From Vision to Reality: Our Kitchen Renovation Journey, Demolition to Cabinets

Last week, we excitedly shared the blueprint for our completely reimagined kitchen layout. It’s one thing to sketch out a dream on paper, but today, we’re pulling back the curtain to reveal the real-life transformation – every swing of the hammer, every strategic decision, and the dramatic moment a key wall came down to forge that breathtaking open view into our living room. This isn’t just a remodel; it’s a testament to design evolution and the art of balancing ambition with practicality.

Navigating the Renovation Spectrum: Our Hybrid Approach

This kitchen overhaul stands as our most ambitious renovation project to date, finding its unique place on the DIY spectrum. Unlike our very first kitchen, which was predominantly handled by professionals, and distinct from our second kitchen, largely a self-executed DIY endeavor, this project embraced a hybrid model. Our approach was a deliberate dance between hands-on work and strategic outsourcing.

With two prior kitchen renovations under our belt, we’ve cultivated a much clearer understanding of our strengths and weaknesses. For tasks where minimizing time was paramount, especially those requiring specialized skills or equipment, enlisting professionals proved to be the smartest choice. This expedited critical phases and prevented project fatigue. Conversely, when cost was the primary driver, or for jobs we genuinely enjoyed and could execute efficiently ourselves, we rolled up our sleeves. This balanced strategy ensured we weren’t kitchen-less for an eternity, while still achieving a high-quality finish within our budget. This intricate decision-making process, including more insights into how we struck this balance, was a central theme in Episode #19 of our podcast. But for now, let the pictures do the talking!

A Glimpse into the Past: The “Before” State

To truly appreciate the transformation, we must first revisit the “waaaay befores” – snapshots from the day we first moved into this house. These initial views serve as our anchors throughout this post, illustrating just how dramatically these spaces would change. Our first vantage point captures the scene from the garage door, peering directly into what was then a somewhat compartmentalized living room and kitchen area:

The second perspective shifts to the living room, looking back towards the kitchen. In this original configuration, the view was heavily obstructed by a formidable wall featuring a built-in bookcase and a dated, unused wet bar, concealed behind those closed double doors in the image below. While a small pang of sadness accompanied the loss of the charming built-in bookcase, we already had plans in motion to replace it with something even better. As for that never-used wet bar? Let’s just say its departure brought not one teency bit of sorrow. It was high time for an upgrade.

The Big Reveal: Demolishing the Dividing Wall

As we detailed in our previous post, the cornerstone of our chosen floor plan was the radical act of opening up this dividing wall. The goal: to cultivate seamless flow and pristine sight lines, effortlessly connecting the kitchen and living room. Fortunately, shortly after moving in, a trusted contractor confirmed this wall was not load-bearing, liberating us to enthusiastically tackle its demolition ourselves, without a moment’s hesitation.

We embraced the entire demolition process ourselves, finding it not only a relatively straightforward task but also, surprisingly, quite exhilarating. There’s an undeniable, almost primal satisfaction in watching a barrier disappear, instantly transforming a space. The immediate gratification of standing at the kitchen sink and suddenly seeing directly into the living room was an incredibly rewarding moment – a visceral confirmation of our design vision.

By the close of that exhilarating first afternoon, the majority of the dividing wall was down, and the old desk area in the kitchen had been completely dismantled. We strategically left the main cooking area largely intact for as long as possible. This was a calculated decision, as full removal would have necessitated immediate rerouting and termination of pipes and wires by a plumber and electrician, leaving us without a kitchen sink for an even longer, more arduous period. So, we deferred that phase, prioritizing functionality until the professionals were ready. And yes, that’s Burger making a cameo – always curious about the construction chaos!

Strategic Design Choices: Windows Over French Doors

The image above also serves as an excellent illustration of why we ultimately abandoned our initial idea of transforming that triple bay of kitchen windows into French doors leading to the deck. Long-time readers might recall us tossing around that idea when we first moved in. However, with an existing deck door conveniently located just a few steps away in the living room, adding more doors felt like a redundant flourish, especially once the dividing wall was removed and the space felt significantly more open. Moreover, retaining these as windows offered dual benefits: it freed up valuable space for additional counter and cabinet storage, and, crucially, it allowed Sherry’s dream of a kitchen sink perfectly centered beneath a grand bay of windows to become a beautiful reality.

Addressing the Structure: Widening the Dining Room Entry

Shifting back to the renovation chronology, the day after we tackled the living room wall and kitchen desk area demolition, we welcomed a contractor to assist with crucial framing work. His primary task was widening the doorway leading into the dining room. This particular wall was load-bearing, a situation where we unequivocally rely on the expertise of professionals. Here, you can see the temporary support structure he meticulously built to safely hold up the joists while he expertly installed a new header for the expanded doorway.

Investing the effort to widen a doorway by merely a foot might appear insignificant at first glance. However, this seemingly minor adjustment made an immense difference in enhancing the connection and flow between these adjacent rooms. While not a perfect before-and-after comparison, here’s how the doorway appeared just prior to the renovation commencing:

…and now, behold that expanded opening, viewed from the dining room looking into the kitchen, post-widening. My expression in the photo below speaks volumes – pure delight at the improved aesthetics and functionality!

