Kitchen Remodel

They say that there are two rooms that sell a house: The kitchen and the bathroom. The rest, after all, are just rooms. You can furnish them with whatever you like. You can easily change the wall color. In fact, as long as they are of reasonable size, anything can be done. The two crucial rooms, however, are more important to the buyer's opinion of the house.




I remodeled the bathroom and it was a major improvement. The kitchen, however, has always had a few features that detracted from its appearance (I'm not even counting the hideous bright yellow countertop and the unwieldy and stained cast iron sink that was in place when I moved here - I replaced those early on with a stainless steel sink and fresh countertop) . Firstly, the long, dated, flourescent fixture that was the only source of light in the room (one bulb was out and, furthermore, the fact that it was in the center of the ceiling put the dishwashing area in shadow while you worked - a significant problem in the winter months when ambient light is non-existent). It was ugly. Secondly, the ceiling was dinghy and stained and did not reflect much light. Finally, there was a hodgepodge of decorations and refrigerator ornaments that had accumulated over the years, the kind that you don't notice as they grow in number from gifts and the purchases of things you think you need.

It is a small kitchen and you have to be careful what you put in to it! There's only so much room.

We got a free incandescent fixture from Terri who was updating part of her house. This was a major improvement right off. Over the break I repainted the entire kitchen, cleaned, and installed a light (by far the hardest part was getting the wire from A to B) in the archway over the sink. At the last minute I thought of using a dimmer instead of a standard switch to control the light above the sink. Good call. We now use it as a night light. It's working out great and the kitchen looks a lot better.








Routing the wire to the archway.







I eliminated a wall jack for the phone. A wall repair was necessary.








Finalizing the wiring.









A blurry shot of the installed light. It is dimmed down in this picture. The finish is brushed nickel and matches the stainless steel sink exactly. At higher settings, it illuminates all of the sink area making it easier to see what you are doing while washing dishes or preparing food on the counter. The fresh paint brightens the room as well!

Success!