Making Room

Part of the kitchen project that needed to be done ASAP was that the new fridge needed to be brought in from the garage before it started freezing at night. We got an INCREDIBLE deal on it, and so bought it when we could in cash. It was a model that the original price was $1400. Lowes had it on sale for $1200. The open-box, display model was on clearance for $900. There was a dent in the side (which would be hidden by the wall), so the manager marked it down to $700. We had $590 in our remodel cash account, and I talked to the manager on duty about our desire to pay for our kitchen remodel in cash, and not incur any more debt than we already have (and are working hard to pay off!). I told him how much we had, and he said SOLD! So, the first thing we had to do was make room for it in the kitchen, so we could get it out of the garage before it froze :-)

This is the area we had to work with. The old fridge was shorter and smaller than the new one, so we knew that we were going to have to tear out cabinets to make a spot.

It would have been easier to tear out the cabinets with a chainsaw and sledgehammer, like they do on tv, but we had already determined that we were going to try to make the best use out of old cabinets, and use them in other places in the house- namely the playroom, basement, and future mudroom. Thus, everything had to be removed carefully! Unfortunately, like so many other things in this house, things were not done correctly! Cabinets are supposed to be screwed into the wall! Instead, they were nailed in with 3 inch nails, which had to be pried out, one at a time.

Then of course, because nothing can be too easy, the cabinet got stuck when we were taking them out! The back of the cabinets, and the shelves, had to be removed so that the cabinet could be taken out!


Meet our layers of flooring. Of course- why wouldn't there be layers in the kitchen too?! There is 70s rolled out vinyl, on top of 50's snakeskin looking floor tiles that we're PRETTY SURE contain asbestos, and below that is the original hardwood which we already refinished in the rest of the downstairs.

Now that the cabinets in the area are all torn out, note the doorway which we found behind there! Apparently, our downstairs half bath used to be the pantry- accessible from the kitchen. When the doorway into it from the front hallway was put in, this doorway was closed over. We wish we could figure out how to use it to create a coat closet (which was combined with the pantry to create the bathroom), but that may take some more finagling!

And, after much tugging and heavy lifting from Jeff and our neighbor Brad (thank you!!), the new digital fridge is in our kitchen, just in time for the freeze overnight tonight! Until we get the floor torn out next weekend, we're not going to put in any cabinets at this time. This also allows us to move the food from one fridge to the other too. But for now, it's nice to have 2 fridges, and I'm SUPER excited about the new one (it is all digital inside, and even has a drawer that flash thaws frozen meat). YAY for the new fridge!!