Kitchen Reno: Part 8 - A Hiccup

The ceiling, walls and floor of our new kitchen are done, and it's starting to take shape.  Time to hang the cabinets ... or it would be, if it weren't for one slight "hiccup".  This past Friday, Eric Borman reported, somewhat apologetically, that they're not complete yet.  Estimated completion time is about a week away.  Since pretty much everything that follows (countertop, backsplash, sink and appliance installation) depends on the cabinets being in place, the project will pretty much go on hold for a week, meaning the completion date will likely also be pushed out by another week.

That's another week of disruption and living with our auxiliary kitchen.  All things considered, Judy, and I have managed pretty well thus far.  I have to admit that we've given in to the temptation to eat out, bring home takeout and buy heat-and-serve meals that can be heated in the microwave or the air fryer more often than we should, but these are expensive alternatives, and not the healthiest of culinary choices.  

When cooking for ourselves, meal choices seem a bit limited, as most recipes require the use of an oven.  Using a slow cooker sounded like a good idea at the time.  "Just throw all the ingredients into the slow cooker, turn it on in the morning and dinner is ready and waiting at the end of the day," someone once told us.  The problem is that those ingredients that are just "thrown into the slow cooker" often require a fair bit of prep work, which is more tedious when done in our auxiliary kitchen than it would be in a real kitchen.  We used the slow cooker to make a nice chicken stew, and it came out pretty good, but it resulted in a lot of dirty dishes which then had to be carried downstairs to the laundry tub, hand-washed, and then carried back upstairs to be put away. While it does increase our culinary choices (we have a whole cookbook full of slow cooker recipes), a lot of them quite honestly feel like they involve more time and care than Judy or I are willing to expend.

Our air fryer is large enough to fit a small, ten-inch frozen pizza, which is enough to satisfy Judy and me, and it cooks that up to hot, crispy perfection in about 15 minutes.  It's also good for frying frozen french fries, but that requires the use of a rotating mesh basket which is a pain to clean afterwards. 

The electric induction hot plate is useful for boiling water and, thus, making hard or soft-boiled eggs as well as sauces and side dishes. Set a frying pan on top of it, and pan-fried foods become a possibility.  Our electric grille works for pan-fried foods as well.  One word of caution, however.  If you're going to pan-fry meats such as sausages or hamburger patties, be sure that your auxiliary kitchen is well-ventilated, as they tend to produce smoke.  In a regular kitchen, these foods are normally prepared on a stove top, which is generally located immediately beneath some sort of range hood which provides ventilation.  Assuming that your auxiliary kitchen isn't equipped with one of these, any smoke alarms within a two-meter radius are bound to wake the neighbors when you're frying meat!  Using a low heat setting helps to mitigate this risk.

All in all, however, the microwave oven is still the king of the auxiliary kitchen's cooking appliances.  Of course, there are also foods that don't require any sort of cooking or heating, such as salads, raw fruits and vegetables and submarine sandwiches, or just regular sandwiches, for that matter.

Special note: We refuse to order meal kits such as Hello Fresh. 

As you see, we're managing to get by, and an extra week is not all that long to wait, but Judy and I are naturally a bit disappointed with the delay.   

Kitchen Reno: Part 7 - Patterns

As the accompanying picture shows, our kitchen rebuild proceeds apace.  Just 3 business days after having been razed to the studs and insulation, our kitchen once again has walls, albeit simple drywall, so far.  Still, that's good progress in my books.  

Mike, from Borman Construction, required a decision of my wife, Judy, and me which we had not anticipated.  He wanted us to choose a pattern for putting down the 12" x 24" ceramic tiles that are to make up our floor.  We had simply assumed that they would be laid down, end to end, row upon row, like a grid (sometimes referred to as "Straight Set").  While that was certainly an option, some quick on-line research revealed several other popular patterns for our consideration, including "Vertical Stepped", "Vertical Offset" and "Basket Weave," among others.  I printed some patterns that we liked and we discussed them amongst ourselves.  Eventually, we narrowed it down to the four patterns that I just mentioned.  Judy and I needed to do a grocery run, so we went to the supermarket and left Mike to continue hanging drywall, with the understanding that we would give him our final decision later.

