Absolutely gorgeous!

That is amazing.

gorgeous work! Your attention to detail would put alot of "professionals" to shame.

We finally uncrated our Rachiele sink this weekend. I can't wait to get it installed! And your granite is beautiful.

I'm awed by your kitchen and your modesty! Wow! You really did an amazing job, and the end result is anything but DIY!! It looks as professional as any kitchen I've seen.

I have to agree with your wife about needing pendants. I'm in my 50s, and just have to have a lot more light than I needed in the past. The island gets a lot of use, and it will be nice to have light where you need it and use it most. I like the pendants you are thinking about -- a very classic look to go with your lovely kitchen. I'd keep them small, but maybe have three, and put them on a dimmer of course.

Enjoy your beautiful kitchen! It took you only a year! Wow!

Absolutely stunning...

Wow wow wow. Love your cabinet hardware, counter material (whatever it is!) and SINK! Gorgeous.

You know when some people just don't deserve the nice things they have? I have a feeling this is definitely not one of those cases. Best wishes to you and your lovely family.

Holy smoke! Unbelievable, incredible, fantastic, gorgeous, super-duper, amazing!! Congratulations and many, many plaudits for making this beautiful kitchen come alive, bit by bit, with so much patience and skill.

You should moonlight as a cabinet maker; have you thought about getting a contractor's license? :-)

I LOVE it all! Fantastic...love the photos of your family too....the sweat equity will pay off! Excellent taste!!!

Best,
Pam

This is so inspiring. Like everyone else, just WOW. I hope you are enjoying and relaxing now in that kitchen.

And thanks so much for sharing the details of the materials and joinery you used to build the cabinets. I'm considering making a few boxes for our much tinier kitchen... any tips on keeping things as square as possible?

Hi Mousun, probably overkill, for the uppers I used full 3/4" backs which I dropped into dados all the way around the back of each box. I also tried to make sure that the sides and top/bottoms were exactly equal. Where I could cut wood together, I did. Also used my speed square a lot and had a couple of clamping squares.

On the bottoms, I partially backed with 3/4" ply in the same way I did the uppers.

My biggest mistake - while I leveled each cabinet on the lowers, I did not run my level across two cabinets at a time. So, they were out of level with each other even though my toekick and cabinet heights were the same within 1/16 of each other. The floor was a little uneven. This left a gap between the granite bottom and cabinet top in some places. I added extra shims to help reduce the possibility of cracking and covered the gap with some molding. The gap wasn't huge, but it bothered me enough to use the molding. And unless I pointed it out most probably wouldn't see it.

My island had the same issue as the other cabinets - which was strange to me as the island was one piece - so there really should not have been a gap. So, either the island top piece of ply must have been a little warped.

Hope your build goes well. Please post some pictures when you are finished.

Hi Mousun, probably overkill, for the uppers I used full 3/4" backs which I dropped into dados all the way around the back of each box. I also tried to make sure that the sides and top/bottoms were exactly equal. Where I could cut wood together, I did. Also used my speed square a lot and had a couple of clamping squares.

On the bottoms, I partially backed with 3/4" ply in the same way I did the uppers.

My biggest mistake - while I leveled each cabinet on the lowers, I did not run my level across two cabinets at a time. So, they were out of level with each other even though my toekick and cabinet heights were the same within 1/16 of each other. The floor was a little uneven. This left a gap between the granite bottom and cabinet top in some places. I added extra shims to help reduce the possibility of cracking and covered the gap with some molding. The gap wasn't huge, but it bothered me enough to use the molding. And unless I pointed it out most probably wouldn't see it.

My island had the same issue as the other cabinets - which was strange to me as the island was one piece - so there really should not have been a gap. So, either the island top piece of ply must have been a little warped.

Hope your build goes well. Please post some pictures when you are finished.

Uh oh, I got busted for solicitation! Pun intended, lol.

For those of you that voted for my kitchen in the CabinetNow facebook contest, thank you very much!

Moderators took down my posts on requesting your votes,

I guess I violated garden web rules. : (

Cheers everyone.

diyguyjr! What a beautiful kitchen! Amazing work that I'm sure you and your family must be so proud of!!!

Wondering how you got Habitat involved for removing your cabinets? I'm considering that but thought I'd have to demolish and deliver to them. Very curious about that. Thank you and hope you are enjoying your beautiful kitchen.

I'm loosing sleep on getting ready to start our reno! Wish it was over.

Thanks!

Hi Patty,

Actually Habitat was the easiest thing. You can check with your local office. If they have deconstruction services listed, then you should be in luck.

I contacted them, and they came to preview the kitchen to see what shape the cabinets and appliances were in. If they deem them useable, then for a small fee they remove the kitchen. So, they chipped up the old tile and bagged it and took everything else.

