Chapter 12: Kitchen Renovation

Installing the hardwood floor in the kitchen signified the end of the DIY portion of the kitchen renovation. Now it was time to bring in the professionals. Yippee!

Our Columbus Brother contractors – Joe, Jim and Jimmy – first arrived to get started on patching the walls and ceiling where we removed the bulkhead, adding more electrical outlets (I only had two before) and to move the overhead light so it could be centered above the island.

Keith and I both wanted to add more lighting to the kitchen and I loved the idea of canister lights in the ceiling, but Keith felt this was an extra expense that could wait awhile. Lucky for me, the contractors convinced him it would be easier to install the canister lighting now while the ceiling was open and they wouldn’t charge us that much extra. Jackpot! So now our new kitchen will have 5 canister lights, plus a light above the island, plus lighting underneath the cabinets.

I love it…and so does Keith!

I also think Joe, Jim and Jimmy did an unbelievable job of patching the walls and ceiling where Keith and Andy removed the bulkhead. If they do as good of a job at installing our cabinets then I’ll be one happy camper. :o)

After Joe, Jim and Jimmy completed their tasks (took them only about 2.5 days) then they called in the ceiling expert to give our ceiling a nice textured look. While all the rest of the ceilings in our house are smooth surfaces, it was going to be hard to mimic that look with all the patching that had to be done to repair the missing bulkhead. I don’t mind the difference though – it’s very subtle.

So week 1 with the contractors was extremely successful. We’ve heard many horror stories about kitchen renovations gone wrong, but so far, we feel really good about our decision to work with Columbus Brothers.

Week 2 is going to be a BIG week because our cabinets get installed!!!!! Stay tuned!