Kitchen Rebuild - Well, whole first floor

Nice job Rantan.The new cupboards look great.

-- Dustygirl Hastings,Ont. Life is too short to sit around doing nothing

The cabinets look good.

What finish did you use?

-- -- Kirk H. -- http://www.kjwoodworking.com

looks great….job well done

-- Todd- Oak Ridge, TN

great transformation , rantan ! huge improvement . you did the right thing tearin it out and starting fron scratch .

kjwoodworking . . . the finish was golden oak minwax, then two coats of gloss polyurethane. I used natural oak stain on the floors, #2 common oak. At first I was madder than a wet hen when I cut the bands and saw the worm holes and knots, I was shown select or better at the showroom when I purchased the wood. But now, everyone marvels at the character of the floors, including my wife and I. I wouldn’t change it for anything! It was a nice project.

rantan- Great looking job. I more or less in the same type of a project. My house is approx 130 yrs old, balloon construction and I will be going room by room removing plaster/lathe and replacing with insulation and wall board. We had new windows and siding done 4 yrs ago and I have done 3 rooms so far, but my next main refurbish will be our kitchen. As I go along I also do all new electrics. My next major redo will be our kitchen and your picture hi lighted the the can lights which I might like try. I’m trying to do all this work with no involvement from building inspectors etc. Re the electrics part, my brother-in-law is an electrician so my cost is only parts.My labor is also cheap as it involves both my son and myself.
Once again great looking job which has given me some ideas.

Wiredheart – Yes, these projects can be a trial. However, they are well worth it. The can lights are really an asset, they seem to keep the rooms so clean and make it so that those “hanging things”, i.e. hanging fixtures and fans with light kits don’t hang down in the way. We did put a ceiling fan in our living room area, which is not in this set of pictures, but no lights in the fan kit. Suggestion: If you use can lights, separate them into separate switches as much as possible so that you can run 2,4,8, etc., according to need or room separation. You may note that I used the “open concept” so that I have very few walls. One last thing, I know that a lot of people like to avoid building inspectors, but to be honest, you may be setting yourself up for a disaster. One, they do insure that all the work is being done correctly and to code. I wanted to do the same thing you say you are doing, but I am SO GLAD that I had them involved. They suggested things that I hadn’t thought of, and insured that my project was safe and, well, to code and legal. Not only that, as much as I thought I knew what was needed, they found things that would have been pretty bad had it not been included. Besides, if you do all that work and then you have a fire or something and the insurance company finds out? Will they cover it? Probably not? Just something to think about. ENJOY YOUR PROJECT and the fruits of your labor, it is SO worth it!!! And THANK YOU for your complement on the project. I had fun doing it.

And for all of you who look at these pictures . . . just a side note. The floors, the cabinets, the shelves, the pantry unit . . . I built them all from scratch, board by board, no pre-fab anywhere. And no MDF except the subfloor. Cabinet carcasses all 3/4 plywood with the Oak faces and doors. The pantry pullout unit, oak veneer plywood and birch interiors for the shelving. Oak faces and doors. The floors are #2 common 3/4×2 1/4”. I just decided I would like to give it a try . . . to honor the memory of my mom, who did the same to our childhood home out west in 1965. I couldn’t skimp when it was in memory of her. Thanks mom . . . you gave me a gift that I will always cherish and will never forget!

Nice kitchen, Rantan.

-- CJIII