Surviving A Kitchen Renovation

My wife and I recently lived through a kitchen renovation and we are not renovation rookies by any means.  Over the years we have done three major renovations at our house and at some point they have all involved the interior, and we were able to manage.  That having been said, we knew going into it that not having a kitchen would be a challenge.  We certainly did not want to live on take-out but you have to ask yourself, how do I live without a major part of the household operation?

My advice is that timing is everything!  First off, we had a solid design in place before we touched anything.  Knowing there is a lead time associated with the kitchen, we knew an approximate delivery date and from there we worked backwards.  I have a background in construction, so I project managed the job myself given my connections to various trades.  If you do not have that skillset, align with someone who does and has a proven track record.

Our project was a full gut of the kitchen, right back to the studs and subfloor, as the only thing that stayed in the same place was the stove.  All plumbing and electrical locations were moving in the new and improved design.  Our old kitchen was on two walls with a table in the room and contained 13 cabinets.  The new design wraps three walls and there is a peninsula island with a raised eating bar for a total of 22 cabinets.  What is the biggest difference in the new kitchen, is that all but 4 cabinets would be considered organizational, task specific cabinets with embedded accessories in them.  These are key, given that this is not a large room.  So, while we can focus on the aesthetics of the exterior, the cabinet selection and the embedded accessories are just as important.

Close to 80% of all the selections in our kitchen, be it exterior colours, door styles or hardware on the internal components, come from products added to the Deslaurier catalogue in the last three years (with many of them having been in for less than a year)!  Needless to say, we have some very interesting solutions in our kitchen and the combination of cabinet finishes with flooring, tile backsplashes and countertop selections, have all given us a kitchen we are very proud of and pleased with.

Working with a plan in hand, our project took us six weeks from the demo day to the solid surface countertops being installed.  We were four weeks from the tear out to the cabinets being installed, but that does take some execution to do that!  Our laundry room became our kitchen.  We were fortunate to do it in the summer months when the BBQ was our best friend and most of all, you need a great deal of patience for the situation and each other during the renovation.  Not everything goes 100% according to plan, but I can tell you it is all worth it in the end!  Many parties have to work together in projects like this and the team at Deslaurier is there to assist along the way, as a member of your renovation team.

Click here to see the finished product!