Big things are happening in the Kambor family! If you’re new to this “design coaching” project, speed it up! In January, Emily wrote a post asking people to submit future design/renovation projects in the hope that she could provide insight and wisdom as someone with many modification experience under the belt. She never took over design or project management for anyone else’s project, but she acts as a backboard more. Questions and design challenges emerged in the process, which hindered ideas, advice and past learning. Chrissy and Peter Cambor submitted a kitchen renovation, which just felt like a proper project. In just a few months, they have made a lot of progress.
The final update post determined the final kitchen layout, IKEA cabinets and stone countertops were purchased, and a demonstration was underway. Well, it looks like the kitchen is almost complete now! Pete had a noble goal of finishing the modifications by Chrissy’s birthday (June 22), but with the exception of a few finishes, they’ve met quite a few deadlines! It’s very impressive. But wait – this is not an obvious post yet! There are many fun processes to keep up with you. So let’s get it right.
A quick reminder – this was in the kitchen before. They’re pretty great about documenting their remodeling journey, and Pete was able to say a lot of helpful things about how this has gone so far. He did a lot of practical work himself, but only hired him when needed, but he has made a great success in this renovation and leads it. This is what he had to say:
“To be clear – all this is very doable and time-consuming. I am never a construction expert. I am a very JV DIY type guy (I am sure there are some very important people by those who are looking at my handiwork.
Here are all the key points they’ve finished since we last checked their project:
The demo has been completed
I finished the drywall and hit the wall.
I moved and added a new window
IKEA Cabinets have been built and installed
Attached stone countertop
Installed appliances
The back wall was tiled
One of the first things to deal with after demoing the old kitchen was the powder bathroom and shared walls. The original corner cabinet first retreated to the wall. In other words, in a post-demo, you need to hit a wall and flash it. They originally thought this would add a bit of space to the bathroom, but Pete said: “I couldn’t open the bathroom because there was a water pipe running upstairs on the bathroom wall, so I squared the new wall in the kitchen and pop framing.
At the same time, they undoubtedly worked on the most important parts of building a redesign and installing an IKEA cabinet. They went together Axstad Blue Kitchen Cabinet Front.
“The cabinets from IKEA are great. This product has been significantly improved (in my opinion) for the past 15 years (in my opinion) and once you go into the swing it is very viable. Our approach was to build the interior in the 10 days to install. Room, but we hired a demo to do the demonstration and took about four hours. That day and the next day we installed the cabinet and actually dialed in.
“Here we can see the island’s beginning taking place. The 2×4 supports the cabinet and note the gap in the support structure of the 2×4. In other words, it is for downdraft vents. This photo is before moving the gas line and vent location.”
Unfortunately, Pete discovers that the gas line and downdraft vents need to be moved to line up perfectly with the peri-copping vent fan that pops up behind the stubbed top. They hired someone to move the gas lines and vents, but Pete was able to take care of the electricity. The red circle is where they had to shift to everything.
“Periskoping vent fans are behind the cooktop and [stone] Manufacturers to make the cut just right. I lost a lot of nights of sleep with this and had to constantly adjust the daytime with the producers. In the end, it all worked out and we would have found someone to install it, but we had a hard time finding someone who has experience installing Periscopping Vents. ”
“A closer look at the structure supporting the island’s cabinets, Mountain House Camping Dining – When the kitchen was out of committee, I ate countless of them. Mac and Cheese and Lasagna, I highly recommend (the kids were biased towards Mac and Cheese). ”
Either side of the island needed a clever way to hide these support beams, so they chose to soak in the waterfall on a stone countertop. This also carved out the best place for a bar stool along the back (many readers have also suggested it!). They initially planned a cabinet on this side, but in the end there was no space so the location of the stool was easy. This is what Pete had to say:
“The waterfalls are amazing. We definitely had a hectic start. From a design perspective, they were not our first choice, but we felt it was the best way to create the function of Ikea Island. For the stones, they took a quartz slab called “Enigma.”
“Here I was preparing the top cabinet. This bracket had to be perfectly level and be of the right height for the IKEA cabinet. These were for cabinets above the fridge and oven/microwave. I had to run the 220 outlet.
Apart from some hiccups and stressors, the majority of the kitchen was done and it was tile time. They finished the surrounding drywall and made it prime the backsplash wall. Initially, Chrissy and Peter were quite set up on Pearl Gray’s Pratt & Larson’s Idris Field Tiles, but after careful consideration, they chose instead Zellige of “Casablanca” by Zia Tiles.
“We went with the Zia Zellige tiles – we really liked it. It was wonderful and thick, and all of the tiles were unharmed. Some of them are said to be pars on the course. Chrissy and I thought “Casablanca” would brighten up the room.
Before starting with the installation, I had to soak all the tiles in room temperature water for 1-2 minutes following the installation instructions. Chrissy said this releases clay bubbles. This can be seen in the photo. Zia Tile recommends this to ensure that Glazed Tile removes dust and residue and that the tile adheres properly. And this is Pete’s “how” when it comes to installation.
“Technique – take the mortar and use this one with a line (very technical here), spread it out smoothly. Then make the line.”
“after that [apply mortar and] Create a line for the tile so it’s vertical (something like a YouTube video about how this creates suction effects and more…). ”
“Then, push the tile into the wall and push the boom. You’re an expert. (One did not use spacers. Sometimes it was incomplete tile, and you used spacers, but most of the time there is no laser level either. It’s very important to make sure it’s a level.
Chrissy and Pete knew they wanted a kind of vertical boundary on the base, so they started off and went to their path and right as they placed the tiles. Pete said, “People have all sorts of ‘ways’ where you’re supposed to line up tiles and plan ahead. We wanted to go down this boundary. ” That makes sense to them. Both stated that this was quite boring and… a pain in my hands.
And here is the completely tiled rear wall! The brackets protruding from the wall are for floating shelves. It was designed to be planned and installed for the studs, just like they were tiled. It’s much easier than excavating into tiles after the fact.
“You can see the front of our cabinet here too. The blue is very dark as we left it wrapped in a plastic lining to prevent damage between the tiles/grouts and so on. Blue tape is also very important.
For grout, they tried several different greys, but ended up choosing a colour that felt lighter than the tiles – Eggshells by Mypi. For now, it’s about where updates stop. Appliances exist, and are now mostly functional kitchens, lacking some final touches (shelf, hardware, some touch-ups, etc.) before the grand release.
So how do Chrissy and Pete hang there?
“We felt very tired, but we stuck to the deadline to prepare the kitchen by the kitchen birthday – we hit – the kitchen was working. It was amazing. I prepared a week earlier for Father’s Day. I got a big deadline. I’ll probably get it (that expression probably doesn’t work that much for astronauts – a lot of late night and painful things.
Thank you to Peter & Chrissy for sharing all of their kitchen DIY learning with us, not to mention taking photos of the amazing process along the way (not necessarily an easy task). We were very impressed with their rapid progress and it was great to see their vision from the beginning to the present. Many design shifts were made midway, but everything was improved. The next time you look at their kitchen, you may be ready for a photo of Profes Caitlin and some styling touches. stay tuned!
