Methods to Construct a Kitchen (and Why)

Nicely, appears to be like prefer it has occurred once more. 

For the reason that final time we spoke, I bought sucked into constructing my seventeenth(?) kitchen, and I’ve lastly emerged from its messy but addictive grasp as I stand right here on the new breakfast bar, typing this report back to you.

Why am I so hooked on this unusual pastime? And extra importantly, why am I so excited to inform you about it, when most MMM readers most likely don’t have home constructing on the prime of their record of life priorities? 

It’s most likely as a result of the idea of residence is such a core a part of life for me: a spot that enables us to deal with our households and ourselves, host buddies and construct our lives outwards from there. And to me crucial a part of a house is the place the place you put together and stash your meals provide, which additionally occurs to turn into the spot the place our children unfold out their homework, we’ve got our deep talks, and the pure gathering level for nearly each get together.

There may be after all a cash aspect to all of this too: housing is the most costly factor in most of our lives (together with my very own), and this value has exploded upwards lately because of a loopy imbalance of provide and demand.

Folks need  properties with lovely, extremely useful facilities like kitchens and loos, which implies these homes get bid as much as greater costs by these keen to wildly overpay, which leaves the extra investment-minded amongst us swearing on the irrational market situations, or shopping for ugly fixer-uppers as a compromise.

This results in a second scarcity: a scarcity of tradespeople like myself, as a result of there are a number of flimsy little sinks, leaky plastic-handled taps and faux woodgrain oak cupboards on the market, however not lots of people with the expertise to rescue that 1982-style kitchen and produce it into our wonderful fashionable current.

Which implies that in case you may even discover somebody keen to construct you a brand new kitchen, you’ll typically see quotes from $25,000 to north of $75,000 for the celebrated however not-all-that-difficult job.

As you’ll see beneath, this interprets to an extremely costly labor price of between $100 and $300 per hour, which is cash you get to say for your self if you’re keen to do a few of the work. And the rewards might be even greater than that, as a result of whenever you improve a kitchen in an costly housing market, you sometimes create much more than $25-75k of extra worth. This may stream again to you within the type of extra cash whenever you ultimately re-sell, or greater rental revenue each single month if you’re fixing up a rental property. 

And yet one more actual property secret: a kitchen is successfully only a actually huge fancy model a WC, so in case you study the abilities you are able to do both one. Think about the God-like energy of with the ability to level your finger and name into existence kitchens and loos the place none existed earlier than! 

So on this article, I’m going to whisk you thru a high-speed tour of the primary steps of rebuilding a kitchen, specializing in the issues that make the most important distinction in perform, value, and problem – in different phrases, the issues I want I knew 23 years in the past after I began engaged on my first kitchen. 

We don’t have house right here to cowl each element of each step, however as with all essential endeavor, it’s finest to begin with the massive image anyway. And from there, I hope to depart you with a way more empowered start line to do one among three issues:

• To know what to search for (and find out how to tune your Bullshit Meter) when hiring another person to construct you a kitchen.
• To strategically break off elements of the work you wish to do your self, to avoid wasting money and time even in case you rent out the remainder.
• And even to do the entire thing your self, searching for assist from extra skilled buddies or YouTube movies as wanted to get the total particulars.

So let’s get into it! The 11-ish principal steps to designing and constructing essentially the most joyful room in your own home.

Step Zero: Do You Want a Allow?

In most areas, this can be a “Sure” if you’re messing with plumbing and electrical energy contained in the partitions, in any other case it’s “perhaps”. However guidelines differ extensively world wide – I’ve labored in some locations the place the inspectors will come knocking in the event that they see a lot as a scrap of drywall poking out of your trash can, and others the place individuals construct a complete barn with out elevating the eyebrow of the authorities. However whether or not you get a allow or not, crucial half is to do the job proper – this implies tidy, skilled work that meets the native constructing code and would move an inspection even when no person will see it. It should will let you sleep nicely and keep away from troubles down the highway.

1: Work out the Value

This one is clearly everywhere in the map relying in your tastes, however we are able to begin with the next overly simplified desk:

The greenback figures are only for the supplies together with home equipment, and the labor hours are what I’d funds for myself or one other skilled – you possibly can regulate as wanted primarily based by yourself ability degree. I’ll additionally hyperlink a barely extra detailed model of this spreadsheet here.

