Goodbye Ugly Cabinets!
I had yesterday off from work, so I thought it would be a good chance to tackle removing my kitchen cabinets. I'd originally planned to pay someone to do it, but it was expensive and I thought it probably wouldn't be TOO difficult to do myself. It was an adventure. Here's the picture diary of the day!
First, I seriously have the best boyfriend ever. He helped all day and thanks to his expert drilling skills, we were able to remove most of the screws without incident! He stayed in a good mood all day, even after I smashed his fingers in the dishwasher (just a little). I even almost believed him when he said there was nothing else he'd rather be doing. So yeah, he's awesome.
Now for the pictures!
Here's how the kitchen looked before we started:
You can't really tell from the picture, but the cabinets were painted this nasty off-white color and had the texture of an orange peel. The shelves inside were all vaguely greasy and had shelf paper on them at least a hundred years old!
We started by removing the garbage disposal. I figured if we couldn't get the plumbing stuff done, it just wasn't gonna happen. Here's me trying to not get any gunk on myself!
We moved on to pulling out the stove and removing the hood. There's a nice hole behind where the hood was, but otherwise it wasn't too disgusting. Next came the dishwasher, which was much more exciting. Josh pulled a little too hard on it and the sparks went flying! We quickly turned off the breakers and ended up cutting the power cable to get the dishwasher out. Apparently they put it in and then built the cabinets around it, because there really was no other way to get it out!
We pushed everything over to the side, and then removed all the drawers and doors before moving on to the sink. There was a water filtration system we had to disconnect, and that was a bit of fun! It turned out the storage tank was pressurized, and we both got squirted before it was all over!
We pried the sink up, which caused a bit of damage to the countertop. Then the counter came off and it was time for the fun part! Each base cabinet was attached to the wall in a few places and the seal between the cabinets (due to the painting) was amazingly strong. Eventually, the base cabinets all came up and then we started on the big pantry cabinet! The pantry cabinet was a beast - it goes to about an inch below the ceiling, and one of the screws was seriously stripped, so it was hard to remove. We wrestled it out eventually!
Then we started on the top cabinets, gradually going around the room until they were all down.
And that was it! I now have a bedroom full of kitchen cabinets and a kitchen full of dust and old linoleum. The next step is to get rid of the cabinets and old appliances (hopefully tomorrow) and then get in the floor contractor to do the floor work. After that, I'll get it painted, and then I think I'll move in and finish the kitchen while living there. I haven't totally decided on that, but I am eager to get moved!
First, I seriously have the best boyfriend ever. He helped all day and thanks to his expert drilling skills, we were able to remove most of the screws without incident! He stayed in a good mood all day, even after I smashed his fingers in the dishwasher (just a little). I even almost believed him when he said there was nothing else he'd rather be doing. So yeah, he's awesome.
Now for the pictures!
Here's how the kitchen looked before we started:
You can't really tell from the picture, but the cabinets were painted this nasty off-white color and had the texture of an orange peel. The shelves inside were all vaguely greasy and had shelf paper on them at least a hundred years old!
We started by removing the garbage disposal. I figured if we couldn't get the plumbing stuff done, it just wasn't gonna happen. Here's me trying to not get any gunk on myself!
We moved on to pulling out the stove and removing the hood. There's a nice hole behind where the hood was, but otherwise it wasn't too disgusting. Next came the dishwasher, which was much more exciting. Josh pulled a little too hard on it and the sparks went flying! We quickly turned off the breakers and ended up cutting the power cable to get the dishwasher out. Apparently they put it in and then built the cabinets around it, because there really was no other way to get it out!
We pushed everything over to the side, and then removed all the drawers and doors before moving on to the sink. There was a water filtration system we had to disconnect, and that was a bit of fun! It turned out the storage tank was pressurized, and we both got squirted before it was all over!
We pried the sink up, which caused a bit of damage to the countertop. Then the counter came off and it was time for the fun part! Each base cabinet was attached to the wall in a few places and the seal between the cabinets (due to the painting) was amazingly strong. Eventually, the base cabinets all came up and then we started on the big pantry cabinet! The pantry cabinet was a beast - it goes to about an inch below the ceiling, and one of the screws was seriously stripped, so it was hard to remove. We wrestled it out eventually!
Then we started on the top cabinets, gradually going around the room until they were all down.
And that was it! I now have a bedroom full of kitchen cabinets and a kitchen full of dust and old linoleum. The next step is to get rid of the cabinets and old appliances (hopefully tomorrow) and then get in the floor contractor to do the floor work. After that, I'll get it painted, and then I think I'll move in and finish the kitchen while living there. I haven't totally decided on that, but I am eager to get moved!