“Didn’t You Just Finish That Room?” (Plus, A Plumbing Cost Estimate For The New Kitchen)

Matt and I’ve our new plans for our home in place (which you can see here) and as I’ve shared these plans on the weblog not too long ago, I’ve had a number of feedback like, “Kristi, didn’t you simply end that room not too way back?”

I needed to chortle as a result of I really had somebody ask me that about our kitchen. “Didn’t you simply end that room not too way back?” Another person mentioned, “I bear in mind how laborious you labored in your kitchen, and now you’re altering it?”

I suppose time actually does fly if you’re having enjoyable, as a result of no, I didn’t simply end my kitchen not too way back. 😀 In actual fact, it’s been virtually precisely a decade (WOW!!!) since I reworked our kitchen and turned this…

…into this…

I completed that transform October 14, 2014. That was so way back that the room subsequent to it (which is now the pantry and breakfast/sitting room) hadn’t even been touched aside from a little bit of demolition. You’ll be able to see it to the precise of the kitchen within the photograph above with the very tough wooden partitions, plywood ceiling, and dirt in all places.

I did repaint the kitchen in June of 2017 once I realized that the inexperienced was too laborious for me to brighten round. However even that has been over seven years in the past now.

After I did this kitchen transform ten years in the past, I desperately wanted a usable kitchen. The unique kitchen was some of the inefficient kitchens I had ever seen. It had two partitions of cupboards reverse one another. There was this wall of cupboards with the sink…

After which on the alternative wall was this financial institution of cupboards with a countertop.

After which on one of many aspect partitions was the hookup for a standalone dishwasher and area for a fridge…

And reverse that was the hookup for a fuel vary with no cupboards or countertop.

So the format was one thing like this…

(Ha! That IKEA kitchen planner is one useful device not just for planning, but in addition for illustration functions! 😀 )

Anyway, that kitchen was laid out so inefficiently that I might get annoyed simply making an attempt to make a sandwich in there. Truly making an attempt to cook dinner a meal was subsequent stage frustration. That simply goes to point out you that simply because you’ve a piece triangle, and simply because that triangle has the right measurements, that doesn’t mechanically imply that the kitchen goes to be straightforward to make use of. The work triangle is only the start.

All that to say that there was no manner I wished to cook dinner all of our meals in that kitchen, so if we wished to eat at dwelling, I wanted a change, and I wanted it to be fast (as fast as I may DIY it myself, tearing it right down to the studs and rebuilding it) and as low-cost as doable. We didn’t have any cash saved up for a kitchen transform on the time as a result of we had simply spent all of our cash on the downpayment for the home.

So I did the most affordable transform doable. I used inventory oak utility cupboards from Residence Depot and dressed them up as a lot as I may with trim.

Stable floor counter tops weren’t within the finances, so I labored with a concrete countertop firm that supplied all the supplies freed from cost, and my brother and I poured the concrete counter tops.

And whereas I did purchase new home equipment again in 2014, they had been removed from top-of-the-line. They’ve served me very nicely through the years, although.

In all, I spent proper at $10,000 on that kitchen transform ten years in the past. And I’ve undoubtedly gotten my cash’s value out of that kitchen since then. In the present day, the counter tops are stained, one burner on the range doesn’t gentle by itself, the dishwasher now not works, three wall tiles are cracked, one drawer deal with got here off and is misplaced, and the fridge ice maker leaks.

This kitchen has served me nicely, and it has labored laborious for me for ten years now. I’ve been so grateful to have such a reasonably little kitchen these previous years. However I don’t really feel a single little bit of disappointment in letting it go. I’ll at all times have footage to look again on if I need to revisit the work I did after we first purchased this home, however I’m prepared to maneuver on, and I can accomplish that with not a little bit of disappointment or guilt. I solely really feel pleasure about it.

I nonetheless have some time longer earlier than I’ve to say goodbye to it. I nonetheless have a bed room and a closet/laundry room to complete earlier than we get began on the kitchen. I’m not taking a sledgehammer to my present kitchen at present, and even subsequent month. I’ll be utilizing it for a number of extra months.

However I did meet with a plumber final week in regards to the new kitchen as a result of I wished to make certain I may even do what I need to do (i.e., transfer the kitchen to the one room of the home with a slab basis), and to get an estimate on how a lot it’ll price to have the drain pipe, water to the tap, water to the dishwasher, fuel line for the vary, and water to the fridge all moved over to the room with the slab basis. Plus, I need one other water line for a small built-in nugget ice machine. All of that got here to $9000. I needed to chortle. The plumbing alone for the brand new kitchen price virtually as a lot as my complete kitchen transform ten years in the past.

Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I transform and adorn the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do the vast majority of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.