Kitchen Reno's

Well it's been a long time coming but we finally fixed up the kitchen. It wasn't a full blown reno which we hope to do in 5 years or so but it was a good amount of work. Here's what we did:

• Fixed the walls in the kitchen (filled, sanded)
• Same for the ceiling
• Installed new quarter round along the baseboards
• Stripping all the paint from the door frame and window frame
• Installed new counter tops from Ikea
  
• Installed a stainless steel back splash
  
• Installed new receptacles (with the Acenti line - see earlier post)

All in all we are happy with the outcome. The hardest part was the counter tops so I'll discuss those a little.

The old counters were so uneven and not screwed to the cabinets that they were a breeze to take off. For two of the three counters it was pretty easy to cut - just used my Porter Cable circular saw with a new 40 tooth Freud blade which worked great.

I shimmed the counters so they were level and then screwed them in. The stainless steel backsplash was from Ikea as well. I used a jigsaw with a metal blade to cut them to the size we wanted. Those are installed behind the counters.

The hardest countertop was the one with the sink. I had to cut a corner of the counter out so it would fit around the wall. I did some test cuts first to get it perfect and it came out great. However, to cut the hold with the sink was another story. Nothing would cut through the counter - the jigsaw pretty much died. So I dropped in the circular saw which I didn't like doing but in the end worked out ok.

Here are some before pictures of the job...


And After...