Tremendous Duper Buying Professional Suggestions:

With regards to cost-efficient renovations, materials sourcing is every part. Listed here are just a few of my very own favourite tips:

• Craigslist, Fb Market and Recycled Constructing Materials shops are wonderful. It takes extra time and ability to search out and use supplies from these sources, however in alternate you get your stuff for about 75% much less. Previously I’ve purchased a $2000 fridge for $500, doorways and cupboards and lighting fixtures for subsequent to nothing, and stocked up on reclaimed wooden and metal items price tens of hundreds of {dollars} for free, in alternate for just a few hours of my time.

  However generally you’ve got completely different objectives, like sooner pace or or the higher-end finishes which might be solely doable with model new supplies. On this case, you progress down the record.

• Amazon is now higher than Residence Depot for a lot of issues. Lighting fixtures, sinks and taps, even noticed blades and massive rolls of PEX pipe. All with a means wider choice, quick delivery and at decrease costs than the older retailers. I’ll nonetheless get my lumber and drywall and paint domestically after all, however for every part else I test on-line first. The bonus is that this additionally cuts down my mid-project journeys to the shop by about 80%.
• IKEA kitchen cupboards often supply decrease value, simpler/sooner design, and – surprisingly – higher total high quality than what you get with particular order cupboards from the house renovation shops. Extra on this within the cupboards part beneath.

2: Structure (and flattening partitions!)

The fundamental precept I wish to comply with in kitchen design, at the least for the smaller and older homes that these of us within the fixer-upper crowd tends to buy, is MORE:

• Extra flooring house and counter tops
• Extra open-ness to the remainder of the home
• Extra storage, particularly drawers

Most homes from previous eras have the kitchen walled off right into a tiny sales space. And the excellent news is which you can often simply chop down the pointless partitions between that sales space and the lounge, exchange one among them with a pleasant spacious island, and rework your own home for the higher. 

Bonus! How to determine if a wall is load bearing:

My secure reply right here is, “Ask a structural engineer or at the least a home builder”, however since I’ve finished a number of each actions, here’s a shortcut:

• Work out what’s over prime of the wall in query (is it an higher flooring or simply the roof?)
• If it’s the roof, peek up into the attic. If the home is a more moderen design it might have trusses. In smaller homes (as much as about 30 ft extensive), this often means all the load of the roof is resting on the skin partitions, which means most or all the inside partitions are simply beauty.
• In case your kitchen is on the primary flooring with one other degree above, the wall could also be load bearing, particularly whether it is perpendicular to the ground joists above it. On this case you possibly can nonetheless open up the wall and exchange it with a beam and posts. However that’s a activity for knowledgeable builders – usher in some assist in case you don’t understand how to do that already.

Primary Structure Rules

As a fast instance, let’s use a case research of one among my very own rebuilds to level out each issues I feel did work, and different locations I made some errors and would do issues otherwise subsequent time. (This was in my very own home, so that you’ll must forgive my style for considerably wild colours!)

Whoo! Okay there’s a number of information in there, but it surely’s price studying by means of as a result of it captures lots of the issues I wish to cowl in a brand new kitchen. The largest precept to comply with is simply to present every part sufficient house – particularly the cooks themselves. This generally requires intelligent space-saving tips, but it surely’s additionally why I find yourself transferring or eradicating partitions so typically. Small areas in your personal home suck!

Design Shortcut: The IKEA Kitchen Planner

To determine how every part will match (and look), you want at the least some scale diagrams, however even higher is a 3-D mannequin which you can go searching. There are many choices right here starting from old style graph paper to stylish however generally clunky design applications like Sketchup. However one fascinating trick is simply utilizing the free instrument on the IKEA web site, which might be helpful whether or not you intend on shopping for their cupboards or not. https://kitchen.planner.ikea.com/us/en/

For instance, check out the “earlier than” image of my outdated kitchen above. Earlier than constructing the brand new kitchen, I spent about quarter-hour on the IKEA kitchen planner web site and I already had a fairly shut visualization of how my completed kitchen would feel and appear.

