When searching for a new home, I had my eyes peeled for a space for my mother-in-law. Five years ago, we built a suite above the garage for her and she loved it very much. However, it was time for us to move and she was going to have to give up her beloved space. It was a tough decision, but it needed to happen. I knew I needed to make an even better space this time to make the move worth it. When we found this house, I saw so much potential. She was skeptical and so was her son (my husband) but I insisted that it could happen and they reluctantly trusted me.
Actually, I'm not so sure they trusted me but they know that once I decide on something, I am going to see it through to the end. The space I picked out is right at the walkout part of the basement. It's a long room at the back of the house with lots of windows and a slider door. To the right, in the picture, is the utility room. I figured the location would lend to an easy rough-in plumbing situation. It turns out, that was a bit more complicated than I expected but more on that later.
The foreground of the picture is her bedroom/living space. Considering her last living space was fully contained above our garage, this was already a step up. I quickly started to envision the floor plan but I kept coming up against problems with where the refrigerator would live. I tend to stand in a space for long periods of time to get a better feel for how to make my vision come to life. One day, while standing in the space it finally dawned on me that we could get rid of that back window and install pantry cabinets surrounding the fridge along that whole wall. Then I decided I could make things even easier by just putting blinds up in the window and pushing the fridge up against it. That way, we wouldn't have to spend money to remove the window. The refrigerator can be pulled out in order to get to the window so I felt comfortable with the money save.
To help my mother-in-law see what was in my head, I pushed her temporary fridge on the back wall and put a piece of furniture where I wanted to install the peninsula. The pictures are very messy because she was only halfway unpacked after the move at this point. She didn't yet have places to put everything. The kitchen needed to happen quickly! The first picture shows the entryway, from the hallway, into her living space. It also shows the entryway into the utility/laundry room (to the left). The middle picture shows where I wanted to add a peninsula that would add more cabinetry and help to define the point where the living space transitions to the kitchen space. The last picture shows the wall where I wanted to put pantry cabinets surrounding the fridge. I already installed the blinds in the window.
Once I settled on the general plan, I shopped on IKEA's website to fit the maximum amount of cabinets into the space. My mother-in-law prefers a plain, white cabinet which was fine by me because it's the least expensive door design that IKEA carries. All in, the cabinets (and hanging rails and hinges and toe kicks) cost around $2500, including delivery. To make things easier, I drew the plan directly onto the walls in preparation for calling in the professionals for rough-ins.
Next, I got bids from plumbers and electricians. The companies I hired happened to give me nearly the same bids. They each cost me around $3K. There was only one outlet in that entire space, so $3K was a very comfortable number for me. Also, although the utility room was just on the other side of the wall from where the kitchen was going and I picked that wall to install the sink and dishwasher, the main stack (drain) was not in that room. It took some creativity but it wasn't too bad. The other piece of the bid was to fix the plumbing for the washer and dryer hook up that's in there too and install a gas line for the dryer. I was very comfortable with that bid as well.
The other thing I consider whenever I get an estimate from anyone is how the person talks to me. That may sound a bit funny but I am a woman and I have had many conversations with men who come into my home and tell me what I want instead of listening to me first. I am perfectly comfortable with being told that my plan won't work and then engaging in a conversation to come up with a compromise. What I dislike is the phrase, "oh, you don't want that." It is rather upsetting how many times I've heard that. I'm not sure if it's because they have a hard time trusting that I know what I want or if it's because what I want is complicated and they don't want to do it. I know that sometimes it's because they know what *most* women want and they feel like they should let me know. The problem with that is most of the time their advice is about how something will look in the end instead of how it will function. I am all about function. Looks are easy. Function can't be added as easily. So, I hired the people who respected me, worked with me and gave me fair bids.
The next thing I had to work out was the floor. I started by pulling the carpet. The concrete was in great condition except for the area around the border walls. I thought that the best, and least expensive option would be to have an epoxy layer poured over the concrete. It turns out that didn't help the odd, mangled border but I felt okay with that because it would only show in the area in front of the slider door. One day I will try to figure out how to cover that better than just throwing a rug over it.
While I was working out the function, I was also helping my mother-in-law work out the aesthetic. That's when we found the teal colored kitchen sink. Oh, how exciting that was! After a lot of discussion, we decided that a gold colored floor would be amazing. Don't the colors go well together?!
Then came the cabinets!
I know I'm not completely alone in my love of putting IKEA furniture together. I mean, I know more people hate it than love it but I'm in the love it camp! I was totally in my happy space for days.
One of the coolest things about IKEA kitchen cabinets is their hanging rail system. Once you install it, securely, into the wall, you simply hang the cabinets onto it and then add the securing screw. I was able to hang every wall cabinet without help.
Getting bids for the countertop took some time and a lot of patience. A lot of the people I talked to on the phone distrusted my measurements and wouldn't even give me an estimate without coming in to measure for it themselves. The problem is that counter fabrication takes time (even laminate countertops) and I really needed to get a functioning kitchen put together for my mother-in-law as fast as I could. I did get two different companies to give me an estimate while I worked and an appointment for a final measure very quickly. I chose the lower quote, which happened to be the one who promised the finished product delivered and installed quicker too. That meant that I had to push myself to finish the lower cabinets, level them and prep as much as possible as quickly as possible.
I finished in time and they had no issues with my leveling job.
Next up, the sink! I thought I could install the plumbing on my own but I just kept buying the wrong pieces and I wasn't confident enough. The last straw was when I realized I needed to cut the rough in copper pipes to install the water shut off valves. I don't have a pipe cutter and I didn't think I would ever have a need for one other than in this moment so I called my go to plumber who does side jobs for a very decent price. I did get as far as putting the pieces of the dishwasher together and getting the garbage disposal ready to go. I just needed help with the finishing connection.
Hooray! We have a fully functioning kitchen!
The problem is that, as you can see from the last photo (and if you look closely in other areas), there are finishing touches left to take care of. Once the kitchen was fully functioning, I took a break from fully finishing things. I did get the toe kicks installed and all of the cabinet handles once I finished painting them teal to match the sink. One day soon, I will install a nice looking back to the peninsula cabinet, trim around the sides and tops of the cabinets, a skinny door to the left of the pantry area to hide the broom and step ladder and do something to fill the left side of the peninsula that's just empty space at the moment.
I love symmetry so the way the pantry/fridge wall turned out really bugs me but it was done that way for a very good reason. Remember how I said there was only one existing outlet in there when we started the project? Well, it happens to be a GFCI outlet at the beginning of a line of outlets leading out to the garage. It isn't something I could cover up.
In this picture, you can also see where the floor isn't looking too great. I didn't want to cut a hole in the inside of the pantry cabinet because the outlet would still be a bit hidden inside there. My solution was to leave that side on the left open. It lends itself, very nicely, to being a good storage space for the broom and step stool. I just need to put a door over it to help it look less off center and hide a bit more of the floor.
One day, I plan on writing an entire blog entry on finishing touches. I tend to leave a bit left to do on every project I do in my own house. Those little jobs are hard for me to feel motivated enough to do. I will finish though and when I do I will share my accomplishments with you!
Now, where's my sander?
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