My DIY Kitchen Remodel

Our kitchen is not 100% complete, but I have made a lot of progress. It functions and looks a million times better now. I have all the lower cabinets installed and I wanted to share my experience with demolishing my kitchen and putting it back together. I did 90% of the work myself since my husband hates this kind of work and it was occurring at the same time as harvest season.

Here is a picture of my kitchen before:

Demolition begins:

Demolition progress, electrical, and plumbing:

I removed the soffit which was a total PITA. I swear the thing was made of solid 2x4’s. I decided to remove all of the drywall to have the electrical moved around so we can have a dishwasher installed, have lights on either side of the range, and add an outlet. I had an experienced friend help us with the electrical. I also had to remove the drain vent so we could reinstall the drywall. I hired a plumber to cut and cap a few pipes. We had an AAV (air admittance valve) added later onto our sink drain so we didn’t have to have it vent through the roof. That large silver thing with the finger prints is a duct that goes to the bathroom above. This also explains why I couldn’t move the sconces any wider than where I placed them.

I installed mineral wool insulation after the electrical was installed, the plumbing vent was removed, and the rest of the cabinets where removed. I installed two different kinds because I had a bad experience at Lowes and I did not want to go back. You can also see the white wire for the future recessed lights. I told him where the lights where going and he just left the wire in the location of the future lights. I placed the lights between the roof rafters to make it easy.

I didn’t get a picture of just the wall with drywall but I had another local guy install the drywall.

Stay tuned for the next post about putting together the cabinets and installing them.