Kitchen Remodel

Kitchen Remodel Project

Before starting to install new cabinets some structural work was required. This corner had old water damage and needed to be repaired. Both part of the front sill and end sill were rotted. In addition, the main corner post was rotted at the bottom. Three floor beams were also rotted where they connected to the sill. This would be a major job to repair but with son Eric's skills and knowledge we had it fixed in a few days. The sills were replaced with new PT. The corner post was spliced with a timber from the same farm that milled the floor boards. The old floor (tree) beams were replaced with modern 2X lumber. I had thought about using timbers to keep it authentic but decided on ease instead. 

The exposed sill and post. The bottom of the post is already gone and was patched before we owned the house. A rough 2 x 6 is spliced in sitting on a brick.

Old floor beams supported while the ends are cut off. These are oak and are hard as a rock but the ends were rotted when they enter the pockets of the (also rotted) sill.

This is the end wall. We removed the siding under the bulkhead entry, screwed a 2X8 to the wall studs and supported the wall with temporary posts. Before supporting it we jacked up the wall to remove the weight from the corner post on the left. In this photo we've already replaced both sills and the post. The wall is sitting back down on the new sills.

New floor joists installed.

Sheathing replaced and ready for the siding to be put back on. Beneath the old sheathing I found yellow clapboard siding with forest green trim. It must have looked nice. I'm not sure if it was the original siding. Other older boards point to a wider ship lap type siding. The original cape ends at the corner. Continuing on is a short entry to the basement. Behind that is another post & beam structure which extends off at an angle. I do not know if the two structures were built at the same time but they both have the same building techniques. It was customary to start small, construct a building for the space required, and then add to it as the family grew. I do not have an exact date for when the house was built but I estimate 1850's. I've traced the deeds but this was all large farm plots and there are no notes on when structures were built.



A few layout changes were required both for updates and to give the kitchen more usable space. The house has an abundance of windows and doors, nice for light but challenging for cabinets. The kitchen has three windows, two doors, a chimney plus is open to the dining room. Changes would help.

This was the location of an old chimney. In past times a wood stove in the kitchen was connected here. It made the kitchen nice in colder months and really added to the overall charm of the house. The chimney was in bad shape and really needed to be removed. This will be the new location of the refrigerator.

This is a door which was unnecessary. Walling it up will allow much needed cabinet space. In addition the refrigerator will be moved to another part of the kitchen.


With all of the structural and framing work completed it was time to start removing the old floor. Years of changes and updates, some poor, resulted in layers of flooring to remove. The kitchen had multiple layers of linoleum, plywood and tiles all interspersed with leveling shims and some large sleepers. There were nails everywhere. The worst was layers of particle board nailed with spiral shank nails.

Demolition is the worst part of any remodel especially if you have to live there while it is happening. Redoing a kitchen also means having no sink or stove. We started by relocating the refrigerator to the front room, temporary but still provided needed food storage. The stove and sink cabinet was removed next and work removing the old floor started there. Once the old floor was removed the stove and sink cabinet were temporarily re-installed for use. What a mess to live in.

Tequi, short for Tequila makes the best of it by staking out a place to hang out away from the noise. She was a rescue, found on the streets of Warwick RI and named by the people at the pound. She was then taken in by a boarder affiliated with the organization Siamese Rescue and eventually found her way to me. She's the queen of the house and is an absolute darling. Besides Tequi, the front room along with the bedroom became a storage place for everything.

Ripping up old flooring in the dining room. In 1923 the bead board and maple was nailed over the original pine floor. The bead board is in the middle with the nice maple around the outside. The floor was laid this way knowing that a carpet would be used, covering the bead board in the center. The nice maple would be visible on the outside. At this time the bay was also added. It extends up through the second floor. I find it interesting that it was added. The original house was constructed as a high post cape. There are three "bents" supporting the house. One each at the front and rear (kitchen) gables, with the middle one at the inner wall where the front room ends. The bay was built between bents two & three. Sometime in the seventies by my estimate particle board was nailed over the maple so tiles could be installed. Pulling the old floor up was a real chore. The four-foot long pry bar helps.

This is how we dated the addition of the bay and maple floor. This newspaper was found under the bead board floor in the bay. It's dated May 6, 1923.

There are multiple layers of flooring and filler material. They used everything to fill the floor including an old automobile license plate. Using a circular saw equipped with a carbide blade we cut 12 inch spaced groves on a checkerboard pattern. This made it easier to rip up the old floor. The blade depth was set to just reach the subfloor. It was hard work for us and the saw. The old Craftsman did burn out. I was sorry to see it go, it gave me 30 good years.

A nice view of the maple edge and bead board center. I saved some of the nicer maple strips and may try to make a jewelry box or something similar later on. As old as the wood is, the back side of the maple is still a beautiful cream color.

Pulling nails. There are hundreds to pull.

Not a place to walk barefoot. These are the original pine floors.



With the old floors removed a vapor barrier was laid down then the leveling started. I estimate the age of the house to be between 150 to 200 years old. The construction techniques point to that but I can't be sure. It simply could have been built using those techniques in order to save money.

