Kitchen - Day 1 (7/25)

Today: The big demolition day. By the end of the day, all cabinets and countertops were gone, the soffits were half removed, and the old vinyl flooring and underlayment were mostly torn up and removed.  There weren't too many surprises, and those that we did find were small. We were hoping that there was nothing buried in the soffits but dead space, and that turned out to be mostly true. There was some wiring and phone cable that can easily be tucked into the new ceiling, and one small elbow of vent pipe above where the dishwasher goes that the contractor doesn't think should be tough to re-route and bury back in the wall. One minor concern was some water damage to the subfloor near the vent at the corner of the sliding door, but we were moving that vent 90 degrees to its current orientation to put it along the side of the cabinets as opposed to in front of the door, so that flooring was going to be cut out anyway. Hopefully there isn't damage under the subfloor.

Tomorrow: The completion of the demolition (mainly the soffit above what we call the butler's pantry - picture at right above) and the reconstruction and drywalling of where the soffits used to be. Moving two floor vents and fixing the minor issues noted above. Some electrical work to rewire some things and prep for future light installation. Perhaps if all goes smoothly, the beginning of the hardwood floor installation. The hardwood is being installed first so that it runs wall to wall under everything throughout the whole kitchen as opposed to not running under the island or under the cabinets. Cabinets and the island then go on top.