The only thing they did not do is remove the backsplash, and I needed to dump the chipped up tile myself and some of the old moldings. They had four guys here for about 5 hours.

Saved me a load of time and mess and most of the disposal - my fee was $150, and I got a big tax write-off for donating my cabinets and appliances.

Hope it works out for you, and good luck with your project!

Don't dread it - it's an adventure!

Eric

Your kitchen and office are both wonderful. You have some serious skills, and I hope a really good respirator. You must have been in your spray booth for awhile if you did all that at one time.

Your kitchen and office are both wonderful. You have some serious skills, and I hope a really good respirator. You must have been in your spray booth for awhile if you did all that at one time.

Hi Marti,

Actually, for the paint, we hired someone. However, I do have a good paint mask for some other things that I have done. :)

This just has to be bumped. While not everyone's kitchen will be as wonderful, as I read your posts, I find them encouraging to anyone on a kitchen journey of their own.

Oh ya' and it is "crazy good" - as my kids would say.

WOW - WOW!

Thanks for the "bump." It reminded me that I wanted to add a few more pics - ones that I had on my mobile. My phone camera is not the greatest. Enjoy.

Glad to be rid of this sink!

Thanks Habitats!

Where'd the kitchen go? Someone stole our kitchen!

Sawdust Angel!

Say, DIY guy... can you talk a bit about the construction/anchoring of the range hood? We're close to starting ours and want to make sure it stays together and attached to the wall securely. Our hood unit will be similar to yours except our cab will go all the way to the ceiling, so there is some nailing up there, too.

Any info or advice you could give on building ours would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

More than just complimenting you on your beautiful kitchen, I want to share my admiration for involving your sons in your remodeling project. It is impossible to really calculate the future "dividends" in terms of family life and personal growth. My husband lost his father at an early age and lacks the confidence and skills to tackle home projects...what he wouldn't give to have what your sons have gained.

I went and got one of those Kreg Pocket Hole Jigs and built a small project with it. It was easy to use and the project turned out really well. With what you were able to do on your kitchen and my intro to pocket hole jigs, it certainly has given me enough confidence to try building the cabinet boxes when we redo our master bath.

Post #100!!!! Lol. Party time!

Deedles - I mounted a few strips of plywood to the wall first - I made sure they were anchored well to the studs. I made a rectangular cradle for the hood insert. I dado'd out slots near the bottom of the cradle and mounted a thin strip of maple which I rounded on my router table. So in the bottom rectangle, the range hood insert just slid in and stopped where the rounded piece of molding is.

I also made some L-shaped struts that are mounted vertically and attached to the plywood strips. That's what you see mounted to the wall. I'll have to see if I can take a picture of the underside for you - so you can see the rounded bit of molding.

Once the bottom was mounted up, I built a box for the top to hide the exhausts.

Wish I had taken more pictures of this setup. I tried to find some plans/info on the web. There was not much - so right wrong/indifferent, I did my own thing. I just tried to make it secure. Once the side cabinets were up, added screws through the sides of the hood/side cabinets as well.

BTW, I would never use nails - screws are the way to go. Specifically GRK fasteners - these are awesome - they bite right in. Some come with washers built into the screw head that work really well.

Hope that helps. Best of luck with your kitchen!

Whoops. Post 101! Party time! Yay!.

gpraceman beat me on #100, lol.

Post some picks. Glad you like the Kreg. It's a pretty easy tool to use - almost like cheating . . .

1. I LOVE IT. Wow.

2. How great that it was a family project. And that they signed the wood...really cool, and they will always remember this experience!

3. Your dog. What a cutie. We are looking around on Petfinder at dogs, getting ready to bite the bullet, and yours is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. What breed or breeds is he? He is awesome looking!

diyguyjr,

Here's my little pocket hole project. Our local Awana Missionaries needed a donation/suggestion box so I built this for them. It is made out of some extra red oak that I had on hand. The back frame was pocket holed together. I also secured the bottom and top pieces to the sides with pocket holes. The front piece and the back frame have routed grooves that the side pieces are glued into. With all of that, it should be plenty strong.

Thank you for your post, I've forwarded it on to my DH. I'd love to see an underside shot if you can pull it off..., if not, no problem.

So one more question: I'm guessing that you screwed the range hood 'cradle' up into the bottom of the cabinet (or the cabinet down into the cradle) when you put the cab part up? Do you consider the cabinet to be part of the support for the hood cradle or just an attachment to it?

thanks again, really appreciate your time in this...

gpraceman, nice job! Just think bigger for the home projects. The master bath cabinet is probably a good warm up. You might want to look at some master bath cabinetry/vanties before you build-just so you can see at least how someone else did it.