The house has settled much over the years and the floor required a lot of leveling. In some places it is three inches low. Because of the depth of most of the sleepers the new floor boards would need to be screwed in. Access to nail to the joists below was simply not possible. Sleepers were run perpendicular to the direction of the new boards and space at 12 inches. By far the bulk of the work and time was put into installing shims and sleepers required to level the floor.

The wood has arrived. It is white pine, and was harvested by a local farm in Charlemont, Hall Tavern Farm. They saw and kiln dry it and then custom mill it to order. The widths are random, roughly 6", 9" & 12". Lengths are 12 feet up to 16 feet. They are ship lap, 13/16" thick with the lap thicker on the top. The thick lap is designed to resist breaking by high heels or other abuse. The softer northern pine will not survive the daily walking if milled as tongue & grove. The family who milled the wood was very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. Working with them was one of the nicest parts of the job. I would definitely purchase wood from them again.

Day two installing the new floor. Each hole is carefully marked, 1 1/2" from the edge for the wide boards, 1" for the narrow ones then drilled using a countersink bit. All the holes are lined up so they run in one neat line perpendicular to the boards. The boards are wedged tight together leaving no gaps. To insure that they are tight a scrap 2X piece of lumber is screwed to the sub floor then a wedge matching the lap is hammered in driving the boards together. The boards are secured using star drive decking screws. An impact driver makes quick work of screwing them in.

The old door is closed off, outlets added and the wall is primed.

Day three laying the floor. The kitchen is done and we are working into the dining room. The random width boards make it easier to match the spacing of the various walls and lessen the need to rip custom widths.

Only a small space remains to floor.

Looking into the dining room. All boards are in place and fastened. 

Looking into the kitchen. I did not floor the pantry visible to the right. Its floor was replaced a few years ago and is in good shape. I also didn't want to remove the built-in's, a necessary requirement to put a new floor in.

We planned to cover the screws with plugs. Each would be glued in, cut flush and then sanded. After they all were put in the floor would be finish sanded.

The plugs were made from left over flooring, cutting them all using a plug cutter and a drill press. 

1, 2, 3, ...... 1274 in all. I cut a few hundred each night.

Gluing plugs in is quite relaxing. Put a little glue in a dish, dip the tapered end of the plug in the glue then hammer it into the hole. After drying overnight they can be cut off. 

I would glue a few hundred in each day and cut them off the next morning before I left for work. Two hundred down, a thousand more to go. Gluing these in took longer than I had planned. Kitchen cabinets are due to arrive in a week and the floor still needs to be finished.

A flexible flush-cutting saw allows you to cut the plugs close to the floor without marring it. 

Sinking a few proud screws in preparation for more plugs. After all the plugs were glued in and cut, they were sanded flush using an orbital sander with 80 grit paper then once again with 120 grit paper. Any high edges from the floor were also sanded at this time. 

A final sanding was done with a floor sander. After vacuuming the dust a coat of oil was applied. While it was wet the floor was buffed with steel wool. The oil used is called Velvit oil. 

The wet floor. After buffing a second coat was applied and then wiped clean and left to dry.

The finished floor. It needs 24 hours to dry. At some point I will dry buff the floor once more with steel wool and then add one final coat of oil. The Velvit oil is advertised as easy maintenance. Only light buffing is required to touch up worn areas and the new oil blends into the old finish with no sanding required. The floor feels like silk when you walk on it barefoot. 

Bubbles the little lion. He has managed to settle in after all the work.

Starting to install cabinets. The wood is cherry, finished natural. I chose to put the base cabinets in first knowing that they would be the most difficult due to the uneven floor. I also was racing to meet the schedule to have the counter top installed. When I install the upper cabinets I'll screw a ledger to the wall for support.

Cabinets and counter tops installed. The ceiling is not level so I couldn't mount the upper cabinets flush to the ceiling. I'll fill the gaps with cherry stock hand planed to fit later. The counter tops are soapstone and were provided by Dorado of Colorado. The stone was quarried in India. They look black but are really dark green with white veins running through it. The drawback to stone counters is that anything dropped on them will break; dishes, glasses and the like. I know the counter has its eyes on my coffee press.

I filled the small cabinet spaces with spice rack and other pull-outs. Cabinets have come a long way from simply doors and drawers. There are many types of pull-outs and sliders designed to make storage and access easier now.

The window and radiator on the right wall extend in past the base cabinets. Because of this I stopped the base cabinets short of the end wall and built in storage space for cookie sheets and trays using cherry that I had and finished it to match the cabinets. The stone is angled in at the end and meets the side edge of the window trim.





A detail of the pulls used. They match the soapstone nicely.

I chose to oil & wax the soapstone. It brings out the figure in the stone. Maintenance is simple, oil it lightly every few weeks then rub it down.


I also added under cabinets lights. These have also come a long way in the past years. I've installed low voltage halogen lighting before which requires a hefty transformer and heavy wiring to supply the current. These lights are LED's made by Inspired of Arizona. They are powered by a tiny wall transformer plugged into an outlet I installed in the back of the corner cabinet. They are bright enough to work by and consume less than an amp. They are also dimmable and have four brightness levels. Good price too.

Still to be done is the last coat of oil for the floor, paint for the walls then the re-installation of the base boards. Curtains still need to be purchased and the last two drawer pulls need to be installed.