By the time we returned from the supermarket, Mike had left for the day but, before going, he did something completely unexpected and rather impressive.  Using our actual floor tiles, he laid out each of our four "finalist" patterns so that we could see exactly how they would look on our kitchen floor.  You can see them in the photo on the right; Vertical Straight Set (top left), Vertical Stepped (top right), Vertical Offset (bottom left) and Basket Weave (our favorite) at the bottom right.  What a great idea for presenting the patterns in a way that made it easier to decide.  More bonus points for Mike!

Kitchen Reno: Part 6 - Destruction!

This past week, Eric Borman and his crew showed up bright and early, at 8:00 AM, as promised, in order to demolish our old kitchen.  What seems even stranger is that I paid them well to do so, as the terms of my contract required that I make my first installment payment when the work officially began.

Before wrecking our kitchen, they kindly helped my wife, Judy, and me with the disposal of our old stove (it's being replaced and a new one is already ordered) as well as moving our fridge to the auxiliary kitchen.  Well, that is, they tried to move our fridge to the auxiliary kitchen but, as I'd mentioned in an earlier post, they weren't able to do so because of, well, bad planning on my part.  I failed to measure the doorway to the auxiliary kitchen in order to ensure that the fridge would fit through it.  As it turns out, it would not.  But the helpful lads from Borman quickly located an available corner in our dining room, set the fridge there and ran an extension cord to it, taping it securely down to the floor such that no-one will trip over it.  It's almost as though they've done this before.

The stove was placed on our front curbside, from whence it disappeared within a couple of hours, probably having been picked up by some local salvage scrounger(s).  

Our dining room adjoins the kitchen and the entrance between the two has no door, so the Borman team hung a drop sheet over it with a zipper up the middle in order to minimize dust and debris from the kitchen getting into the dining room while still making both rooms accessible.

Then followed a day of incredible banging, grinding and assorted other noises that should never, ever emanate from anyone's kitchen! I can state this with confidence, as these noises did emanate from my kitchen, and the result was not pretty!  The photo at the start of this post basically says it all.

The racket also freaked out our cat, Ebony, just a bit.  She went into hiding for a while, then finally re-appeared when her stomach insisted that it was time to do so.  Her food and water bowls used to be on the floor of our old kitchen but Judy and I wisely chose to move them to the dining room well before Demolition Day so that she (Ebony, not Judy) could deal with getting used to the new location without also having to deal with the disruption of her home environment at the same time.

I have to hand it to her, she's a fairly resilient feline.  In the early evening, after the workmen had left for the day, she reappeared and gingerly explored what was left of the old kitchen, before finally jumping up onto Judy's lap as she (Judy) sat in her easy chair, the better to let the warmth of her (Judy's) thighs ease her anxieties. Ebony is at an advanced age for cats and, as such, her 15 years' lived experience seem to have given her the serenity to take things more or less in stride.

I also want to mention, in passing, that one of the workmen (Mike) noticed Ebony and asked us whether we wanted her to be kept inside.  I told him that Ebony is very much an outdoor cat and we let her come and go more or less as she pleases.  I have to say that I was impressed that he thought to ask the question.  Our pet is, of course, in no way his responsibility, yet his question implied that, if we had wanted her kept inside, he would be mindful of closing the entrance door behind himself when entering or leaving our house, thus preventing her from running outside.  Bonus points for Mike!

I have to admit that I get a bit of an uneasy feeling as I stare at what's left of our kitchen.  It's been stripped down to the floor boards and insulation.  Even though I know that all of this will be replaced within about four weeks, I can't seem to stop my brain from lamenting, "What have I done?"

Judy and I are now using the auxiliary kitchen and I have to admit that we've already been getting too much takeout food and heat-and-serve meals in the interest of minimizing cooking because most of our regular cooking involves the use of a stove, which we currently lack..