Another driving factor behind altering this doorway was to achieve perfect symmetry and balance with the adjacent doorway that links the kitchen to the foyer. Now, when standing in the kitchen, the sight lines are harmonious, creating a far more cohesive and aesthetically pleasing environment.

Farewell, Functioning Kitchen! Full Demolition Underway

As the contractor diligently worked on the framing, with the plumber and electrician slated to arrive shortly, we plunged back into the final phase of kitchen demolition. It was time to say a definitive goodbye to our functioning kitchen!

No sink. This was the moment things truly got real. The true test of resilience began as we navigated daily life without the heart of our home.

The Invisible Infrastructure: Plumbing, Electrical, and Framing the New Opening

Fast forward a day or so, and our highly skilled plumber had meticulously terminated the old pipes and the gas line to the stove, concurrently running new ones to their precise, updated locations. Simultaneously, our electrician efficiently removed outdated wiring and installed all new electrical infrastructure, including the strategic placement of recessed lighting and boxes for pendant lights in the ceiling. With these critical utilities in place, we could finally begin framing the grand new opening to the living room. Our contractor, who had previously assisted with the dining room doorway, generously lent his expertise, ensuring this phase progressed smoothly and swiftly.

While the allure of having the two rooms completely open to each other was tempting, we consciously opted for a cased opening – albeit a generously wide one. This decision was rooted in both aesthetics and functionality. A cased opening felt more authentic to the architectural style of the house and, critically, provided a natural termination point for the kitchen cabinets, preventing an awkward, exposed cabinet end from the living room perspective. Furthermore, this design choice preserved essential wall space in the living room, allowing us to reintegrate much-desired built-ins, balancing openness with practical storage and display.

The Art of the Hybrid: Our Drywall Strategy

The drywalling process offers a particularly illuminating example of our balanced DIY and professional collaboration. We readily admit, we possess the capability to hang drywall. However, it’s not a task we particularly enjoy, nor are we exceptionally fast at it – especially the tedious mudding and sanding phases. Our strategic compromise was elegant and cost-effective: we purchased and hung all the drywall ourselves. We then took on the mudding and sanding for all areas that would eventually be concealed by cabinets, tile, or built-ins (a significant portion, including two entire walls, fell into this category), knowing perfection wasn’t required. This intelligent division of labor meant we only paid a professional for a few hours of expert mudding and sanding to flawlessly finish the highly visible areas, such as the challenging long strip on the ceiling. This clever compromise saved our professional contractor time, significantly reduced our overall costs, and ensured a pristine, professional finish precisely where it mattered most for the final aesthetic.

Living in Limbo: Our Makeshift Kitchen

At this stage, you might be wondering about the fate of all our household belongings. The answer, in short, is the dining room. It became an accidental, albeit essential, storage and living hub for several weeks.

Curiously, the only photographs we ever captured of our temporary, makeshift kitchen were taken when a protective tarp was taped up, shielding it from the pervasive drywall sanding dust. Perhaps the chaotic disarray of this interim space simply wasn’t inspiring enough for extensive documentation! Nevertheless, it served its purpose: corner shelves were ingeniously repurposed for pantry items and dish storage, the sturdy green buffet transformed into our primary “countertop” (complete with a microwave), and the dining table became a catch-all for anything and everything. It was a true exercise in adaptability and strategic placement.

The only ordeal worse than strategically cramming every essential into that room for a couple of weeks was the subsequent task of MOVING IT ALL OUT again. And not just back into the kitchen, but entirely out of the house when the time came for the floors to be installed and refinished. A logistical puzzle, to say the least!

The Grand Flooring Overhaul: Unifying the First Floor

Ah, the floors! Let’s delve into this significant chapter of our renovation. The peeling, cracking, and heavily scratched faux brick sheet of linoleum in the old kitchen was undeniably our least favorite feature. Its removal was an easy decision, as was the choice for its replacement. We are self-professed “suckers for hardwoods,” having cherished them in our first home’s kitchen and appreciating their presence in many other first-floor rooms of this house. We craved a more unified, cohesive aesthetic. However, making hardwoods happen wasn’t a simple task. When is evacuating your ENTIRE first floor for two weeks ever simple?

To cut a long story short (we promise a more detailed account at a later date), installing new hardwoods in the kitchen necessitated a seamless blend with the existing floors in the adjacent living and dining rooms. This, in turn, required emptying those rooms and refinishing their floors simultaneously. And once 85% of the first floor was slated for hardwood, the decision to go “all the way” felt almost inevitable. While we had successfully rescued the grout in our slate-covered foyer and lived happily with it for years, we secretly yearned for a more seamless first-floor experience, rather than navigating five distinct flooring transitions! Thus, we found ourselves embarking on the monumental task of completely vacating the entire first floor. It was certainly not the path of least resistance, but it was the only way to achieve our ultimate vision for a beautifully unified home.

