My Kitchen Improvement » kitchen renovation

Installing the Range Hood

admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:03:27 +0000

I chose the ProLine Range Hood model 101.36. It is a 36″ 1000 CFM under cabinet (or wall optional) mount range hood. The hood install itself was relatively easy. Being someone who did it alone, I highly recommend you have some help. This thing gets heavy when you lift it up that high. I used the same technique installing the range hood as I did for the kitchen cabinets. I first tacked up a temporary support support board, heaved that puppy up on it so I was able to hold it in place with one hand/shoulder while drilling in the first screws.

Proline Range Hood Model PLJW 101.36

The hardest part about installing the hood was the duct work. This really has little to do with the hood itself, and will vary for each setup. I had to go up into a “bridge” cabinet, make a 90 degree turn, go into a closet on the other side of the wall, make a 90 degree turn up, then one more turn before heading out a side wall via a crawlspace between floors. This crawl space is made possible becasue of a lowered ceiling in the pantry/bath area off the kitchen.

Under the Cabinet for Range Hood Installation

Be sure to have your power supply setup also. I had a standard 120v outlet behind the cabinet and just cut a whole through the back of the cabinet for the range hood power supply

I cut a square hole in the bottom of the cabinet, and then a round whole into the back and through the wall. The ProLine Range Hood model PLJW 101.36 has a square offtake transitioning into an 8″ round duct.

Under Cabinet Hole for Range Hood Installation

Back of Cabinet Hole for Range Hood Installation

You can see that I had to cut out a portion of the top of the cabinet as well in order to accommodate the 8″ round 90 degree turn out the back.

Installed Range Hood Under Cabinet

Installed ProLine PLJW 101.36

Viola! ProLine Range Hood installation complete!

As far as ProLine goes, the were pretty good to deal with. I had an issue with my first order, which was a different model, that apparently got damaged in route with UPS. It was a bit confusing when it didn’t show up per the tracking and after a little research I figured out what happened. The Proline Rep was pleasant to deal with and easy to get in touch with. I had to choose a different model since my original choice was now out of stock. They gave me a credit for my headaches and the new one arrived quickly. Overall a good experience.

The hood is working great. The noise level is very decent. On the high setting at 1000 CFM, there is plenty of noise but not enough to hamper conversation right near it. The lower setting are basically ‘quiet’. More quiet than the old tiny recirculating “hood” I have over the 30″ stove. It’s also a very attractive hood.

Hanging Maple Cabinets

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:17:09 +0000

Finally, some rewarding progress! In all fairness, doing the travertine tile floor was rewarding but it took so long it was hard to appreciate. Now it’s covered up so it can’t be enjoyed.

I used contractors paper available at your local big box hardware store to cover the floor while the work continued elsewhere.

The kitchen cabinets arrived pretty much as expected. They are maple with a burnished coffee glaze and cabinet-grade plywood boxed. The drawers feature the hydraulic closing mechanism which is nice when the drawer is full.

At first they sat in the living room as the travertine was finished, then moved into the kitchen:

It is not difficult to hang kitchen cabinets if you haven’t any help. Simply attach a level board at the bottom line of the cabinet and hold the cabinet up with one hand while using a screw gun/drill with the other. Be sure to pre drill pilot holes were the studs will line up. Basically this is lot of measuring and line drawing.

Hanging Cabinets with One Person

I used 2 1/2 inch deck screws with a washer to connect cabinets to teh wall. Be sure to only screw through the frame portion of the cabinet. For cabinet to cabinet side screws, I used 1 5/8 deck screws. TIP: Drill a hole just big enough to slide the screw through in the first cabinet, and a normal pilot hole in the second joining cabinet. This way the screw won’t “grip” the first cabinet and push the two cabinets apart when it reaches the second…it will try to pull them snug together, which is what you want.

1 5/8 screws accommodate for the space between cabinets

2 1/2 inch deck screws with washer join cabinets to studs in the wall

If you play your cards right and get the first (corner if you have one) cabinet right, there wont be a lot of shimming and leveling on the others.

Installing Recessed Lighting in Kitchen

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:54:34 +0000

After the pre-tile floor was complete the next step was to move on to knocking out some electrical work to get this kitchen renovation moving. Each half of the kitchen was slated for 6 and 5 recessed lights, with the side of 5 also having hanging mini pendants over the island. USALight has great deals on recessed lighting. I also used them for a basement renovation where I had 16 4″ cans in the room (click the link for details of that project).