Doing the dishes has become awkward and inconvenient.  We load the used (dirty) dishes into a small plastic tote, carry them down to the laundry room, and then wash them by hand, using the laundry tub.  We set up our dish rack on a folding card table, and the washed dishes go onto the dish rack to await drying.  Because the tap on our laundry tub dispenses only hard water, the dish soap doesn't foam up quite as much as it should, and our glassware and silverware are already looking a bit clouded.  Unfortunately, there is no remedy for this.  We'll just have to live with it until we once again have a functioning "real" kitchen.

I fear that it's going to be a long four weeks! 

 

Kitchen Reno, Part 5: The Auxiliary Kitchen

Our kitchen has finally been cleared.  It's easy to under-estimate the amount of time it takes to accomplish this.  My wife, Judy, and I have been gradually working at it for weeks now, and yet we only just managed to complete the task the day before our current kitchen was scheduled for demolition.

Some of our old kitchen's contents were given away, some were thrown away, some were placed in storage, but a lot of it was moved to an auxiliary kitchen that we set up for use while the new kitchen is being constructed.  After all, we still need to be able to prepare meals, we need a place to store food and ingredients, we need a source of drinking water and we would like to be able to enjoy the occasional cup of coffee or tea and other such non-essentials.

A spare bedroom that was occupied by my daughter and her husband before they finally left the nest was turned into an auxiliary kitchen.  Our portable dishwasher, which had probably been looking forward to a bit of a holiday, considering that there would be no water tap to connect it to and, therefore, no way for it to do its regular job, was doubtless rudely surprised when it found itself re-purposed as a counter-top, appliance stand and makeshift cabinet for the dishes that we use most often.  

For drinking water, we moved our water cooler, which dispenses both hot and cold water, from our old kitchen to the auxiliary kitchen.  A portable shelving unit with wheels on its legs had been our microwave stand as well as a place to keep cat food and other sundries.  It now supports our air fryer, an electric induction hot plate, some boxes containing kitchen garbage bags and compostable waste bags, some cook books and other sundries. A couple of large plastic totes were re-purposed as a countertop on which we set our kitchen knives and a cutting board.  These totes aren't empty.  They contain items from our old kitchen which we won't need to access or use until the new kitchen is completed.

Our microwave oven still comes in very handy for meal preparation, of course, so one of the night stands that our kids had left behind was re-purposed as a microwave stand.  Our bread box containing bread (what else?), buns, english muffins and other grain products sits atop the microwave, just as it did in our old kitchen.  We can also use our crock pot as a slow cooker and our electric frying pans for fried foods.  We couldn't come up with sufficient countertop space nor electrical outlets to operate these at the same time as all the other appliances, so we swap out the induction hot plate with whichever disconnected appliance that we need.

We set up a makeshift pantry by strategically stacking empty large, plastic totes and an empty cardboard box on their sides for use as shelving.  The contents of the old pantry (or, rather, those foods and ingredients that we use the most frequently) went onto these makeshift shelves.

An old metal shelving unit that we weren't using for anything else was used for storing pots and pans as well as our tea pot in a readily accessible manner.

Finally, our old kitchen drawers containing cutlery and other smaller kitchen utensils as well as cookbooks and such were set on the floor with their contents left inside them for now.  

 We had intended to move our refrigerator into the auxiliary kitchen.  There was room for it, right next to the water cooler.  Unfortunately, while I checked to ensure that the fridge would fit into the spare bedroom that houses the auxiliary kitchen, I failed to check whether it fit through the door to that room.  It does not.  So, the good folks from Borman Construction, who helped us to move the fridge between rooms, set it up in our dining room instead.  Not quite as elegant, but workable.

This is to be our de facto kitchen for the coming month. 

Kitchen Reno: Part 4 - The Timeline

Borman Construction has now provided us with a detailed project schedule for our kitchen renovation.  It looks like this:

• October 15 - 16: Complete demolition of the existing kitchen.
• October 16 - 19: Installation of electrical. 
• October 19 - 21: Installation of plumbing.
• October 21 - 23: Installation of drywall.  Repair and prep ceiling for painting.
• October 23: Install impermeable floor membrane.
• October 26 - 28: Install ceramic floor tiles.
• October 28 - 30: Paint walls and ceiling.
• October 31: Install kitchen sink. 
• November 2 - 4: Install wall cabinets. 
• November 5 - 15: Install countertops. 
• November 13 - 17: Install homeowner-supplied appliances and range hood.
• November 15 - 18: Final touch-up  (plaster and painting).
• November 16 - 18: Install backsplash tiles, dishwasher connections and homeowner-supplied kitchen faucet. 

