Kitchen Remodel Q & A

I’ve gotten several questions in the comments section of the kitchen before and after post.

I totally get that.

While making decisions about the kitchen I pored over pictures that I found in magazines and on blogs and Pinterest (my Pinterest kitchen board is here). If I found something I liked and the product information was there, it was so, so helpful.

So with that in mind, I decided to pull the questions I got about the kitchen from the comments of that post and answer them here as well.

Q. Gloria asked about the cabinets: Did you have them professionally repainted or did you do it yourself?

A. We had the cabinets professionally painted inside and out. Since we weren’t replacing or refacing, I wanted them to at least feel fresh and new. And we’re definitely not DIYers so we didn’t consider doing it ourselves. (I’ve tried to paint a few things in my life. Really complicated things like straight walls. The results were – let’s just say – less than ideal.)

Q. Dianne asked: What does it take to get rid of that light box? I have one and do not know if there will be a huge hole that needs drywall or if the plastic and box are easy to replace.

A. Dianne’s talking about the fluorescent light box fixture we had in our kitchen before the remodel. The one where the openings for the plastic panels were ever slightly too big so the panels were known to come crashing down, usually in the middle of the night.

Since I don’t really remember what the ceiling looked like after our contractor removed the box, I checked with my friend, Kathleen. Kathleen is the ultimate DIYer and does tons of stuff herself, including taking down her own light box. Here’s what she said:

It was so easy that after we took it down, and it took no time to do it, I was kicking myself for waiting so long to do it.  We had no hole in drywall; I corrected the paint color myself which was no big deal, but I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to paint colors that are slightly off on a ceiling.

Hope that helps, Dianne. Maybe someone else who has done theirs will weigh in too?

Q. Both Missy and Pinky asked about the drapes in the eating area.

A. The drapes are grain sack panels from Ballard Designs. If I’m remembering correctly, the style was called Callisto, although they’re no longer on the website so they must have been discontinued.

Q. Susan and Jill asked where I purchased the lantern lights above the island.

A. Another thing that was discontinued right after I bought it. In fact it was discontinued so quickly that I think the minute I hit the submit button on my order a guy in the warehouse must have yelled, “Hey Stan, we finally sold those last two lantern lights!”

In case it helps, they were made by Savoy House and the style is Oxford. I ordered them through Capital Lighting.

Q. Jeannine asked: I have been afraid of putting in an island that it may take up too much space. What are the measurements of your kitchen?

A. Jeannine, I measured the area of the kitchen where the island sits (I left out the eating area and the small area that juts out in front of the pantry), and the approximate dimensions from countertop to countertop  are 9 ft. 4 in. from the sink to the pantry side and 11 ft. 4 in. from the bar area to the stove.

A good contractor or a kitchen designer should be able to tell you how much clearance you need on either side of your island. In fact, when our contractor was building our island, he told us we had another 6 inches to work with so, our new island is that much wider than our old.

Q. From DD: I noticed (and love) your beveled subway tile. Can you share where you purchased yours?

A. I ordered it through a local tile distributor and I’d love to tell you the exact tile I ordered, but I dug through my kitchen file and can’t find the info. I think the final choice was from Interceramic.

The good news is that every tile shop and showroom I went to had at least a couple of choices of beveled subway tile, so it shouldn’t be hard to find one you like. I think I actually chose the rope accent tile that I liked best and then chose the coordinating 3×6 beveled tiles to go with it.