While we confidently installed all the prefinished hardwood flooring upstairs ourselves, the intricate art of seamlessly blending existing hardwoods with new boards was a task we wisely entrusted to professionals. Fortunately, through our work on local builder spec houses, we knew the perfect team. After every old surface was removed (including the slate floors in the foyer, as seen above), we watched in genuine awe as our new hardwood floors were meticulously patched in. The precision and craftsmanship were truly impressive.

In the photos above and below, you can observe the painstaking process: how the team carefully chiseled out select original living room boards to perfectly stagger and integrate the new planks. This labor-intensive task required two skilled craftsmen working for more than three full days, quickly solidifying our conviction that hiring this out was absolutely the right call. One of the most gratifying outcomes is that our entire first floor now boasts not only perfectly matching hardwood, but also an absolutely uniform level plane, free of any steps, dips, or raised transitions. Woot!

Both the flooring and cabinet professionals strongly recommended installing our cabinetry before staining the floors. Freshly stained floors typically require about ten days to fully cure before heavy objects like furniture, cabinets, or rugs can be placed upon them without risk of damage. Staining first would have introduced a significant delay to our overall timeline. Furthermore, installing cabinets first eliminated any concerns about scratching those pristine, freshly finished floors during the demanding installation process. By prioritizing cabinet installation, we could also get our countertops templated much sooner (a process that usually takes around two weeks from templating to installation), allowing us to efficiently tackle the floor finishing while the counters were being fabricated, thus optimizing our entire renovation schedule.

Preparing for the Heart of the Home: Window Adjustments

Before the cabinets could go in, however, one critical adjustment was required: raising that triple window, which was simply too low for standard cabinet height along that wall.

This image, candidly captured while Sherry was documenting our charming little sweeper, is actually the best “process” shot we have of this essential step. To ensure the cabinets could extend seamlessly along that back wall, we needed to replace those three existing windows with new ones that featured a higher sill. We enlisted the same reputable company who installed the larger window in our bonus room, and they did an outstanding job, including adding necessary exterior trim work to fill the newly created space (we’ll share detailed photos of that for you all soon). On the interior, we dove into drywalling and trimming out the new window openings, completing this crucial task just one afternoon before our eagerly anticipated cabinets arrived.

The Cabinetry Arrives: White and Wonderful

There’s a veritable lexicon of details to share about our cabinetry choices, but for now, let’s establish a few foundational points: (a) Yes, we chose classic white cabinets, a decision born from our enduring love for them in both our first and second homes, a testament to their timeless appeal and versatility; and (b) we sourced them through the same local company we’ve collaborated with for the builder spec houses we’ve designed over the past few years. Our positive experiences with them made the decision to enlist their expertise for our own home a natural and confident one (we’ll soon delve much deeper into the specific selections and rationales behind them). Critically, we requested that their installation fee be itemized separately in the cabinet estimate. Given that this line item was exceptionally reasonable, we enthusiastically opted for their professional installation. Trust us, when you see the sheer volume of cabinetry, you’ll understand why this was a wise investment!

To put it mildly, their experienced team completed the cabinet installation in a mere day and a half – a feat that likely would have taken us well over a week, juggling childcare, work deadlines, and the inherent learning curve. This was yet another task we were profoundly grateful to expedite, especially given that we had already been enduring over three weeks without a functioning kitchen sink at this juncture. The efficiency and precision of professional installation were invaluable.

A Glimpse of the Future: The Transformed Foyer View

While this post doesn’t culminate in the grand reveal of an absolutely 100% finished kitchen – we’ve journeyed quite a distance today, and packed in an abundance of photos and words already – we did promise some compelling glimpses of progress along the way. So, let’s marvel at just how profoundly this new kitchen overhaul has reshaped the view from our front door.

The image above harks back to the very moment we made our offer on the house. Even with subsequent improvements we made over the years, you can clearly discern how that problematic wall awkwardly jutted into the room – the very same wall that housed the wet bar and rigidly separated our kitchen and living room. It created a cramped and disconnected feel.

Here it is during the initial stages of demolition, a powerful visual representation of barriers literally breaking down, paving the way for openness and light.

And finally, here is the breathtaking transformation as it stands today. The difference is absolutely staggering – SO MUCH BETTER. Gone is the obtrusive, boxy corner jutting into view. In its place, a grand, expansive opening that not only allows for seamless passage but also offers clear, uninterrupted sightlines from the living room. It’s an invitation to a brighter, more connected home.

What’s Next: The Full Reveal Awaits!

Next week, prepare for a TRULY RIDICULOUS AMOUNT of before & after photos that will showcase the full scope of this monumental transformation. We’ll also dive deep into a wealth of information regarding our specific choices for materials and finishes – trust us, our iPhoto folder is bulging with captivating kitchen pictures, and the excitement of finally sharing the “afters” is palpable! We are particularly eager for you to witness the evolution of our kitchen island, as we experimented with a unique design concept that has yielded results we absolutely adore (you can catch a subtle glimpse of it in the very first and last images of this post). Stay tuned for the grand unveiling!