So, there you have it.  The kitchen reno will start a few days after (Canadian) Thanksgiving and will take about a month.  We should have a new kitchen in time for the holidays.

Note that the above is a simplified version of the project schedule.  The actual schedule provides a lot more detail regarding what each task entails as well as what Borman Construction will provide vs. what Judy and I are responsible for supplying. We need to purchase a new stove and range hood, a built-in dishwasher and a kitchen faucet.  We pay for those ourselves, over and above the quoted renovation cost.  Borman Construction will install them all for us.  We're keeping our old refrigerator.

We also need to select our cabinets (already done) and select a countertop and backsplash style as well as ceramic floor tiles and a sink.  The cost of these is built into the contract, but we still have to select what styles we want.  We also need to select a wall colour.

Rather than waiting until the very last moment to shut down our old kitchen, Judy and I agreed to do so about a week ahead of time.  We figure that this will give us lots of time to clear out all remaining dishes, cookware, appliances, etc. from the old kitchen, set up our auxiliary kitchen and get accustomed to living with a makeshift kitchen while the current one is still usable in the event that we completely overlooked something.

Kitchen Reno: Part 3 - The Vision

Two weeks ago, Eric Borman introduced my wife, Judy, and me to Heather Fisher.  For the benefit of those who may not have read Part 1 of this series, Eric is the owner of Borman Construction; the company that Judy and I have selected to renovate our kitchen.  

Heather Fisher is a professional kitchen designer who came along with Eric to see our current kitchen for herself (she could be forgiven for assuming the photos that Eric may have shown her to be an elaborate practical joke) and to offer some suggestions for our new layout.  She works for AyA Kitchens, so it seems I was wrong in thinking that Borman Construction will be doing all of the work themselves.  Apparently, they do subcontract other specialists, but it was clear to me, watching and listening to Eric and Heather interact, that the two have worked together for several years and they know each other well.

Heather began by confirming some basic assumptions:

• We're going to replace our portable dishwasher with a built-in model.  
  
  
• We're getting a new stove, but we're keeping our current refrigerator.  
  

• We're also keeping our current microwave oven, which is a counter-top model, as opposed to getting an over-the-range model, which is installed above the stove, where the range hood normally goes, and has the advantage of using no counter top real estate.  

 She then offered several suggestions:

• A U-shaped layout with fixtures, appliances and cabinets arranged in such a way that functionality flows from station to station.  (Don't tell Judy that this appeals to me because it reminds me of a Star Trek bridge layout!)  Plus, we could still add a center "island" later on, if we chose to (not that we're planning to do so).
  
  
• Move the pantry from its current location in the far corner of the kitchen to the "east" wall, between the exit that leads down to the basement and the refrigerator, and install pull-out shelves for greater ease of access.  This also places the two food storage facilities side-by-side so that the refrigerator food and the pantry food can get to know each other better. 
  
  
• Move the stove to the "north" wall at the far end of the kitchen such that it is bordered by a generous amount of countertop space on both sides, where the small appliances can be placed so that all food preparation facilities (stove, microwave, air fryer, toaster, coffee maker) are together or at least within reasonable proximity of each other.
  
  
• Install 45-degree cabinets in the "northwest" and "northeast" corners of the kitchen for easier access.

After discussing all of the above with us, Heather and Eric left and, a week later, Eric sent us the drawings shown here (which, to give credit where it's due, were drawn by Heather).  Judy and I were both suitably impressed and accepted the layout without any changes.  

I did have a few questions, such as how many electrical outlets will there be, and where will they be located?  Eric assured me that there would be "lots" of electrical outlets on the countertop.

