The Spacegoats Make a New Kitchen!

Things have been pretty busy around here with remodeling the kitchen.

Our original plan was to remove the soffits to allow for a real overhaul and open up the already tiny space, but that idea was quickly shelved when we realized we would "have to" have the ceilings checked for asbestos. We have the lovely popcorn ceilings and the ones that were installed pre-1978 (which is a loose number) potentially have asbestos in them. Our house was built in 1979 and I didn't want to taken any chances. The more I read about getting the tests done and the money involved, the more we decided we could live with the soffits.

So we started to make a plan and a budget, but then we got ahead of ourselves and went to Ikea and bought our cabinets last Thursday. Since they were so heavy, we had them delivered and they arrived the next day. I don't know what was wrong with Clint and I, but we somehow neglected to think about the fact that Ikea products come in pieces. As they unloaded our flat boxes of cabinet materials, the realization set in: we would have to assemble these cabinets before Clint could even install them! I know - we're stupid.

Things went pretty smoothly for a couple of days. We got all the upper cabinets installed, but then paused on the lowers until we got out countertop situation situated. We had imagined that we would install laminate than looks like granite because of the cost. Well, this is where spending some time on a budget before we got started would have been useful. We went to three stores to price the cost of laminate countertops. Just for the countertops and delivery, it would cost about $700! That doesn't even include removal and disposal of our old countertops, or installation of the new one, or sink connects and disconnects! So we don't think we're going to buy laminate.

We priced some granite tiles today with the prospect of laying them as the countertop. It would be about $400, with Clint doing all labor himself. I just wish we had planned out a full budget ahead of time so I could have started adjusting to the prices awhile ago.