When we first moved into our house back in October (OMG! We've been here for almost 4 months now!), the first big renovation project that I wanted to tackle was the kitchen. Specifically, the cabinets. I loved the fact that I had acquired so much cabinet space, but I was NOT in love with the style. Plus, two of the drawers needed to be repaired. We decided to get the cabinets refaced and replace the counter tops through Home Depot. We also wanted to replace the fridge, put in new backsplash and paint the walls.
The process of refacing the cabinets began way back in November. I put in a request to get a consultation, and a manager came to the house to do rough measurements and help me select the new finish for the cabinets. We also selected the style of counter top. The caniet installer came a couple of days later to do full measurements. Finally, the counter top installer came to do his measurements, and told me that they would be in contact to come in and install the new counter tops.
In December, the opportunity arose for us to purchase a new fridge to replace the one we acquired when we moved in. Both of us didn't like the full French door style, hated the wasted space created by the water dispenser & ice maker, and the space inside both fridge and the freezer was quite cramped. The arrangement just didn't make any sense, and it was difficult to organize everything inside. Trail Appliances was having their Boxing Week sales, and they had a few that we liked and would work for the current space. We ended up going with a Samsung French door, bottom freezer style.
Unfortunately, the phone call that I was expecting to get for the counter tops didn't happen in a few weeks time, as promised by the measurement guy. According to the manager, there was some kind of miscommunication which prevented the installation to occur when it was supposed to. So instead of the counter tops being replaced in November, as I had hoped, they ended up being done mid-January. :( Not ideal and a bit annoying, but at least it was getting done. I couldn't believe the difference the new counter tops made to the kitchen! It was already looking just a little brighter and more put together. The cabinet installers returned to do a final check of measurements with the new counter tops, and the order for our new cabinets were sent away.
Once the counter tops were installed, hubby and I began to seriously consider what exactly to do for the backsplash. I had been going back and forth between putting proper tile or using these Smart Tiles that I had found on Home Depot. I was starting to lean towards real tile, but then the reality of how long it would take to do it, as well as the expense it would cost us, set in Time and money aren't really in our favor lately! For ease of installation and low cost, we ended up going with the Smart Tiles. Hubby was able to put them all up within the course of three days, (but he probably could've done it all within the course of an afternoon), just putting up a few each day and making his way around the kitchen. I'm super impressed with how good it looks, even though it's basically a sticker.
The next thing was painting the walls. The paint had already been purchased, but we didn't want to do it until the backsplash was complete. We painted over the course of a week after we returned from our trip to Maui. We would paint in the evening once Miss Nugget was down for the night, and my mom and I would paint during the day as well while the little miss napped. In hindsight, it would probably have been done faster if we did it all in one go, but it was a little easier to do it bit by bit. I love that the green really makes the backsplash stand out.
Finally, the cabinets were refaced. This was done over the course of three and a half days. The first day, the workers were mostly sanding the cabinets and putting on the vinyl coverings that would match with the new doors and drawer fronts. The next day, they completed putting the vinyl coverings on, and began installing some of the doors. The third day, they completed putting up the new doors and drawer fronts, and also repaired all the drawer boxes. The last half day was spent putting in all the fixtures (which we purchased beforehand).
Here is finished kitchen!