Kitchen progress

I paid for the kitchen cabinets this week, over 7 grand. That price also included the bathroom vanities and the bar, but it's still a lot of money. But a nice kitchen is what sells, so gotta do it. The appliances and granite counter top will be extra, of course.

I mentioned before that I had torn out the old kitchen cabinets and the tile. Nate has been helping me in tearing out the 1970s parquet floor in the kitchen. And today I started with the ceiling.

We decided that the ugly fluorescent lights had to go in favor of recessed lighting. And the lowered ceiling in the kitchen had to be raised to the same level as in the nook. Since the cabinets need the 6 inches that the lowered ceiling took away, it was obvious that I needed to tear out the old soffet and put in a new ceiling. So today I started with the crowbar.

To my horror, someone in the past had removed all the joists in the ceiling and replaced them with new joists about 6 inches lower. So I not only have to get rid of the old drywall, the old fluorescent lights, the old and very dusty pink fiberglass insulation, but I must also tear down the 2x4s holding everything up and replace them with new 2x4s in the right place. And put in new insulation. And new ceiling drywall. Of course, none of this was in the budget.

Here's some pictures of the kitchen. On the left is the kitchen as I purchased the house and the right is what it looks like today. I still

need to finish the demo, then I can begin replacing the framing and drywall in there. And finally the recessed lighting.