Since the ceilings are 10 feet high in for this kitchen improvement project, I went with 6″ cans.

6" Recessed Lighting Cans

I used “new construction” cans for the side of the kitchen were I tore out the old dropped ceiling, and “exisitng construction” or refurb cans for the other side.

These cans by REX lighting come with convenient templates for cutting drywall on the refurb side and all cans have easy plug n click connections for the wiring.

Recessed Lighting for Kitchen Ceiling Remodel

Recessed Lighting Template for Kitchen Improvement

Recessed Lighting in Kitchen

Recessed Kitchen Lighting Installed in New Construction Side

The blue junction boxes are for the pendants that will hang over the kitchen island.

Kitchen Improvement: Island Lighting

A critical part of any renovation, particualrly a kitchen imp-rovement, is good lighting design. The cans are positioned so the light flows to the desired area. For these (and most) cans, there is about a 1:1 relationship between the spread of the light and the height of the light. So for example, when I was considering the cans close to the support header, I spositioned them at least as far away as teh header is tall so that the light would not shine on and bring attention to the header. Similar thought process when determining the position of the light cans over the counter. I want as much light as possible to shine in to cabinets, on the counter, and not cast a shadow by being blocked by the top of the counter.

Multiple light zones are also important. This kitchen is designed with 6 distinct light zone to achieve the right combination for the right atmosphere:

1.) Main recessed in work area

2.) Main recessed (dimable) in eating/seating area

3.) Hanging mini pendants over the island

4.) under cabinet task light

5.) Over cabinet accent light

6.) Grill/Range light

Here is the swithc box for juicing and switching the cabinet, main work area cans, and the hanging island pendants:

Lighting Zones for Kitchen Improvement

All New, Clean Wiring for this Kitchen Improvement

Bowed Joists Under Tile Floor

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:23:11 +0000

There was no choice but to remove the subfloor since the tile was so severley stuck to it (see tile mess here). When doing a kitchen renovation, trust me, you dont want to run into this problem. Under the subfloor was an old wood floor in half the room, and floor joists in the other half. The floor joists had “sister joists” attached to the sid of each one that leveled out the floor for tile. The bowed floor dropped nearly 2 inched from side to center. The problem was that the sister joists were also glued to the subfloor in that half, so they had to go also. We basically stripped half the room down to joists. These pictures are a bit blurry but you get the idea:

bowed floor joists

So the next step was a new subfloor and then a layer of hardy board cement based sheets. This processes was continued into the pantry and kitchen area. Rebuilding the floor from scratch was not part of the plan (or budget) for this kitchen improvement. There were probably some work-arounds that could have been done, or I could have kept the old floor. At the end of the day I think I did the right thing with a nice level floor throughout.

new hardy-board on kitchen floor

hardibacker cement board leveleing floor

In front of the sealed up fireplace self-leveling cement was pours to make it flush with the hardiboard.

Kitchen Improvement: Rebuilding and leveling the Floor Complete

level kitchen floor

Level into the (soon to be) walk in pantry, coat closet, bathroom:

level bathroom floor

If you are including an island in your new kitchen, don’t forget the electric before sealing up the floor!

electric for kitchen island

Tear Down the Wall!

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:12:11 +0000

This was a load bearing wall basically runs the length of the house and was the first thing to be considered before starting this major kitchen improvement. It was a support type of wall, not holding the entire weight from above. The perpendicular second floor joists run the whole width of the home from one brick exterior wall to the opposite with no break.

kitchen improvement - wall removal

In the above picture you can clearly see the ‘drop down’ 2×4 framed ceiling that was installed in the cooking area of the kitchen. Besides making it easier to install recessed can lights, and maybe for the “look” of the cabintes going to the ceiling, I’m not quite sure why this was done. I do know this: it’s coming out! 10 foot ceilings will be had all about this new kitchen.

kitchen improvement - above the "drop ceiling"

above the drop/false ceiling

where cabinets met the dlowered ceiling

uneven floor between seating & cooking area

A beam ran along the floor, as the footer to the removed wall, which was left for some reason. This caused the two ares to have two different floor levels witha threshold smoothing the way from one to another. Here you can see the tile butted up against this beam, with a layer of sub and then the old original wood floors below.

Beginning the kitchen improvement: Tear Down That Wall!

New support header installed…

Beginning the kitchen improvement: Tear Down That Wall!

new support beam

The effect that removing a wall can have on a room is simply incredible! The space feels so big and open. New floor, cabinets, countertops, light fixtures, etc…are eagerly anticipated!