On 09/10/2015 06:45 AM, Don Y wrote:

We did most of ours "up front". We wanted to raise the ceiling, move
the peninsula, remove the cabinets *over* the peninsula, add a pony
wall behind the stove, etc. So, we had to plan carefully to ensure
we ended up with enough cabinet space, the right sorts of cabinets,
electric outlets in the right locations, etc.



Well, the ceiling was raised 25 years ago. The previous owner put in a
drop-ceiling which did exactly that...it dropped. It happened about an
hour after my daughter told me it was going to fall.


I took a wreaking bar and entirely gutted the kitchen and put in 5/8"
drywall, walls and ceiling. The entire first floor is 9' ceilings. I
have a friend who is over seven feet tall who says there are few houses
as comfortable as ours.





snipped but read
We opted from the start to move the microwave into the small pantry.
It freed up a lot of counter space after deciding to remove the
cabinets over the peninsula (thus no place for an "undercounter"
microwave). This also let that "load" move off the countertop
circuits onto one of the less used circuits in the kitchen.


WE have so little counter space, the microwave in the pantry...kind of a
last minute decision...was one of the better moves.



snipped but read
We installed 4 speakers at ceiling level so we can listen to
music without having to lose any counter space to a "radio", etc.

We put a pair of phone/TV/network drops on the counters in case
we later opt to put a phone, small TV or even a laptop there.

I *do* wish we had installed a large (4'x4') skylight in the
food prep area, though. SWMBO vetoed that idea. I would always
welcome extra light!

We did put in new lighting. After some debate we went with Halogen and
it works
well.

We didn't like the halogen lights. Too "stark" (color). We arranged
recessed lights above the counters with a separate circuit above the
sink area (so you can have "reduced lighting" in the early morning
hours, there -- instead of facing a room full of bright lights).
We added under the counter lighting controlled from wall switches
(instead of having to reach up under the counters and fumble around
looking for a switch).


The main halogen light is on a dimmer so we can adjust it "down" if
necessary.

The "hallway" side of the kitchen could use a bit more light.
OTOH, you don't *do* anything over there other than walk *through*
the kitchen (and there's plenty of light for that.

We also arranged for the kitchen lights to be controlled in any
of three locations: at the north end, south end and from the
sink.

Of course, there's always the risk that you'll slap yourself
up-side-da-head just after you finish... and realize some other
thing you *should* have done while you were knee deep in the
mess... :-/ Hopefully, yours won't be anything regretful! :

After all was done, we were sitting in the kitchen yesterday and
talking about
what we might have forgotten. All we could come up with was that it
would have
been nice perhaps to have the vinyl (or whatever it's made out of)
flooring
removed and had a wooden floor put it.

I think you'd probably then want to *cover* it with something.
Kitchens, IME, want to be easy to "mop clean". Too easy for
things to get spilled, there.


Now that the construction is done my wife and I both gave the floor
several good cleanings. Though it's 25 years old it's really in decent
shape...just two very small cracks that are almost invisible.
A while back we paid a friend who needed money to clean it and they
basically put sealer over the dirt and pretty much gummed things
up...and it took several good scrubbings to undo that mess.
Now that it's clean it looks pretty nice...we have not even put the
shiner on yet.

Not only would that delayed the completion date of the project...it
probably
would have been out of my budget ...plus since it would not have
matched the
wooden floor in the dining room...to have had both floors replaced
would have
made it just too large of a project.

Belatedly, we realized that we wanted better shelving in the large
pantry (size of a small walk-in closet). I wanted the shelves to
be adjustable instead of "fixed". But, they are 3' wide and 3' deep
so supporting them (plus whatever is piled *on* them) is a bit
of a challenge.


I made a few changes in the pantry...put in one smaller stainless steel
shelf that was originally the drop leaf from the kitchen island. There
was a nice looking put badly damaged oaken table in there missing legs
that I had sitting on top of a cabinet. One day I found some perfect
legs for it out near someone's trash so I took them home. I was with a
friend at the time who is a scavenger and he said "You are even worse
than I am!"

Weird thing is I knew I needed them...I pictured something in my house
needing them,.,,but did not recall exactly what until I got home. My
friend really laughed when I told him I needed the legs but could not
remember exactly why.

Additionally, I wanted to be able to *tie* the shelves into the
walls (instead of just *setting* a shelf on a support) so that I
could use them to attach sliding drawers/trays, lazy susans, etc.

So, I've been fabricating supports out of 1/2 x 3/4 cold rolled
steel bars in which I've drilled holes every inch along the
length. A bracket on the underside of each shelf will spring-load
pegs into these brackets (two on each side) so the shelf won't
be able to move up, down or in/out until they are retracted.

The 1/2" thickness was chosen to coincide with the thickness of
the drywall on each side of the pantry -- so the supports are
*in* the wall instead of *on* the wall.

Had this sort of thing been left to a (sub)contractor, we'd have
ended up with COTS shelf supports and much *smaller* shelves!


Yep...it's usually good to make your own stuff...a contractor would use
"off the shelf" product that would work but possibly not 100% ideal for
the situation.


One other comment:

Since we ended up getting rid of a lot of junk we did not need from the
kitchen....I surprised my wife and for the last few weeks have been
getting my 30 year old crap out of the attic and basement. I got rid of
so much clutter I was now able to find a few things that I wanted but
could never find.


One of them was my little pin-ball machine from when I was 5 years
old...It's a great antique that I will put in my office after I get all
the dust cleaned out of it.