Deedles - I have not had time to take shots of the underside/inside of my hood at least what you can still see. However, nothing is screwed in from the underside. The whole hood could stand alone against the wall - as you can see from the first picture of the hood. It is only held up by screws on the backside. When the side cabinets went up, I did add screws between the hood and the left and right cabinets,

one more thing gpraceman, one little headstart I got is that I had the lumber store make my first cut.. Mine does it for free. It made managing my 4x8 ply easier to handle even though my older son was around to help. Plus it made it easier to transport.

double post - delete

This post was edited by diyguyjr on Sat, Sep 28, 13 at 13:55

gpraceman, nice job! Just think bigger for the home projects. The master bath cabinet is probably a good warm up. You might want to look at some master bath cabinetry/vanties before you build-just so you can see at least how someone else did it.

Deedles - I have not had time to take shots of the underside/inside of my hood at least what you can still see. However, nothing is screwed in from the underside. The whole hood could stand alone against the wall - as you can see from the first picture of the hood. It is only held up by screws on the backside. When the side cabinets went up, I did add screws between the hood and the left and right cabinets,

diyguyjr,

I'll definitely study up before I go tackling the master bath cabinets. I have a fold up trailer that can easily fit 4x8 sheets of plywood, drywall, etc., so I am good there. I also have a cabinet saw with an outfeed table that I built for it, to make it easier to cut up big sheets.

This post was edited by gpraceman on Thu, Sep 26, 13 at 23:00

Hi Deedles - here are a few pics of the hood. Hope this helps. This is how I chose to do it - again, I wasn't able to find much of how others constructed theirs. So, this was my own thought up design.

Pics of the underside and some scraps which will show the cuts I did to create the lip on which the hood rests:

Inside - upper cross bar - notice the piece of plywood mounted to the wall first - so that I knew that I had attached securely to the wall:

Paintedpeggies - Charlie is a pointer spaniel mix. He is a rescue dog so we are not quite sure how old he is. Usually he is calm and quiet. Great with the kids. However, lately he will eat through anything that has food in it even when completely wrapped - we have to keep all backpacks out of his reach, lol.

Hey, thank you! That is very helpful... now we have a point of reference for how to proceed. I like the channel rather than just screwing to the frame, gives it a much more finished appearance. Very clever Mr. DIY.

Simply gorgeous! Great job, love your dog, too. He matches.

Just stumbled on this. WOW!!!! Absolutely gorgeous! My favorite part was how you included your boys. Continuing the tradition you and your dad shared of building and teaching. Forget the kitchen prize. I award you "Dad of the year!"

Glad to see that some of you have revived and still enjoy my reveal. Hope that everyone on the Garden Web has a happy new year and that you complete your renovations to your satisfaction whether DIY or contracted. Cheers!

Absolutely stunning!

OK - Thanks to CEFreeman's My Stupidly Expensive overly done kitchen, I have added a number of costs to my first post.

I shall now consider my reveal complete!

And after adding all of the costs, it was stupidly overly done and expensive, lol.

I think it was very kind of you to add your costs, although I completely understand when folks prefer not to.

I know you're kidding, but of course there's no way this was stupidly overdone. More like, dead on perfect for your family, on many levels. And expensive is one of those slippery relative terms!

Such a treat to have a reason to scroll through these beautiful and happy photos again. Thanks!

Thanks Mudhouse.

I was half joking about the stupidly overdone and expensive. I wanted to spend $35K, but wound up close to $40K. And I could have gotten away for a lot less. . . .costs overran about $1K on paint, $2K on granite for going full backsplash as I didn't like any other alternatives, $500 in tools that I either broke or thought I needed, $1K replaced dishwasher where I was going to reuse the old one.

It wasn't the cabinets that caused all the expense, but all the nice appliances, sink and fixtures I found out about from this forum. Never thought i would be spending $3+K on the kitchen sink - but just had to have it.once i saw it, same for the range top. Haha - so I have all of you to blame. : )

More than halfway joking, I'd hope!

Ah, didn't you know, tools don't count in expenses? You can never have too many tools, especially when you can use them with the skills you have.

DYIGUYJR, I just found this, and have to agree with the others that your kitchen is awesome, and your skill is outstanding. I thought the cabinets were gorgeous before you had them painted, but the finished kitchen is master quality.

If I could just fly you here, my DH would be very happy to let you take over our kitchen project! Seriously, you were very patient and helpful to answer all of those questions. Thanks!

Thanks Colorcrazy. Hope it helped. I don't think my wife would let me escape to help your DH.

Hope everything goes well on yours. Your DH will get it done. Just get a cattle prod, lol.

Hope everyone has a nice Memorial Day Weekend. Cheers everyone.

Beautiful! :)

Wow!! Looks beautiful! Everything!

She's got to be loving that! ...And you!