One other thing that I had noticed is that, while admittedly sporting a veritable plethora of cabinet and countertop space, there was precious little room for our water cooler.  The only place where it will fit is against the "south" wall (the only wall left untouched by the proposed reno), but that wall currently has no electrical outlets.  I asked Eric whether we could add an outlet to that wall.  He said that can be done and also suggested that the plumber could install an reverse osmosis water tank beneath the sink.  This would do away with having to constantly buy the 19-litre water bottles that our water cooler uses.  While a nice idea, we're going to have to nix that, because our water "cooler" actually dispenses both hot and cold water, a feature that we like, and I've since learned that under-cabinet R/O systems can't dispense hot water.

Having approved the general layout, it was time for Judy and me to select the cabinets, specifying style, finish, drawer/hinge type and door/drawer handle type.  For this, we visited Heather at a nearby AyA Kitchen showroom, where she showed us samples and finished display models so that we could compare options and get a mental picture of what our kitchen would look like.   She also offered some useful practical tips on things such as what cabinet styles were more difficult to clean or would need cleaning more frequently because ridges on their exterior surfaces would have a greater tendency to attract and build up dust.

We wound up selecting Alban style cabinet with a flax oak finish and champagne bronze handles.  She also suggested that we consider upgrading the drawers to the left of the stove, making them specialized garbage and food waste bin storage.  This added about $1,000 to the cost estimate, but Judy and I decided that the added convenience was worth it.  We said to go ahead with that and Heather updated her drawings and advised Eric Borman, who sent us a change order for our approval.  Once again, that budgetary flexibility that I mentioned in Part 2 of this series proved useful.   

Kitchen Reno: Part 2 - The Best Laid Plans

The scope of our planned kitchen renovation means literally gutting the existing kitchen and building a new one from scratch.  Given that a kitchen cannot be demolished and rebuilt in a day or less (trust me, I checked!), it then follows that, from the day that the wrecking ball meets our current kitchen until the completion of the new one, our home is not going to have a kitchen.  Having arrived at this conclusion, my wife, Judy, and I came to the realization that, before the kitchen renovation begins in earnest, we will have to:

1. Clear out anything that we don't wish to see destroyed along with the old kitchen, including all appliances, dishware, cutlery, food, the cat, etc. 
   
   
2. Find an alternate means of fulfilling all the functions that the old kitchen used to fulfill, including food preparation and storage plus dispensary of drinking water and the washing of used dishes.  We may be increasing our reliance on paper plates, disposable cups and plastic cutlery but a certain amount of dishware reuse will be unavoidable, if only those accoutrements used in food preparation.  I Googled and I Googled but not even Gemini was able to find anything like a disposable paper saucepan.

Future Auxiliary Kitchen

And so it was that we set about planning ways of overcoming these hurdles, one by one.  Our basic approach will be to set up a temporary makeshift kitchen to be used while the new one is under construction.  Fortunately, we have a spare room that we can designate for just such a purpose. It's a bedroom that was recently vacated by our daughter and her husband, who finally moved into a place of their own.  It's largely empty, save for a few odds and ends left behind by the "kids", including a night table that looks like it might make a decent microwave stand.

This room will house the refrigerator, a microwave oven, an air fryer, a slow cooker, a toaster and a Keurig coffee maker, all of which will be moved from the old kitchen to the makeshift one.  Small tables that we happen to have standing around in our basement and large plastic tote containers will be employed as makeshift counters upon which the smaller appliances will be placed.  There will be no functional stove, obviously.  All food preparation will have to be done using the aforementioned list of appliances and/or our (outdoor) gas grille, which is equipped with a side burner for heating pots of water and such.  The renovation is scheduled to start in late September or early October (no firm date yet) so the weather should be amenable to firing up the gas grille for the first little while, anyway.

Once the old kitchen is put out of commission, there will be no tap that dispenses drinkable water until the new kitchen comes online.  We do have running water in the bathroom and laundry room but neither Judy nor I feel very comfortable about drinking the water dispensed by either of those.  Fortunately, we do have an electric water cooler which uses those large 19-litre plastic bottles of spring water that can be purchased at most grocery stores.  This water cooler dispenses both cold and hot water, depending on our beverage needs, and will be moved from the old kitchen to the makeshift one along with the other appliances.

