of work and pride into it and think it turned out pretty good.