kitchen renovation - part 1

This is a man's kitchen renovation with a beer budget but a champagne taste. The goal is to create a very functional kitchen with the appearance of a high end kitchen with like those from Boffi or Bulthaup using off the shelf Ikea kitchen cabinets and fire sale demo Vitra ad wall office furniture.

As most would know ikea kitchen are great value but often the result screams ikea. Who want their visiting friend to say "I see, your beautiful kitchen cabinets are from ikea"

before picture - previous owner holding an estate sale

kitchen some time after I moved in - making do what I could while renovating other parts of the house

started ripping up the vinyl floor and the original tiles

old pantry - door is to be shifted to the right by about 6 inches to make room for the kitchen cabinets along the windowed wall; all the interior is to be gutted and the shelves all replaced with home made ones

this photo shows only one of the two Frigidaire can fit with the old window location

The window was to be shifted ~8 inches to the right to accommodate my two modular European Frigidaire refrigerators. People thought I am nuts to undertake so much trouble moving the windows to accommodate two 19 year old refrigerator. These refrigerators are irreplaceable. They are simple, modern, and understated. There is no circulation fan inside except for the small freezer. Instead of glass shelves, there are just wire shelves, just like the good old days.

Floor done (new armstrong classic black commercial floor tiles); Cannot live without a kitchen sink nor the espresso machine even during renovation

started removing the exterior cedar siding - and saving them as new ones are cost prohibitive

because of shifting the windows to the right, all the wood panels cannot be reused - i added additional electrical outlets and GFI updates optimized for the kitchen design, including adequate outlets for the plumb-in espresso machine

window taken out as well as enough siding for the relocation of the window - i saved and reused the window as no new ones can match the aesthetics of the old

new header shoring up the new window location - all roughed in - removing the old header was a chore without causing damage to adjacent wood; sinks and espresso machine in fore ground are for make shift use

it required a lot of careful planning to pick the best combination of ikea cabinets given many constraints from the franke sink and location of the miele dishwasher. i wanted a very clean look from the major vantage points so no drawers on the window side cabinets. note that new wood panels are up. they are cheap 1/4 inch plywood with wild figure from home depot, which I vanished with floor polyurethane and make them into wall panels. The side I used for finish were actually the bad side of the plywood, but to me the wood figure is much more attractive. There are defects that add to the character.

In this picture you can see the ikea cabinet arrangements. The left most cabinet are drawers in this picture because I was using them during renovation. They were replaced with a swing open door to keep the coherent amongst all the cabinet on this side. The maple decorative panels on the refrigerator and dishwasher were to be replaced with the same birch plywood from home depot used for the wall covering.

it was a very challenging design for the arrangement along the window to accommodate the two fridges, the franke double sink with drainboard, and the miele dish washer. all these are from my old house i want to keep. I managed to arrange 3 equal width wide base cabinets. That is the secret of the high end look.

reproposed vitra ad wall with custom plywood (again with cheap birch plywood from home depot) serves as back splash of center cabinet group; miele oven at right; cutting jig being made for the paperstone counter top; note all the drawers are located on cabinets not visible from major vantage points

vitra ad wall moved in - i discarded many components not needed for the kitchen re-purposed use; the eating table extension required major ikea-hack to standard cabinet carcass and drawers; the table top was faced with plywood that transported the paperstone counter top (because I like the wood figures)

cardboard mockup of the vent hood enclosure

a finished counter cutting guide

some tools used in the renovation

some of the ikea cabinet carcasses

new plywood-cum-wall-panels sheeted over the newly shifted pantry door opening; there is no more door as I like being able to get to what I need with the least steps; for me a well made and well stocked pantry is visually pleasing; the door on the right is the laundry room which leads to wall of windows at the back yard

temporary counter top up and sink in - a man have to eat while the project continues

a piece of sample counter top to test the amount of "reveal" i want to achieve, against the cabinet front and the chosen drawer pull

counter cut to width - boring the electrical/water supply/drain grommet for the espresso machine; the paperstone countertop material is the toughest sheet good I had ever deal with in my life; it eats carbine cutting tool like wood; I tried the best of router bit and router to no avail; the only way is to nibble and file it fater drilling small holes around the target diameter.

dissatisfied with the look of most vent hood I built a housing for a price-reduce bin black bosch vent hood; all i want is the functional parts sans the housing; cheap birch plywood from home depot

hand brush on oil based polyurethane brings out the under-appreciated figures

standard height ikea lower cabinet hacked (modified) to accommodate the "i-beams" of the re-purpose desk. because of the hack, no standard drawer front would fit so they too have to be cut to fit.

vent hood installed; i-beam of repurposed desk and metal legs installed onto the hacked-ikea base cabinet assembly; I like the height transition from the dynasty "commercial" gas range to the eating table, which accentuates the eccentricity of the kitchen design.

