Kitchen remodel

[desertanimal]

At the end of May, Danny asked for pics of the new floor we'd just put in. I couldn't bear to post anything until I was more done with the things I wanted to be done with, and I finally am. In between writing grants, I've spent most of my summer working on our house. Kristi's and my tastes are much more expensive than what we can afford as graduate students, so when we want to do something, we have to come up with ways to save money. I learned a ton during this kitchen remodel, and I'm proud of what we've done and I just want to share it! If you've any interest in modern design, green design (it's not totally green, we used chemicals and polyurethane, but we did use bamboo), DIY, or what you can do with tiny, horrid kitchens, you might be interested in this photo diary.

We used bamboo plywood of two different grains--horizontal grain on the floor and vertical grain on the counters (and I have enough left over to
do both of our bathroom counters! yay!). I think I put 8 coats of polyurethane on the counters and everything is standing up to water just fine.

The cabinetry that I built I just built out of birch plywood. I just had to get the cheapest thing that looked nice, so all the exposed edges are painted black, which actually goes well with everything else in our house. All of the recently installed cabinet doors came from the IKEA clearance section. We got all the clear glass doors for $5 each and the black glass kitchen cabinet doors for $10 each.

There are plenty of things that aren't QUITE finished, but it's finished enough now that I'm not embarrassed to share.

Everything I've shown here, including flooring and all the shelves for the cabinetry that I built, took 4 sheets of 4x7 ft bamboo plywood, and 3 4x8 sheets of birch plywood. I cut everything with either a jigsaw or a circular saw (what I wouldn't have given for a table saw!), and for sanding I used an orbital sander, an old belt sander (bamboo is hard enough that you can use one on it), and a dremel tool.

I don't like it when people post links to photo albums, but there are 50 pics in this album. I've given you enough background that you won't need to click on it unless you're really interested! If you are, enjoy! I know I will! (I'm SOOOO glad to be done with the major work of this project. Whew!)

Picasa Web Albums - Stephanie - Kitchen Remodel