As Melissa mentioned yesterday, we started demo-ing our kitchen this weekend. Of course, we had already started on the pantry nook area. This is where we left off:

My parents came up for a quick work day. Our plan for the demo is to work from the top down. Melissa and I started cleaning the cabinets out before they got here. That way, we could get right to work.

We carefully wrapped up all our dishes and plates. Melissa even got me to help with that step.

Finally, everything was empty. Luckily, we have a huge basement to use for storage.

Then, we began by removing the appliances from the work area. We unplugged the refrigerator and oven and pulled them out of their openings. Then we un- mounted the microwave.  It was held up by two bolts that mounted it to the cabinet above, as well as a support that was mounted to the wall behind it.

Next we removed the doors and shelves from as many cabinets as we could. (Some of the shelves were built into the cabinets.)

Once the appliances were out of the way, we could start removing the upper cabinets. Our upper cabinets were built in 2 sections. We began with the section that the microwave was mounted in. My dad had the good idea to remove all of the screws except one on either end to keep it held up. Then we removed those two when we were ready.

We ran into an issue with the back-splash. The back-splash was put in after the cabinets, and blocked them from coming out.  We had to remove a few of the back-splash tiles before we could get the cabinets loose. We also had to shake the cabinets loose from the grout on the back-splash before they would come away from the walls.

But, finally, we got them down.

We proceeded to do the same with the other section of cabinets.

They are in the garage for now, but we’re hoping to sell them if you know anyone who wants to buy them.

The kitchen was already looking a lot more open by this point.

The room was feeling a lot more cramped though because the appliances take up a lot of room.

Next was the soffit. I scored the corners of the soffit with a box knife to keep a clean line. Dad and I made quick work removing the drywall from the soffit, starting with the metal ribs on the edges.

Then, I had to remove a can light from above the sink. (Make sure to always turn off the electricity if you’ll be working with wiring!)

We talked about removing the first of the cabinets and soffit here. So I realized quickly that it would be better to go out and buy a metal blade for the reciprocating saw. This allowed me to cut through the nails and save time on the removal of the studs.

Throughout this process, we uncovered a few things that we will need to address. Firstly, the wires will need to be moved into the ceiling. You can see them as they run through the soffit in the above photo.

Second, the vents for the laundry room drain and kitchen sink drain. We will need to re-route them and run them into the ceiling as well.

We already knew that we were going to have to change the way the a/c vent over the stove vented into the room, so we decided it would be easier to remove the dry-wall with the back-splash on it. We also knew we would be getting into the drywall where the a/c vent is. So we removed all of it from that wall.

 

That finished up the list Melissa made the previous night, so I began to work on the old pantry area as a BONUS! We finished removing the frame above the door, as well as the framing that held the pantry.

I am going to use the existing framing to help support the new counter-top, so I cut them down to 36 inches, which is a little taller than the cabinets.  I will re-cut them once I do a little more planning.

I also re-routed the outlet and light-switch so that it would mounted on the wall facing the laundry room, instead of where it was originally, facing the table. To do this, I drilled a hole in the stud and fed the wire through and hooked it back up. I think we will be adding another outlet in the far corner by the door, but we haven’t got to that yet.

The entire process was really, really messy. We did what we could to control it by using a tarp to hold all the mess.

All in all, it’s pretty crazy to walk into our kitchen and see this now:

Not bad for a little weekend progress. What do you think of out upper-cabinet-less kitchen? We are liking it already! Got any tips that you have experienced that we may run into soon?