RFI: Kitchen Renovation

We just finished one. Completely redone. All the way from the studs up. What do you want to know?

Did you hire a contractor for some or any of the work? If yes, how do you recommend finding one?
Were you living in the house while it was happening?
How did you pay for it?

I'll probably have more questions later.

The only thing we had someone come over for was moving a light fixture. G. just called a general handyman type company for the phonebook. It ended up costing quite a bit and honestly he didn't do something we couldn't. Also had to pay to have a structural engineer come and evaluate a wall we wanted to demo. That was for code reasons. My boyfriend did the rest completely by himself with some assistance from me.

We've been living there. It sucked for a few months. The worse time was about 6 weeks when we had no sink and I had to get water to cook and stuff from the bathroom ugh. Otherwise it was livable. G. did this all after work and on weekends so somethings took awhile.

Some of the major things done: replaced 2X4s and drywall damaged by termites. took out/covered a window. Took out part of a wall to make a pass-through. Moved the gas line in the attic in order to relocate the stove. Moved the fridge and re-routed plumbing to accommodate that and having to move washer outside. (our house was built in 56). New cabinets, counters, floor, appliances, etc.

My before and after set here.

And more detailed though less organized/labeled photos from G. .

Paid for. . .well savings and bank accounts. Doing it yourself and doing lots of searching for best deals on materials helps. But still, this was $$$. We plan on reselling in a few years though so expect to see the return on the investment.

I did a lot of kitchen remodeling work this summer. Bought our first house, which hadn't been touched since 1965 or so, and did a ton of stuff to it. We weren't living there at the time, which made it much more bearable as we had our apartment to return to at night.

I installed base cabinets, a laminate countertop, a new sink, new faucet, new dishwasher, new garbage disposal, new undersink plumbing for all of these, new light fixture, new outlet and switch covers, new industrial style vinyl floor, new fridge, painted everything, replaced existing outlets with GFCIs, laid a new subfloor for the cabinets, and moved two switch boxes about four inches up to make room for the integrated backsplash of the new counter. Not to mention removing all the old cabinets and such beforehand. We're still going to put in a tile backsplash, finish some trim work, and change the light above the sink at some point.

I'd never done any of this stuff before, I just had a Reader's Digest home repair guide and the desire to save a bunch of money by doing things myself. Everything took longer, was more difficult, and more expensive than I thought it would be. I didn't even do any serious remodeling, it was just changing out things that already were there for the most part.

It was fun, but would have been more fun without a tight deadline. And, again, we didn't have to live there while the kitchen was nothing but bare walls, the upper cabinets, and three pipes sticking out of the floor.

Before: http://bp0.blogger.com/_nNehM6sbtA8/RpG3FDMxhhI/AAAAAAAAAIU/8N0kiJ3amGA/s1600-h/kitchen_before.jpg

After:
http://bp2.blogger.com/_nNehM6sbtA8/RpSDQzMxhjI/AAAAAAAAAIk/f7RGb5DZVxA/s1600-h/floor3.jpg

Stupid images not linking.

Before
After

The links worked. :)

The after looks really great, congrats. :)

Honestly, I didn't find it that hard to live there while working on it. There was less than a week when we were stoveless so we were mostly able to cook. Always had fridge. Couple of months without a sink sucked but we managed.

Why do people do this? Does anyone really think this style is inviting? It looks like shit. The old kitchen was much warmer and homier.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kitchenremodel/comments/1pkjyky/remodeled_our_original_60s_kitchen/

Why do people do this?

My guess is that this mimics the style of kitchen that they associate with "what people in my income bracket (or slightly above my bracket) do with their kitchens these days". Their aesthetic is included as part of a package deal that they accept as maintaining or enhancing their social standing. There's an entire industry devoted to manufacturing au courant aesthetics for the aspiring upper middle class.

Well it was sort of a rhetorical question, but yes I'd say that's correct. I just hate how cold a lot of the au courant aesthetic has been for the past 20 years or so. I genuinely like the first kitchen - they could have done some modest updates and made it look a bit more modern without gutting the whole thing

I really think HGTV has driven Americans insane. Like why would you want to renovate this beautiful kitchen, for example, other than maybe a few minor touches?

https://www.reddit.com/r/kitchenremodel/comments/1pnfbu0/how_would_you_renovate_this_kitchen/#lightbox

People have gotten this idea into their head that kitchens are like clothing, that they automatically look "dated" after a certain amount of time and must be "updated." Can't wait to see what it looks like with white marble slabs and cold recessed lighting.

Uh, whoever posted that wants suggestions to create more counter space, but doesn't want to make any of the changes that would be required to create more counter space.

I dunno, I think the remodel looks about 1000 times nicer than the before pics. Maybe it will give off outdated “2020s HGTV social mobility chic” vibes in 15 years, in the way the old kitchen gave off outdated “60s suburban dream” vibes but from a visual, spatial, and functional design perspective, I absolutely would go with the new kitchen.

The first one isn’t my taste but it’s a very usable space now.

Similar to the second, counter space is the most valuable element in a kitchen, makes sense to want to maximize it.

I got rabbit-holed by this really expensive vipp trash can that got me thinking about trash cans being passed down as valuable family heirlooms, and it turned out they also do full kitchens but I guess their industrial trash can aesthetic was too much because more recent versions have warmer wood veneers.

I do like the idea of having components of the kitchen being passed down generation to generation, but nothing in the before or after pics feels like it's going to get reclaimed like ancient hardwood.

Large kitchen islands are definitely functional, but always feel like the whole giant white marble slab aesthetic looks uninviting, like I'm in an apartment hotel or something.

first kitchen in the revive looks to have a tiled countertop which is probably disgusting enough that the whole thing should be gutted for the health of the residents

that first island is SO big though? like theres a lot of wasted space in the middle surely

I'm alright with the looks, but I have several issues with the function of this renovated kitchen - you have to lean way down to reach into the ovens, the stovetop is too far away from the sink, and several of the wall cabinets come all the way down to the countertop and thus will knock anything on the counter in front of it onto the floor if the cabinet is opened. And yeah, the island is way too big. And also an odd seating arrangement, split amongst three chairs at the island and four chairs around a separate table that's rather small for such a huge room.

functionality, not function

cold recessed lighting.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, December 15, 2025 2:19 PM (yesterday)

the original kitchen also had recessed lighting fwiw

i think the biggest sin of the remodel for me is getting rid of one of the windows. but otherwise i don't hate it altho i agree it looks a bit bland and too on trend. dark wood is very trendy now, i was looking into refinishing our old (and cheaply made) 90s golden oak cabinets and apparently this finish has gone viral on tiktok:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/616xIblnyYL.jpg

https://designs.generalfinishes.com/sites/default/files/post-images/scd-gel-stain-kitchen-bath-upcycle-mikayla-20170530-thrifty-designs-kitchen-java-gel-stain-02-general-finishes.jpg

Like why would you want to renovate this beautiful kitchen, for example, other than maybe a few minor touches?

https://www.reddit.com/r/kitchenremodel/comments/1pnfbu0/how_would_you_renovate_this_kitchen/#lightbox

just a hunch but i feel like those cabinets are covered in that awful vinyl cladding that is impossible to get clean

if you bake, that island is NOT too big