Home and Kitchen Renovation

[BakerAunt]

Three weeks ago, we began home and kitchen renovation. So far, it is going well. The upstairs extension of the master bedroom is completed. The sun porch re-framing is done and is awaiting the windows. The windows for the house arrived Friday, and the two in the downstairs bedroom and the two in the upstairs study are now installed. The kitchen has been completely gutted and the soffits that made the space look even smaller than it is are gone. The kitchen was measured for cabinets on New Year's Eve, and we finalized the plan last week, and we placed the order. Today, I'm supposed to tell the contractor where the electrical boxes go.

Kitchen lighting is tricky in a galley kitchen, and lighting fixtures for kitchens these days are leaning toward the so-called WOW! factor. I also didn't realize how complicated under the cabinet lighting can be. I'm trying to balance the need for light in a kitchen area that can be dark with being green and not using fixtures that are electricity hogs. My husband and I agree that we do not want florescent lights.

Later this week, we will make a trip to South Bend for paint, for looking at the siding color, and for looking at and ordering my range.

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[skeptic7]

Have you thought about LED lights? A friend has those for under the cabinet lighting and likes it. Do you think additional lights are needed? I am liking more light now as my eyes age but don't know if I want to rewire the kitchen to add the lights.
Did you rewire the kitchen to have more power on the circuits for appliances? I hope you find a range that you like? Do you have a range exhaust? Most of the building magazines love them, but a realtor friend says that they accumulate grease and most people don't clean them out annually so are a fire hazard.

[Mike Nolan]

These days they have fixtures that look like fluorescent lights but are actually LEDs. When we repaired the ceiling in the master closet last fall, we put one in there. It's very energy efficient and seems to be a bit brighter as well.

Under cabinet lights are OK but only light a fairly small area. They can also affect how you organize your counter space, both because of shadows and the heat they generate.

Our kitchen is quite large (17 x 18) and has 3 rows of fluorescent fixtures behind diffuser panels, when all 3 are on we refer it to as lighting the kitchen up for surgery. We also have under-cabinet lights on all 3 counters and above the desk area, though that one seldom gets used these days. There's also a spotlight above the main sink and two spotlights that are part of the exhaust fan.

In a galley kitchen I'd think about possibly putting in track lights along the ceiling, you can adjust where they point as you figure out where you really need light. And they make LED bulbs for those too now.

[BakerAunt]

I checked out a friend's kitchen here, and he had a long fluorescent in the center of the kitchen area, which his father says is "too much light for me in the morning!" He also has various under the counter lights that are both plug in and work on a switch.

We decided on LED "can" lights, which will be inserted into the ceiling. We have two in one area of the living room, and they give off great light. I have arranged for one to be centered over the sink and one over the peninsula. I was going to put two over the peninsula, but it does not work with the roof angle. As I said, these are low ceilings. I will also have a light on the stove hood.

We head to South Bend tomorrow to check out paint color for the house siding, to buy paint for the interior, and to go by the appliance store so that I can get a look at the Wolf range. They don't have the dual fuel on the floor, but they do have that size in a gas model, so I can look it over. Depending on the contractor's schedule, I will have an idea of when to place the order. I need to order it before February 11, as there will be a price increase on that date. I plan to get the black rather than the red knobs. (They also have stainless, so I will look at those.)

I will look at stove hoods. Wolf makes one, but the hood does not necessarily have to be Wolf.

I'll look at refrigerators as well. Sub Zero is not in my price range, and we don't want a built-in, so I will see what else they have.

[Mike Nolan]

We have a 48" dual fuel range and went with a full-sized range hood with two lights and warming lamps. We almost never use the warming lamps, though. When you turn the fan all the way up, it has a pretty strong draw.

I definitely recommend going with the best range hood you can. Make sure it's properly vented to the outside.

Good range hoods have grease baffles that you can take off and clean. We just throw them in the dishwasher every year or so. There are services that can clean the vent tubing if it get clogged. I checked ours a few years ago using a fiber optic inspection system, it looks fairly clean up there. (Much better than the dryer vent, which I just cleaned out with the big wet/dry vacuum.)

As to grease in the vent being a fire hazard, just don't do anything stupid. If you're flaming something, turn the vent fan off for a few minutes. My older son tend to over-do it when flaming things, he's been known to set off the smoke detector in the butler's pantry just outside the kitchen a few times, I think I've done it just once in 22 years.

