Kitchen Update - Spring Break

We picked up where we left off almost a year ago - removing the wood paneling that was nailed over the dry wall in the kitchen. We stopped where the cabinets were because honestly, the task was intimidating because on tv, doing cabinets seemed like such a project. It turned out to be pretty easy (just a pain).

Starting with the South side, I emptied all the cabinets. Removed all the outlet plates and trim. Bagged the related screws and labeled them. Then Keith removed the counter top which is only held down by some screws and the cabinets. I vacuumed constantly because there was so much dust and grit everywhere. Then one by one, Keith had to pry all the anchor bolts out of the wall, which was a real pain. He must have hammered his hand and wrist a bazillion times. I have a lot of spackling to do in the next few days because they leave a huge gaping hole in the wall. Then he tore the wood paneling off, which was pretty difficult and messy.

Then we figured we might as well keep going with the wall behind the stove. Fortunately, the gas line is through the floor and not the wall, so we didn't have to mess with that. We simply just pulled the stove out to get behind it. To remove the exhaust hood, we had to unscrew the duct that was attached to it, unscrew the "face", turn off the electricity, and then remove the hood from the attached cabinets.

The next step is to finish building the soffit to conceal the exhaust duct, do the North wall, put the ceiling up, spackle, sand, paint and then put everything back on. Too bad we have to work, otherwise we could get this done in a week. I'm still up in the air about what color to paint the kitchen.

Empty cabinets


Remove drawers, counter tops, cabinets.


Cabinets gone.


Cabinets sitting in the dining room.


Maui kept watch to make sure we were doing it right.


Prying out/off the anchor bolts.


Tearing off the wood paneling. This came off clean, but the ones located at corners were really tough.


Removing the exhaust hood. Unscrew the duct. Pull out the stove. (*Do not mess with the gas line!*)


Remove cabinets. Prying the millions of anchor bolts again.


Remove molding, then wood paneling. This took a really long time actually.


Since we're going to use these cabinets to camouflage the exhaust duct, I worked on rearranging the doors.


Maui worked so hard that he needed a nap.