My Dream Kitchen

[Debra]

@Steve B yes it is laminate. It is so interesting watching them lay it out and put it together.

[Steve B]

If you’re guys are as good as mine it’s a treat to see how they lay it out and how incredibly good it turns out.

[Debra]

Steve B they went from the kitchen, into the hallway, and down into the first bedroom today. They are going very fast with it. I absolutely love the transitions from room to room being gone.

[Debra]

Finished the hallway and both small bedrooms as well as the front entry way today.
They will put final coat of paint on everything next week and then floor trim and i can finally start clean up while we continue to wait on the missing tub.
Finish the kitchen and pantry the week after if all goes as expected.
we are about a month from completion IF all continues to go well.
I will admit this has been enjoyable in a strange way but not sure I would do it again.

[Debra]

Another step forward this morning.
Our remodeler decided on the advice of a retired cabinet maker to add crown molding to the kitchen as well as the living room and hallway.
My Husband was an adamant NO to the idea as he is definitely against crown molding anywhere in the house.
I listened to the cabinet maker who is retired, and he put his son to work installing it this morning.
It makes an incredible difference in highlighting a room that it is almost mind boggling.
they also added strip LED lighting in the kitchen crown mold that is absolutely beautiful.
They did manage to impress even my Husband who actually admits he was wrong.
I feel very blessed to have this pair doing the installs of the cabinetry and pantry. Father/Son team passing the knowledge through the generations.

[jfmorris]

I'm doing a remodel in the den/kitchen area, and while I am not redoing the cabinets, I am going to replace all the up and down lighting on top of and below the upper cabinets that is currently old halogen pucks with something LED. I would love to see a picture of what your lighting looks like...

[Debra]

jfmorris I will try to get over and get some pics for you.
The builder Installed 5 LED cans into the living room, 7 LED cans into the Kitchen, 1 LED can over the cook top, 3 LED cans into the Pantry. I am definitely lit up.

He also installed 1 LED undercounter puck light under each cupboard door to light up the counter work space and shine down on the tile backsplash which is recycled glass and some kind of glitter accents that REALLY lights up.

[Debra]

jfmorris my Husband told me from the beginning he didn't want anything to do with any remodel decisions. He has pretty much given me all control of choice.
He tells me he lived a very simple life and spent 30 or more years living out of a duffle bag in conex containers so he feels his input isn't valid.
He WAS adamant about the crown molding but is now a believer.

[Debra]

A little more progress on the kitchen, Hallway, and bedrooms.
1 more coat of paint on the entire upper floor to go!!
Yesterday they installed and painted baseboard, finished the crown molding in the kitchen and installed the accent lights under it. They faced the island cabinets and finished them up. I do love the look of the black island with the white cupboards and counters behind them

If snowmageddon doesn't get us today we will try to bring the burner top in and spot it onto the countertop to prepare for the layout for the countertops.. This sounds like an interesting process with laser measurements and some kind of CAD to get them pre spotted to cut the granite.

[Debra]

My Husband decided to gift the young man building the pantry and doing the crown molding with a fancy hand coping saw and mitre box saw. Husband loves watching craftspeople do hand work and the young mans Father will be an awesome teacher to him.
They both say power tools are very convenient and fast but hand work is kind of a step above.
I will get some pictures up of the corners this young man makes with his crown molding. They are amazing to watch him craft them out. He says for this type crown the cuts are all backwards and upside down? it is very nice looking.

[jfmorris]

Hand coped joints in crown moulding are always so nice and tight. Some of the original molding in our house was like that, and I hated to tear it down when remodeling. Doing the compound 45's on a power miter saw almost never makes for as tight a joint, due to the fact most walls are not square.

[Caffeine88]

@jfmorris
Precisely. I can hand cope a baseboard, but I lack the skills for coping crown mold. All my compound 45's are close, but ended up finishing with caulk, paint, and cleverness....

[Mr. Bones]

Copin by hand, always better...Yup.

Copin Crown Moldin? Even More So...

[Caffeine88]

jfmorris I did some Led upgrades that might add useful ideas.

(Apologies to Debra - I don't mean to hijack! I'll move this if you prefer)

I had upgraded to can lights in the kitchen a few years ago, and as part of the remodel I switched them all to Led inserts. I'm a big fan of Halo brand, and I went with adjustable temp lights (2700K to 5000K). A good decision, since the wife has changed the color a couple times!

