Here’s a quick overview of our kitchen in four months: from demo day to installing the hardwood floors.
The two projects that took the most time were the ones that most people don’t have to tackle: skim coating the ceiling & pouring concrete countertops. Though, I will say, that we didn’t have to do any plumbing to speak of (except a very minor pin hole repair) – because our appliances stayed in the same locations. We also did pretty minimal (but still important) electrical work. Since we didn’t have major changes for these items, we probably saved time in this area compared to other’s renovations.
Door to the foyer widened, pantry removed, floor joists jacked up
(also foyer tile removed/replaced subfloor):
The Ikea cabinet 3D software plan:
Replaced drywall, some electrical work, cut a hole for the range hood, redirected the air vent, skim coated the ceiling, removed wall paper, patched damaged areas with mud, painted (walls & ceiling), reinstalled the appliances, & installed the cabinets.
After making cleats for the fridge cabinet, range hood, & island:
Temporarily installed the island cabinets to verify the layout:
Installed concrete countertops, unfinished:
Finished & sealed concrete countertops, doors on the cabinets with some handles & cabinet lighting:
…and a less consistent photo of the hardwood floor going in:
Here’s a rough list for the amount of time we used for each project so far.
For some projects we were more intense (getting it done!) and some we were more casual (as in, stuff just takes time & progress seems slower)… we were trying to be efficient yet careful: but it was not like we were racing the clock. I’m not going to typically whittle it down to hours necessarily, but here’s the general gist:
Cabinet demo – (smashing goes quickly) – solid 1.5 days
Floor demo – (stubborn floor) – solid 2 days
Hired guys: widen door, foyer floor, jack joists, remove pantry – (due to ER visit) – 2 days
New drywall & electrical – (drywall is heavy) – casual 2 days
Widen other door… header & move switch – (because why not?) – casual 1 day
Skimcoat ceiling – (in retrospect, it’s miserable) – 5-7 days? with dry time
Miscellaneous – (cleats, range hood hole, redirect vent) – a few hours each
Assemble cabinets – (easy, just be organized) – 1-2 days
Install cabinets, appliances, & sink- (super easy) – 1-2 days
Make concrete countertops – (labor intensive) – 6.5 weeks total
Install hardwood floor, kitchen – (learning something new) – 2.5 -3 days
Install hardwood floor, foyer – (lots of corners) – 2 days
Of course, we still have more projects left in the kitchen – like making a custom live-edge walnut light fixture, tiling the backsplash wall, and pouring the waterfall sides to our island!
Love your kitchen! My boyfriend and I will be starting our kitchen renovation in a week, when our Ikea cabinetry arrives. We’re also planning to DIY concrete countertops.
How are you countertops holding up? Have you had any issues with staining? Are you planning to treat your countertops regularly? You have nothing between the countertop and the cabinet, correct? Did you glue or otherwise secure the countertops in place? It looks like your island countertop is a cantilever – do you have any supports for it?
Thanks in advance!
Congratulations, Lisa, on starting your renovation!
Our countertops are holding up well.
We haven’t had any issues with staining, but then, I haven’t really spilled anything either. I have found a few dried spaghetti sauce splatters that I could easily wipe up without any issue. I baby them though. I don’t place hot pots directly on the surface because I’m paranoid.
The countertops, at the time of this post, were just set in place. Later, we lifted the countertops up and used some construction adhesive. We waited to secure the island top because we were not finished with the sides at this point.
You are correct, we don’t have anything between the cabinets & countertop. The concrete had glass fiber in the mix so it is very strong. The currently cantilevered portion is only about 10′ deep, so that area is still within the strength limits of the concrete. Though, we will be adding concrete waterfall sides in the future that will add additional support – but it’s really not needed. At the time, I was a little worried about the island top just sitting there unsecured, but it never moved.
I’m not planning on resealing the countertops on a regular basis – it would be more like removing the current finish & starting over if they were badly damaged. The concrete itself is great – the finish we used does seem to scratch easily. I think it was more user error when we applied the finish though. I believe it was applied too thickly and scratches because of that. We asked a local concrete manufacturer and he also supports this theory.