3: Constructing new partitions

Typically, you’ll be eradicating extra partitions than you construct, however generally you’ll want so as to add some as nicely. The most typical conditions for me are:

• Transferring an current wall again to create extra kitchen house
• Making a “sales space” of partitions to surround a fridge or construct a meals storage pantry
• Constructing the half wall (typical top is 34.5”)  that ultimately turns into an island.

Normal ideas:

• It’s means simpler to construct a brand new wall than to fiddle with too many adjustments to an outdated one. So I often begin with a whole demolition of any outdated partitions, then proceed with a clear slate. 
• In the event you’ve by no means discovered find out how to body a wall flat on the bottom first, it’s a enjoyable and life-changing ability! Here’s a 52-second summary on YouTube.

4: Plumbing (and venting)

In many kitchen remodels, you end up leaving the plumbing fixtures (sink, dishwasher and fridge water line) in roughly the same place, and if so this part of the job is minimal.

 But I also want to open your mind to the possibility that these things can be moved without too much trouble, and you can even create brand new ones whenever you need ‘em. While the finer points of code-compliant plumbing are best learned from the book or video of your choice, here are my favorite basic principles and useful shortcuts:

• Cut back any obsolete copper plumbing and transition to PEX in a convenient location, which will make all your new work cleaner and easier. In a full house remodel, I usually do this right after the main house shutoff valve so the whole system can be built right from scratch.
• Sink drain lines are usually done with 1.5” black ABS (plastic) pipe which is quite easy to work with. If you’re doing a big project, grab a few ten-footers of the stuff up front as well as an assortment of fittings and the glue.
• Drain pipes ought to slope about ¼” per foot, and if it is advisable to add a brand new air vent, think about a Studor vent, which saves you the ache of attempting to attach your drain to a pipe that runs right through your roof. (I additionally like to attenuate roof penetrations as a result of it makes your eventual re-roofing job faster and extra dependable and leaves extra room for photo voltaic panels)

We’ll cowl the sink, dishwasher and fridge plumbing individually beneath.

Associated MMM Article from means again in 2012 (however just lately up to date): 

How to Become a Kickass Plumber – with PEX

5: Electrical

Like plumbing, electrical energy is a complete commerce in itself which isn’t comfy for everybody. And you may certainly kill your self in case you contact reside wires within the incorrect means. So if doubtful, rent an electrician. 

However since I occur to get pleasure from this commerce myself, I made a degree of studying the nationwide electrical code (currently called the 2020 NEC) sufficient to wire just a few full homes from scratch and move a number of ultimate inspections: every part from digging the ditch and working new buried service strains in conduit to the meter field, to subpanels and photo voltaic inverters all the way down to the final gentle change. 

However I’m nonetheless not an expert electrician, and codes differ by area – so be sure you double test any concepts you get from me and don’t assume something you learn is completely appropriate.

With all these disclaimers apart, listed below are the commonest conditions that come up when renovating a kitchen:

Undesirable electrical strains in a wall you might be eradicating:  I label these rigorously, flip off the ability, then pull every part out till I attain the closest junction that’s in a wall I’m preserving (or generally this shall be within the ceiling or attic). As soon as the brand new partitions  are in place, you possibly can run recent wires to the brand new packing containers and fixtures.

Including new retailers to serve new countertop areas:

The fundamental requirement is a minimal of two 20 amp circuits, protected by GFCI retailers, with retailers at the least each 4 ft alongside your work house. Plus, ideally the fridge, dishwasher, disposal and microwave are on their very own separate circuits which is required in model new builds. So, your mission could be capable of tie into the present circuits or chances are you’ll want to drag some new ones.

Including fully new circuits to your private home:

Though this may occasionally sound like a black artwork to non-electricians, it’s truly fairly easy when you learn to do it. The toughest half is often working the wire all the way in which again to your circuit panel, until your kitchen is immediately over an unfinished basement or crawlspace. So in case you discover an agreeable electrician keen to present you a reduction in alternate for you doing the soiled work of correctly routing the wire whereas they solely do the ultimate hookup within the panel, this could be a good hybrid strategy.

If you wish to see the small print of what’s concerned in including a complete new circuit and breaker to your panel, there are many walkthroughs on YouTube together with this one I made myself on find out how to install your own electric car charger.