Link to LED can inserts

I installed LED strip lighting with a dimmer under the cabinets, rather than the pucks. It was a very simple install, given that I have access into attic above the cabs. I ran all the wiring above, with a drop of the LV wire to each location in between the cabs. It was pretty easy, actually. Very much recommend this set - really high quality, easy to install, and incredible color accuracy.

Link to LED strip light

We absolutely love the dimmable effect, and the strip provides a very even light distribution. To be honest, we use the under cab LEDs 100% of the time and frequently leave the overheads off.

It's hard to take good pix. But here's a try... You can see the impact of LEDs, which looks better in real life than this photo!

[Caffeine88]

jfmorris
They've got a couple options for remodel lights and can inserts which do match. I know, because I got sent back to HD a couple times to them right! I was able mix/match new lights with replacement inserts in the kitchen, and SWMBO approved.

[jfmorris]

Debra for now we are talking a few hundred in 2x4's for the temp supports, so I'll deal with it. Easier than trying to source temp beams for now. I'll be marring the floors with the temp support walls, but all that laminate flooring has to be redone anyway - the area I've expanded into doesn't have that flooring, and apparently they stopped making the exact laminate I've got about 5 years ago. It sucks that I have to redo 1300 sq feet of flooring and not just 400 or so, but that's da breaks.

[jfmorris]

Debra to do it with wood (LVL) it was going to be too tall (more than 24 inches), so the shop that makes wood beams referred me to a shop that makes metal beams, which can do the job in 12" of height. It's going to be mostly recessed, but will end up with a few inches boxed in with wood or sheetrock. Probably wood to match another beam in the addition we are knocking a wall down into.

[Debra]

@Caffeine88 those are the cans our remodeler used.
They love them because they can be installed where YOU chose.not where the joists in the ceiling dictate. Low profile so they work anywhere.
Your remodel is beautiful. I will get some pics up as soon as I can get over and get them taken.
One of the corners he made just fascinates me. It is SO perfect and had 4 separate cuts involved. His Father was pretty proud of him for being able to do it.

[Debra]

A few pictures of the crown mold corners our man did. One more coat of paint to go!
our cabinet maker tells me that corner requires 8 separate cuts. His Dad was happy with them but tells him they will definitely improve in 20 or 30 years!

[jfmorris]

I like those curved corners in newer construction. Mine are all old 90 degree corners unfortunately. That is a lot of cuts to make for sure, or such a small area!

[Debra]

He also took out the square corners I the kitchen and replaced them with round corners. I do like this look. Not sure if the pics will show it well.

[jfmorris]

You could see the round corners better in that last post.

[Steve B]

I don’t think I have ever seen rounded corners before. Very cool.
And I won’t be showing this to my wife. 😁 as we just got done with our own remodel.

[Debra]

They added a small curio shelf where they tore out an old hall closet to make additional room in the kitchen to move the refrigerator. It left room for a small 26 inch closet which will be nice for linens.

[jfmorris]

I like that a lot! Cool idea, and good use of otherwise dead space in a wall.

[Debra]

A picture of the LED cans in the kitchen ceiling.

[Debra]

The LED pucks under the upper cabinets. He installed 1 light under each door. They will be so nice!! He is hooking all the lightning up to an Alexa Hub which will be nice.

[Debra]

My favorites? The light strip under the Island and cabinets.

[smokenoob]

Cool! Say "Alexa: Saturday Night Fever"
just to see if she can 😁
project is looking awesome! When it’s all over you won’t even remember the ………fun……..you will be in kitchen bliss! 😁

[Steve B]

That’s pretty wild. 👍 Nice touch.

[Caffeine88]

Great choice in cabinet color, too!
The package is really coming together. Your guy did a great job on the crown - that is no easy task to get it right. I really like the bull nose corners instead of square on the drywall.

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[Debra]

I could not remember what they called those corners. Bull nose is right. Thank you.

[jfmorris]

Debra all of that looks amazing, and I look forward to seeing your countertops and other appliances get installed. I know YOU do! The lighting is a cool idea. We already use Alexa to control all our overhead lights (smart Leviton and GE wall dimmers). I'll have to be sure to use new cabinet lighting that can do that too.