Dismantling the Former Kitchen Area

The Kitchen Demolition Begins

I have no idea how they got that huge sink/metal cabinet combination in here! After disconnecting the drain and water supply, we had to take a reciprocating saw to it to get it out! And I thought we could salvage it and resell it!
I figured out how the upper cabinet was attached to the wall by trial and error. Chris was ready to yank it off the wall with a crow bar but I wanted to salvage it for use in my basement workshop. I unscrewed all the screws I could find inside the cabinet but it was still tightly attached to the wall. I figured there had to be some “invisible” brackets holding it up – what else could it be?! So I pushed up on the whole unit and it slid a bit. Hooray! Chris & I got under it, pushed up with our shoulders and it slid right off the wall. It took longer to figure out the bracket system than to remove it! We carried it down to the basement and cleaned up the demo site.

The Beginning of the End

I stumbled on a cool blog that motivated me to get going again since I’m getting restless now that the major work is done on this home renovation project. I decided to start in on the last piece of the renovation – the former studio apartment. The bathroom was finished in October so now on to the other two rooms of the apartment - the kitchen and combined bedroom/living room.

Before I begin the demolition, I want to formulate ideas of how to change the rooms for better functionality and aesthetics.

My dream for the rooms
Since the combo bedroom/living room is an addition, there is no attic above it which leads me to dream about a vaulted ceiling with a small loft over the old kitchen area. The ceiling is starting to fall down anyway so it has to go! The walls all need to come down because I figure under the ugly paneling will be awful drywall. I dream of smooth, white walls! No much to add, just some additional electrical outlets, and new lighting fixtures. I peeked under the vinyl flooring and it is oak that looks good. New replacement windows would be great since those are so leaky (and I love to be able to wash both sides of a second floor window from inside!) Now is the time to dream so I can figure out what I can afford to do. I have 2K left in the budget and could squeeze another 1K out of my next few paychecks. Can I renovate two rooms into one and decorate the room for $3000? I figure the new dry walling will be the major expense for this project.

First comes the demolition
Here’s the demo plan:

• Take out all remnants of the kitchen, which includes the sink, the wall cabinet, the gas line for the stove, the ugly paneling and florescent light fixture.
  
• Open up the doorway between the two rooms so it becomes one big room.
• Remove all the ugly paneling on the walls.
• Tear down any plaster and lathe that is in poor condition.
• Remove old drywall ceiling that is sagging.
  
• Pull up the vinyl floor tiles to expose the wood floor.

Next comes the bids from contractors
Here's what they need to do:

• Cut the copper drain pipe below the floor level and cap it off.
• Remove the gas pipe that runs from the basement to this second floor room.
• Check the wiring for safety and add a couple more outlets.
• Hang and finish drywall.

Here's what we can do:

• All the demolition (except the gas pie and drain).
  
• Insulate walls and ceiling.
• Replace 3 old drafty windows with new vinyl ones.
  
• Prime and paint walls.
• Replace window trim; sand and paint it.
• Buff the floors.

That's the dream and the plan so far!