Different stuff to recollect at this stage:

• An outlet in your eventual over-the-range microwave (or only a wire if you’re utilizing a vent hood), centered about 78” above the ground so it’s within the cupboard immediately above
• A 4” metal vent pipe that goes from behind that microwave to someplace outdoors your own home (see your set up handbook for precise particulars)
• An outlet beneath the kitchen sink for the disposal, managed by a wall change at a secure distance close by
• Energy in your dishwasher (I often add a typical twine to my dishwasher so I can plug it in to this similar outlet beneath the sink)
• Possibly even wiring for an outlet inside one among your cupboards, simply behind the highest drawer, for charging telephones and different devices properly out of sight

6: Drywall and particulars

You’re lastly able to cowl every part up! This half is comparatively straightforward, however in case you’ve by no means finished drywall earlier than, just a few issues I discover useful to get began:

• Purchase loads of provides (4×8 sheets, mesh tape, packing containers of compound (mud), plus a trough and knife set) upfront
• When putting in sheets, use both a roto zip instrument or a cordless “buzzer” multi tool to do the cutouts in your outlet packing containers. Significantly better than handbook hand saws or attempting to do it with knives.
• As you open every field of mud, dispense it absolutely right into a clear 5-gallon bucket with a lid. Refill your trough periodically from this bucket. By no means work immediately from the field, or the bucket.
• I discover {that a} gentle layer of spray adhesive earlier than including the mesh tape helps it stick significantly better
• Apply 2-3 coats of more and more clean mud earlier than you trouble with sanding (skilled drywallers sometimes solely must sand as soon as on the finish)

That is the purpose – after drywall and at the least a coat of primer or base white paint – the place you’d set up your flooring if you’re altering that out as a part of the rework. Nowadays I’m an enormous fan of engineered wooden or LVP flooring which is simple, robust and engaging. However for final sturdiness in a busy dogs-n-kids-n-giant events family, flooring tiles are nonetheless the gold customary.

7: Cupboards

Though this step is essentially the most thrilling half, it’s additionally one of many best. You’re simply attempting to place in a line of large packing containers as robust, straight and sq. as doable. For typical cupboards, which means that a degree and studfinder and shims are your finest buddies. 

With IKEA cupboards, it’s even simpler to get it proper, as a result of the entire cupboards (each higher and decrease) simply grasp on their proprietary steel rail system. So in case you get the rails proper, the cupboards comply with naturally. One other enormous bonus: it’s straightforward to slip the cupboards forwards and backwards and make changes earlier than locking them into their ultimate positions.

8: Counter tops

In case your funds will enable the upper value, a stone countertop (quartz or granite or comparable) is often price the associated fee. That value is presently about $60-120 per sq. foot which might add up to some grand for a big kitchen, however in alternate you get one thing that appears nice, lasts endlessly and cleans up extra simply than the opposite choices. 

After all, that top value (and my dislike of coping with appointments and outdoors contractors) has meant that I’ve experimented with the opposite options of strong wooden and numerous sorts of tiles on some tasks. They nonetheless look good and performance fairly nicely, however I’ve at all times regretted the selection in the long term and wished I had finished the quartz. Probably due to the human psychology issue: a small day by day annoyance of worrying about scratching your wooden countertop is with you endlessly. Whereas a one-time expense for the stone counter tops shortly recedes into historical past and also you overlook about it. And like the remainder of a kitchen improve, it tends to come back again to you within the type of elevated resale or rental worth anyway.

9: Sink and Faucet

Fortunately, this half is the other of the counter tops: surprisingly low cost and full of gorgeous choices relying in your style. 

Method again in 2001, I keep in mind paying $600 for a sink and $300 for a faucet, simply to get one thing substantial and fashionable that didn’t appear to be it was from a Eighties Atlanta Georgia suburb (an aesthetic that runs robust in Residence Depot merchandise due to the corporate’s origins in that point and place).

 However now, because of Amazon we reside in a complete completely different world. You may have your selection of huge, modern sinks in the 200s, and even lovely faucets are under $100. The costs are generally so low that I’m nervous in regards to the high quality, however to this point every part has been a nice shock on the upside. TBD sink drain pic above.

