Kitchen Cabinet Reno – Demolition

I dreaded the thought of getting started on this project because the first thing I needed to do is some demolition. One reason I chose to simply update our existing cabinets is I wanted to avoid the humongous mess that a wholescale cabinet tear-out would create. It is a good thing though that the demolition I need to do is tiny by comparison…

Note the yellow panel and the blue trim.

The fridge wall upper cabinets.

The yellow panel needs to be torn off and the blue trim needs to be removed. There is nothing behind the yellow panels. You might think something related to our heating and cooling system might be behind these panels, or something back there to hide. But nothing was there making this area newly found storage space. Why such a panel exists is mind boggling to me. Our kitchen isn’t big; maximizing storage space is a no brainer. Why the builder of our home didn’t simply run the cabinets all the way to the ceiling is something I’ll never understand. I’m sure the reason is that the original design was “good enough”.

The blue trim along the ceiling is there only to cover up an gaps between the upper cabinets and the ceiling. There is no real crown molding along the ceiling to make it look nice.

Demolition complete.

We have a family of three and as we all know, the kitchen is at times the most active room in a home. Especially when your daughter is a baker by profession. Doing the demolition shown above happened while she was taking photos for her blog and Instagram (see her blog here; follow her Instagram account if you like – she is trying to grow her list of followers). Minimizing the resulting debris was critical.

For this newly found storage space, I will simply add a face frame. The sheetrock wall will continue to serve as the back of this space and if you look closely in the photo above, I have removed the popcorn ceiling texture, a task that creates a bodacious mess. Even when taking precautions, the popcorn texture gets everywhere.

The sheetrock ceiling will become the top of the cabinet. This area is up high and the space is not tall, so actually seeing into it from the floor is hard to do. The plan will be to paint the inside of this area making it look nice.

Face frame installed.

The new face frame aligns with the existing face frame and I’m using pocket screws for joinery. I had only a little trouble driving the pocket screws from the back of the face frame into the upper cabinets. These screws are driven from the back of the door dividers. I had to use a right angle attachment for my drill when doing this. A very cumbersome task. And I am certain I was cussing a little while doing this. I was on a short step ladder and the base cabinets extend outward from the wall more than the upper cabinets do. All this made getting my body in place a balancing act. But a few cuss words later and the job was complete.

As a reminder, here is what the cabinet design will look like when finished…

The newly found space along the ceiling and all the doors updated.

Next up: door construction. I’ll make a prototype door and discuss the construction method.