[Mike Nolan]

Making sure there's only as much light as you need is why we went with 3 banks of lights that can be controlled separately, the inner bank is over the island and is the one we use the most when working in the kitchen, the two outer banks are together. The under-counter lights are on an infrared sensor, so they come on automatically in the morning and evening. (Lights in most of the rooms, including the master suite, are also on sensors, we had one of the first home automation systems installed in Lincoln NE, back in 1996.)

[BakerAunt]

Today I bought a 30-inch, 4 burner Wolf dual fuel range. To my surprise, both my husband and I decided that we like the red knobs. It has a three year warranty, since I'm having it installed by their trained people. We did find out that the gas and electric need to be very specifically located for Wolf stoves so that the stove can be pushed back against the wall. As we are installing the gas line and moving the electric, that is not a big deal.

I chose a Zephyr "Cyclone" hood. The Wolf hood was 1) very expensive and 2) would not fit under any cabinets in our kitchen, where we have 95 1/4 inches from floor to ceiling. It has a self-cleaning function. I'll let you know how it works once everything is installed, which will probably be early March, since the cabinets and the counter tops must go in before the stove. Countertops are not ordered until the cabinets are installed.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Joan Simpson]

Glad to hear of your updates on the remodel...nice!

[BakerAunt]

As of yesterday, all the new windows and the two new doors have been installed. We got rid of the sliding glass door next to the kitchen and put in a regular door so that we could gain some additional kitchen space. As the sliding glass door showed a view of the neighbor's solid wall, we sacrificed some light but no view. The door does have a window, and it's near a corner with another window. The change also makes use of what was mostly dead space.

We moved the door at the back of the kitchen to the side of the house, which will keep the cold wind from blowing into it in the winter. We put a window in the former door location. The new arrangement also makes it easier to enter into a mudroom area without congestion.

We are doing ash flooring in the kitchen--the last of the local Indiana ash that had to be lumbered due to the Emerald Ash Bore. It will be natural but clear coated to resist the spills that occur in all kitchens. The entry way in the back, which opens onto the laundry area will be tile.

[BakerAunt]

Remodeling and Renovation Update:

Dry wall went up last week, upstairs in the bedroom and study and downstairs in the kitchen. It was the expected mess. After they sanded and washed the walls, my husband and I primed the three rooms. (At some point, there is a downstairs bedroom to be done, but we have to wait until we can move stuff out of it into completed rooms.) We painted the kitchen, and then my husband repainted the ceiling--four times. We did not realize that eggshell paint is tricky, probably because there was so little light in the previous house where we used it, and those walls were textured. With the light shining in here at certain times of the day, every painting flaw shows. My husband got some advice from the paint store people today before he did the fourth coat. We have decided to use a different level of paint for the upstairs (and eventually the downstairs bedroom), although it will be the same color. It may not reflect the light as well, but we can live with that more easily than obsessing about the streaking.

The ash floor in the kitchen will be laid this week, and next week, the man who does the new floor, and the original Douglas Fir ones upstairs, will set to work. So, we have to complete the painting upstairs before a week from Monday. In the meanwhile, the exterior soffits are being installed on the outside of the house. The siding arrived ten days ago and is waiting to be installed.

The cabinets have arrived at the warehouse, so once the flooring is installed, they come next. There is then a three-week wait for the counter tops.

We are not going to be back in the house by Easter. Sigh.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

Glad to hear things are progressing, even if it won't be done by Easter. We have a couple of fix-it projects that I may try to get done next summer, one inside and one outside.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt, for the update. I had been wondering how you and your husband were doing with it. I didn't know you were planning on doing the painting yourselves. That's quite a task. I understand your disappointment over Easter. Hopefully, everything will be done in time for a Memorial Day cookout.

[Joan Simpson]

BakerAunt all the remodeling sounds great,I know you'll be happy in the end!Somethings you just can't hurry.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Sounds great BA.

We have can lights in the kitchen (in fact throughout the house). I switched to LEDs when we were thinking about putting in a backup generator because we have nine cans in the kitchen alone and swapping out 65 watt bulbs for 9 watt LEDs makes a difference when spec'ing a generator.

There are all-in-one LED cans that are the light and fixture. They look cleaner than the standard can and are pretty straight forward to install. I did it and I am not handy. I've done 36 in the house so far and some day I will get to the rest.

[Mike Nolan]

We have ceiling can lights in several places, as the bulbs need replacing I've been replacing them with LED bulbs. Some of the fixtures are on dimmers, so I have to use dimmable bulbs there.

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