As for cleaning used dishes, that will be done using the laundry tub.

The stove will be either given away or discarded, to be replaced with a new one, and the portable dishwasher will likewise be either given away, sold (for a song) or discarded, to be replaced by a built-in one.  Note:  The cost of these two new appliances is not part of the $50,000 quoted in my last post, so these will increase the project's total price tag, somewhat.

Having established the plan, such as it is, Judy and I tackled the task of clearing out as much of the cabinets as we could. We decided to start with the pantry, having agreed that anything following that could only be easier, not to mention less icky (with the possible exception of the refrigerator) as the rest doesn't involve food storage.  When possible, get the nasty stuff out of the way first, I always say.

We decided to group everything which came out of the pantry (or any other kitchen cabinet for that matter) into the following categories:

1. Need - Anything which we will need to be able to access and use while the new kitchen is under construction (for example, plates, cutlery, drinking glasses, sugar, coffee, bread, etc.)  These items will be left where they are, to be moved to the makeshift kitchen just before the old one is demolished.
   
   
2. Store - Anything which will not be needed while the new kitchen is under construction, but which we plan to keep (for example, a cake plate, empty vases, seldom-used food preparation tools such as the cheese grater, etc.)  These items will be packed into boxes and totes, to be unpacked when the new kitchen is complete.
   
   
3. Discard - Anything which is broken or has expired/gone bad or anything which we simply do not want to keep.  These items will be given away or thrown out.

We started with the top pantry shelf, on which were stored the most seldom-used items, being the hardest to reach.  That contained just two items; a glass cake plate, with cover (that's a "store") and a decorative four-piece serving bowl set with matching tray which had been a gift from someone  and which  we had never used and weren't ever likely to use.  That ended up going to our daughter, who fancied it.  Fortunately, she didn't turn out to be the person who had gifted it to us in the first place or, if she was, she has the best poker face that I've ever seen!

The remaining pantry shelves contained mainly food as well as miscellaneous food storage and preparation items.  There was an awful lot of old/expired food (some never opened) which we had forgotten about and, in some cases, had not even known about, having been purchased and stored in the pantry by the "kids" without our knowledge. 

There were also certain contrivances about whose origins we had no clue, but we were sure we had never purchased.  One example was a deep fryer basket (the mesh kind that one fills with french fries or fish, to be lowered into a vat of frying oil).  This was especially peculiar as we don't have a deep fryer.  Another somewhat esoteric one was a European tool in a box labeled "Eiershalensollbruchstellenverusacher" (a German moniker which roughly translates to "Eggshell predetermined breaking point causer," another example of the German penchant for inventing long monikers for very specific things!) As far as I could make out, this seemed to be a tool for cleanly cracking an eggshell around its entire perimeter at whatever point the user designates.  No messy tapping the egg with a spoon or on the rim of a hard bowl for those fastidious Germans, no sir!  I believe it was a gift from one of my Austrian aunts. Don't tell her, but it went into the "discard" group.

As you can well imagine, emptying all of one's kitchen cabinets and drawers is a tedious and time-consuming task.  By starting early (well before we even had a firm start date for the actual renovation), Judy and I were able to make the job more manageable by doing just a little (usually just one or two shelves) each day. 

When tackling a big project such as this one, it's prudent to allow for additional, unforeseen costs.  For example, one day I pulled into my driveway and glanced up at my roof for no particular reason, only to see a large chunk of my chimney top lying on my roof, next to my chimney, rather than sitting on top of the chimney, where it belonged.  Although this admittedly had nothing directly to do with the kitchen reno, it was nevertheless an expensive (roughly $4,000) repair which couldn't wait (chimneys are kind of a must-have, especially when one's home features not one, but two, natural wood-burning fireplaces, as does ours).  If our home maintenance budget hadn't had a certain amount of flexibility, this incident might have seriously delayed the kitchen reno project but, no, it was "Damn the falling chimney bricks!  Full steam ahead!"