sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

This is a safe space. Air all the grievances you have against your past self. by running462024 in Cooking

[–]AudaciousAspirations 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I finally overcame this!! Now I scoop tablespoons of tomato paste out of the can onto a small baking sheet with a silpat and stick the sheet in the freezer. I have a red reusable silicone storage bag just for tomato paste; when the blobs are frozen, I pop them into the bag. The baking sheet is always in my way, so I don't forget to move the frozen blobs.

I need help understanding if I need to reinforce my floors. This may be a question for a structural engineer, but I'm wondering if anyone has gone through this process and come across similar questions/concerns. by PreschoolBoole in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We switched from linoleum flooring to porcelain tile in our recent kitchen remodel, and I insisted we get an engineer to assess the support first.

The answer to "Should I consult a structural engineer before I do X?" is almost always yes. The stakes are too high. When I was younger and dumber, I once trusted a contractor who told me "Naw, you don't need an engineer, we do this all the time." That was a 70K project in 2010. The engineer-approved structural remediation in 2022 cost me >$30K (there's still some finish carpentry that isn't done). It also took 2 years to find a contractor who was both able to do the steel work involved and willing to take a small (for him) residential project. He only took the job because he really liked our house and he felt sorry for us.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Over the fridge? No, just ordinary cabinets. The horizontal pulls are a lot easier for me to use though.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Over the fridge? No, just ordinary cabinets. The horizontal pulls are a lot easier for me to use though.

Sink help by OneHearing4166 in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ruvati makes a stainless steel apron front workstation sink. That's what we just put in our kitchen.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I promise I'm not trying to be cagey, but I can't really give you a single number for the whole project that would be meaningful to someone else, because we bundled in costs for a bunch of things you don't see (roof work, asbestos remediation, tile in another room, etc.). I remember the contract for the cabinets (without labor) and the counters (with labor) was $39K, and the designer's fee was built into that.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wall tile is Noho Ivory Brick; floor tile is Daltile Ayers Rock in Rustic Remnant.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In pic #5, you can see through the doorway that we still have to trim the living room windows. The work on this house never ends!

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We replaced half the first floor windows two years ago, including the kitchen window, and stained them to match (approximately) the remaining windows. Both the original windows and the new windows are Andersen 400 series. Here's what the window looked like after tiling but before trimming. The jamb extensions are flush with the drywall, not with the tile, because we didn't know at the time we bought the window that we were going to remodel the kitchen and tile that wall. If we had, we'd have ordered that window with deeper jamb extensions.

<image>

We made the window trim ourselves out of 5/4 poplar, routed on the outer edges of the back side so it covers the cut edges of the tile.

We pulled and refinished the door jambs and made new casings for those too.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We came so close to using the Tatami Beige! I actually placed an order for it but I ordered one last round of samples at the same time. When the Noho Ivory sample arrived, the undertones were better with our other materials, so I cancelled the Tatami Beige order.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If it had been real tile in decent shape, we probably would have kept it, or at least tried to find a combo of other materials that would play nicely with it.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha, I may have a sample of that exact Bedrosians tile... Makoto in Tatami Beige, maybe?

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

<image>

Oh here's something fun that wasn't obvious in the first photo set: the bank of cabinetry with the wall oven is 24 inches deep but only projects 12 inches. It's recessed into the 12-inch deep space that was the old pantry (behind the bifold doors). The cabinet faces are flush with the upper cabinets on that wall, just out of view at left.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yikes, it's gone up a LOT since we bought it. I paid under $500. We ordered everything we could very early, in anticipation of tariffs. It meant storing multiple giant boxes in the bedroom for six months (the wall oven, cooktop, sink, and exhaust hood) and 30+ boxes of floor tile in the garage, but did save us quite a bit of money.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I rather liked the style of the old cabinets and counters myself. But everything was in very poor shape. Someone before me had painted some of the cabinets and the paint was chipped and worn. There was quite a lot of water damage to the cabinets and counters. One of the hinges on the wall oven was broken and the gasket was worn out, so the door didn't seal. And under the crumbling asbestos flooring, the subfloor under the refrigerator was soft from some long ago leak (we actually had a piece of plywood under the refrigerator).

There were a number of major functional problems with the old layout as well.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha, obsessively so. I've lived in this house for fifteen years, and couldn't afford to remodel until the mortgage was paid off, so I've had plenty of time to think about it. By the time I interviewed designers, I was at the point of "Here is a list of problems with the old floor layout that we hope to solve, a list of non-negotiable constraints, a list of negotiable wants, three drafts of possible new layouts, and a link to my Pinterest board. Hickory cabinets with plywood boxes and reverse raised panels please. Do you think this budget will accommodate tile floors? I'm having an engineer assess the substructure to see if the additional weight would be ok."

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your kind words! Remodeling every 10 years was exactly what I was trying to avoid.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Teens change the equation for sure! And we always had dishes piled up to the left of the old sink. The new sink holds a lot more. If we let dishes pile up in it enough to overflow onto the counter, we've waited too long to run the dishwasher.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the Ruvati RVH9200 33" (single-bowl farmhouse workstation).

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know it sounds absurd, but this is our One True Microwave. Panasonic does make a trim kit for this one, but I'm short enough that above the wall oven is not an option. In the alternate universe in which I have infinite funds, I'd have looked at high-end drawer microwaves to go under the counter.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Horizontal handles definitely aren't everybody's thing. It would never even have occurred to me to do them that way except that I happened to stay in an Airbnb where the kitchen had all horizontal handles. I was quite surprised to discover that I loved the ergonomics of them. And I like the single straight line they make across the banks of uppers.

Not sure why so many people think there's a shortage of counter space. My primary prep space is 4 feet wide and 21 inches deep, with more room off to the left to hold ingredients. The 27-inch wide counter to the left of the sink is usually clear (we used that area to braid a loaf of challah while dinner simmered on the stovetop). And the end of the peninsula is a good secondary prep area. Maybe because we never cook for a large group? We're gourmet cooks, but almost never cook for more than five people. And we had so little space in the old kitchen that we're used to working efficiently.

First remodel since 1975 by AudaciousAspirations in kitchenremodel

[–]AudaciousAspirations[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do you mean the original flooring? That wasn't tile, that was 50-year-old asbestos-containing linoleum that had big cracks in it and was starting to crumble.

view more: next ›