somewhat finish kitchen area; note there is no top cabinets as want to maintain the clean look; in this major vantage point no drawers are visible, instead one see the wide clean looking door which I worked very hard to make fit. the narrower ones are below the sink which are much less noticable.

this is by no mean the final finished kitchen, but you can see the kitchen was taking shape; i would like to post an up-to-date picture buy my kitchen is very cluttered for a photo opp right now.

the black flooring and the black toe kicks give the visual impression that the cabinets are levitating in the air. the tolomeo lamp is fitted to the paperstone countertop with a purposed made base screwed into the counter. it provides more than adequate task lighting for food preparation

view from below of the german vent hood with beautiful lighting

marking ikea drawer front for cutting and reboring of mounting holes

one modified drawer front in - note the duct tape fashioned as drawer pull as mock-up

re-installing the old sidings to fit around the relocated windows. some cutting involved so inevitably i have to buy some new cedar siding which no longer available in this narrow dimensions. they are white because I preprimed them.

when i remove the sidings, i numbered each one so I can install them back in the same sequence.

more primer; masked and ready for top coat - i only have to buy an 8-feet new siding owing to the care i took in saving them when removing

this is an old picture when the ad wall was being used in the living room

now used in kitchen

the "starbucks" corner

Additional Details:

• The counter top material is called paperstone. It is made with recycled paper that is pressed under extreme pressure and heat bonded with a resin. It has a matte finish and I selected a charcoal black color which has the appearance of the counter of the benches inside a high school chemical laboratory from the old days. My kitchen is my laboratory for food preparation. I selected the 1 1/4" thickness instead of the common 1". One major drawback with paperstone is the company only manufacture them in 30" wide sheets and up to 12' long. For a nominal 24" deep base cabinet that means cutting away 6" of waste. This material is very pricey and I decided to do the installation myself. The 12' long 30" wide uncut piece weight in at a few hundred pounds. It is just slightly lighter than natural stone counter material.
• The European Frigidaire refrigerators were made in Switzeland called Euroflair that I acquired in the 90s. They were available for only a few years. Super quiet and very nice feel on the door action. One is freezer and fridge, and the other top and bottom fridge. In all there are 3 very small compressors - thus very quiet. They are typical European modular dimensions so each fits in a 24"x24" foot print. The door hinges are design not to encroach into adjacent space allotment. They accepts custom panels.
• The Vitra Ad Wall was designed by Antonio Citterio whom has design many products for Vitra. Ad Wall, long since out of production, however was a huge money loser for the company due to the high cost of manufacturing and system complexity. The entire system was made in Germany and only very few was ever sold in the US. It has customizable electrical conducts and cable management but the parts are astronomically expensive. My system includes a desk which top I discarded but kept the skeleton and the legs. The legs are drop-dead gorgeous and the i-beam back bone are built like a tank.
• I have this Miele dish washer for a very long time. I was my first and I intended it to be my last. It has the unique Miele top cutlery drawer and the most efficient rack design. It accepts custom made front panel. Very quiet and delivers very clean wash even if the dish and bowl are tight packed as sardines. Together with Asko they were the earliest introduction of quiet and efficient dishwasher to the US market.
• The Franke double bowl sink for a very long time. It is no longer available. It is the precursor to the current Artisan ARX62X before some designer hellbent to mess up the clean design to leave their own mark (happen all too often with many timeless designs). It has a built in drainboard. I first encounter double sink with drainboard at a friends house. I thought to myself it make so much sense, and I found this Franke for my previous kitchen. I cannot live without one like their old promotion slogan - "what am I doing to do without my Franke?" By the most impossible chance I came across a stainless steel drain rack from Italy at Kitchen Kaboodle one day. I immediately took the measurements and went home to check the fit. It fit like they were designed for each other.
• I have this Miele convection oven for a very long time. It is a European modular dimensions which most American buyers deems too small (especially for a Thanksgiving turkey). Ikea has cabinet parts that are design to accommodate the 24"x24"x24" dimensions. Below the oven is a drawer for keeping the oven miscellaneous.
• I have the Dynasty "commercial" range for a long time. I acquired it during the commercial kitchen craze years when everybody wants a wolf range. It is a nice piece of American appliance built with heavy gauge sheet metal in the City of Industry. It is all gas and has extra depth of 32" instead of 24". I really like the projection as it breaks up the monotonous look of a flush kitchen. The extra depth allow my 16" wok to fit without encroaching into the back burners.

Ever wonder how they achieve the gorgeous high end kitchens you see on the glossy photos at boffi, bulthaup, and sieMatic.  It is the movie set-like approach they take to create the beautiful and spacious kitchen. Very few family has the space for the kitchens they stage in these glossy pictures. Additionally one real cook can use these super minimalist kitchens.

update aug 5th 2012 - more pictures in this post "pix of kitchen"