Bonus: Methods to construct a pleasant new sink drain:

Your outdated kitchen most likely has an unsightly nest of pipes beneath the kitchen sink, and also you’ll at the least want to transform this half as a result of the brand new sink shall be greater and in a barely completely different place. So we’d as nicely cowl this proper right here:

Beginning with the flowery new sink (which comes proper after counter tops), you

• Set up the disposal unit which doubles because the drain as nicely
• Unfastened-fit a lure adapter to the disposal output after which work out what path to angle your lure to create the only/tidiest run to the wall pipe
• Add elbows and straight bits as wanted to get the water to that ultimate vacation spot
• As soon as you might be certain every part suits, mark the joints with tape or a marker, then rigorously disassemble, glue, and reassemble/tighten every part. Prepared for water inside an hour!

10: Home equipment

That is one more space the place we’ve seen deflation through the years somewhat than inflation: the standard and options of home equipment appears to maintain going up, whereas costs come down. And the used market is even higher: home equipment have a really low resale worth, which implies in case you store rigorously you may get new-ish models for about 75% lower than brand-new ones. 

Nonetheless, a word of warning: Don’t purchase used stuff until you belief the vendor and/or get an opportunity to check it. I’ve been fooled twice shopping for used seemingly high-end dishwashers that appeared nice … however looking back the individual was promoting them as a result of they didn’t work correctly. 

Me: “Wow, this can be a very nice $1500 dishwasher – why are you promoting it?”

Vendor: “Oh… I used to be upgrading my kitchen and this one simply doesn’t match the brand new home equipment.”

Me: (naively overlooking another pink flags in regards to the vendor’s residing state of affairs): “Okay right here’s my $200 in money.”

On a 3rd event, a good friend and I virtually made the identical mistake when shopping for an unique under-counter European fridge, however fortunately seen that the vendor had it sitting in his storage unplugged after we got here to choose it up. Once I requested to see it working, he pretended to have a scarcity of extension cords so I pulled one out of my van. Positive sufficient, after we plugged it in, the damned factor wasn’t even working. Shady!

Different ideas: fridges, microwaves and particularly ovens/ranges are a safer guess to purchase used as a result of they have an inclination to only work for many years. 

Additionally, in case you reside in a local weather with sub-freezing winters, don’t purchase a fridge, dishwasher or washer that somebody has moved into their shed or storage in the course of the chilly season. As a result of the water within the tubes and valves will most likely have frozen and burst with out their information, supplying you with a messy and complicated restore job the primary time you fireplace it up.

Due to all this, I’ve had many success tales with used home equipment prior to now, however I nonetheless have a tendency to purchase all new home equipment as of late now that point has turn into extra scarce than cash for me. In the event you’re youthful and nonetheless attempting to optimize for {dollars}, you must nonetheless test Craigslist and Fb Market commonly.

11: End work!

Finally, we’re within the residence stretch. You may add as many customized thrives to your kitchen as you want, however simply to share just a few of my favorites:

• An artsy tile backsplash is a good way to make any kitchen far more fascinating. I wish to tile the whole space from the countertop as much as the higher cupboards. In some circumstances on empty partitions, I’ve gone all the way in which as much as the ceiling to create a good greater feeling of house.
• Think about hiding an influence twine inside a prime drawer someplace, which you’ll then hook as much as a pleasant multi port USB charger, so you possibly can maintain the entire telephones, tablets, bike lights out of your treasured work space.
• Stainless steel outlet plates and modern-style gray outlets and switches add a extra polished and high-quality look to any space, particularly kitchens.
• Undercabinet lights are definitely worth the effort, as they supply nice illumination whereas cooking and make for lovely atmosphere even internet hosting events or dinners.

Wow, that was a Lot!

This can be the longest MMM article in historical past, and but we nonetheless solely skimmed by means of it. However I hope this abstract provides you at the least a peek on the numerous enjoyable, helpful and worthwhile expertise which you can study to make your life as a house owner (or as an occasional contractor) extra joyful and satisfying.

If in case you have extra questions on specifics, drop them into the feedback part beneath and everybody may help share some solutions. And naturally, this text will certainly be stuffed with errors and omissions after I first publish it – please be at liberty to level these out and I’ll make updates as nicely.

Glad cooking!