Michael Holigan: If you'd like to take your existing kitchen and make it look like a brand new house, you need an expert with you. We've got Dave Goodroe back from Designs for Living. Good to have you here Dave.
Dave Goodroe: Good to see you again.
M.H.: Dave, tell me about this kitchen. We feel a little cramped. We've got fur downs here at about seven foot; countertops are a little dated, so's the sink. What are you going to do?
D.G.: Well, first of all, we're going to remove this wall over to this cabinet.
M.H.: On these 36 cabinets are you going to leave the rest of them up?
D.G.: We're going to leave the actual box unit up. The little storage compartments are a dated feature of this kitchen, and so we will be cutting them off at the base.
M.H.: What are you going to do to open it up and make it look more modern?
D.G.: Well the fur down squashes the room. And this is not a real big kitchen. So what we're going to do is remove the lower and the face plate of the fur down up to the standard eight foot height.
M.H.: Okay, well what are you going to do about the whole sink and the countertops?
D.G.: We'll remove the sink and the fixture and replace the countertop and the sink with a Corian champaign color countertop and then coming back with a four to six inch backsplash out of ceramic tile.
M.H.: And then you say you're going to go ahead and take it to bar stool height on the other side?
D.G.: And put a cap of Corian on that counter.
M.H.: So definitely make it look more like a new house since now they're opened up to the dinette areas and into the family room. David by the time you remove these three cabinets, plus the area above the sink, you're going to be pulling this wall, I would say, all the way back here. That's really going to open it up to the dinette area plus to the family room.
D.G.: And that was the purpose of the project, was to allow the people in the kitchen to interact with those in the living area.
M.H.: David, that definitely opens up the whole house.
D.G.: Yes it does.
M.H.: Totally different. Kitchen looks twice a large also.
D.G.: It does.
M.H.: And this is one morning's work. How long is the whole project going to take?
D.G.: A couple of weeks.
M.H.: It's not too bad. It's going to knock 20 years off this house. Love the countertop.
D.G.: It's Corian solid surface with a Corian solid surface sink.
M.H.: Yeah, it looks great. Let's see how that's put together. You haven't done the bar top yet.
D.G.: They're ready to go.
M.H.: Yeah, you got pieces on each end.
D.G.: We're applying some mastic again for the adhesion to the countertops of the surface.
M.H.: And this Corian is actually in two pieces. Why is that?
D.G.: In order for a very tight fit, there's about a 64th of an inch seam that'll be between the two junctures.
M.H.: I guess if it would have been one big piece they would of had to shove it on one side and they might have scraped the sheetrock coming down the other side also.
D.G.: They would have and you would not have had the real tight fit to the end walls that we want to have.
M.H.: Okay. This has a great routed edge on it. It looks to be about a one inch. What's the flat surface for right here?
D.G.: The flat surface will be used when they perform the seaming and they'll sand that down and then round the edges over after they get through with the seams. And there's a part A and a part B sealant that we've mixed together in the plastic tube and it applies between the seam gap.
M.H.: Okay.
D.G.: And then we'll apply some tension to the seam. and allow it to stand for 30, 45 minutes and then we'll be able to sand and finish off the surface.
M.H.: Instead of waiting for that seam, let's come right over here. This one's already dried and it looks like they're about to start sanding it. What are they going to do now?
D.G.: They will use an orbital sander to sand down the seam sealer and that will make it smooth and then they'll brush it off and the seam will actually disappear.
M.H.: David, the installers did a great job. I know that the seam should be right in this area due to our flat edge, but I can't see anything and I definitely can't feel it. It looks perfect.
D.G.: That's the beauty of a solid surface countertop Michael. That after the sanding and the buffing process and of course we still have to route this edge, but you'll never know there was a seam ever there.
M.H.: Yeah. It looks sharp. What are you going to need for a back splash here David?
D.G.: On a backsplash above all of the countertops, we're going to install a ceramic tile.
M.H.: Okay. Well that's going to help bring down the age of the house.
D.G.: Yes it will.
M.H.: Here we are with just a few weeks later and the kitchen looks great. David, you did a great job.
D.G.: Thank you. It looks neat, doesn't it?
M.H.: Yeah, it looks neat. It's light, it's very functional, I love how it's open now. I mean, it does look 20 years younger opening up to the living room.
D.G.: It does.
M.H.: Very nice house.
D.G.: It's opening up, taking out the walls and the beam and then bringing in some accent lighting and changing over some of the appliances and of course this white countertop with the white cabinets.
M.H.: Yeah, the Corian looks great.
D.G.: Just pops it out.
M.H.: And removing the fur downs really opened up the house too. I noticed below the bar here that your molding matches exactly the rest of the molding in the house. Did you have to have that custom milled somewhere?
D.G.: Sometimes we have too in a project. In this one we used a remodel trick. We took the upper portion of the wall that we turn...cut out, and inverted it and placed it in the lower section to retain the offsets that we have along the room.
M.H.: And so the reason it matches so well is it's the original molding?
D.G.: Exactly. It's what used to be where my hand is going now.
M.H.: Okay. How about the bookshelf down below on the cabinet? A lot of people are adding those now. How did you do that?
D.G.: Well, the home owner loves to cook and needed a place for her cooking books. And the cooking books measured up to about nine inches deep. So what we did is we went to our custom cabinet maker and had him build adjustable shelving that would hold her cookbooks.
M.H.: Now, what is a remodel like this going to cost somebody?
D.G.: Between $8,000 and $10,000.
M.H.: So it is reasonable that someone can do this.
D.G.: Yes, most homeowners could do this.
M.H.: And you can get financing on something like this?
D.G.: Yes you can, it's very available.
M.H.: Okay. David, thanks for the help.
D.G.: Thank you.
M.H.: Be checking in with you later in the year.
D.G.: Great. Look forward to it.
Episode 015 1995 - 96 Season
| Cabinets | Countertops | Christmas Tree Formula | Kitchen Remodel | Leftover Concrete | Stenciling (design) | Lending for Difficult Credit |
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