The upstairs apartment of our Bremerton triplex was the worst of the three apartments. When we purchased it, the ceilings were maybe 6’5″ high, and all the walls felt like they were going to close in. I’m not sure if it was before or after we closed when I told Chris “what if we were to raise the ceiling?” That was the phrase that spiraled our scope out of control. But it started a transformation that took our confined, cramped kitchen to open and L-shaped.
I’ll go into detail on how we changed other rooms in the apartment, but I will start in the kitchen. The original kitchen had a small stove, a sink, a few cabinets, a refrigerator and a microwave. They used a few book shelves used as spice racks. And that was it – barely any cabinets and drawers, no dishwasher. And the whole thing was confined by a pony wall and what we later discovered was a chimney to a decommissioned furnace. Notice the metal vent, that will become important later.
Demo and L-shape design
Once I uttered the words about the ceiling, we quickly took the whole thing down to the studs. We dismantled the old chimney that ran through the apartment. All this added hundreds of square feet, so I don’t regret it, but boy I had no idea what we were getting into back then. I thought we’d be done in three months. More like three years!
So back to the kitchen. With chimney gone, we decided on an L-shaped kitchen – we kept sink in the same place, but we moved the stove to the exterior wall near the refrigerator. We would also be able to add a dishwasher next to the sink. Because we added more horizontal and vertical space, we were able to include more lower cabinets and counter tops. And we decided to follow the roof line and have staggered wall cabinets above the sink. We ordered everything from Ikea, but we used a 24″ stove and an 18″ dishwasher – although there was much more space, it was still a small kitchen. The appliances should be appropriately sized.
The new cabinet layout added much more storage. Instead of a typical horizontal offset pattern on the backsplash, we did a straight herringbone, playing off the upper cabinets. Everything was coming together nicely, then we tried to vent the stove.
Finding a fan
The stove was under the gable, so a typical vent would not work. I realized that the only thing that would work would be something similar to a strong bathroom fan, so I researched the code and bought this fan on Amazon. Everything seemed fine, then I opened up the ceiling. I should have noted the position of the rafters when we planned the kitchen, because we ended up putting the stove right underneath one. There was a rafter running through the perfect spot for my fan.
I took a look at the code again, and realized that a slightly offset fan is still okay. I would run the herringbone tile up the wall about around the fan to trick the eye. So with that plan in place, I called the city inspector out to take a look and approve me to move forward. What I did not realize was that I needed at least 30″ between the stove and anything combustible… and the fan cover was plastic. This was when I remembered the original metal fan. It would have been perfect! But it was long gone.
Finishing it up
It took ages to find the right cover and all the plastic parts I had to replace. I found a cover, but then there was the on/off switch and all its parts… it took almost two years before we finished it. Granted, we had a baby in that time and started work on Vallejo, but still! We finally found all the right parts and got it installed. I felt such sweet relief when the city inspector signed off on the work.
What I liked:
- This whole experience has really soured me on Ikea cabinets in general, but in this case I think they worked. Their modular design allowed us to maximize the space we had.
- We will probably move away from subway tile, but I like the herringbone pattern in this kitchen.
What I’d do differently:
- I’m not really sure where you’d put a microwave in this kitchen, and most people have them. I’d think a little bit more about that placement and try to maximize counterspace.
- I will never, ever do these vinyl plank floors again. This was the first time we used them, and they are impossible to keep clean. They also come up a bit easier, even though they are grouted in place. It’s highly likely that we will have to start replacing these floors after this batch of tenants move out. The terrible thing is that they are everywhere in this triplex. I’m already starting to think about alternative flooring.
Budget estimate
Below is an estimate of the budget – some of the numbers may be rounded as materials were purchased for multiple rooms.
- Ikea kitchen: ~$2000, including counters, sink, faucet. We purchased two kitchens at the same time, and the apartment below was slightly larger. I’m not sure how much we actually saved going the Ikea route, but I plan to compare the next time we replace cabinets.
- Appliances: $1300 for dishwasher, refrigerator (stove was reused). The smaller appliances are not necessarily cheaper in all cases; while we saved on the refrigerator, the 18″ dishwasher was more expensive than a 24″ dishwasher.
- Materials: $800. This was tough to estimate, for the same reason as the Ikea kitchen. This included all tile, drywall, fan, etc. This may actually be a little high, as our materials were not terribly expensive.
- Labor: $4000. This may be low, as I am taking out the labor for the framing and drywalling, as that was all done at once. We did end up paying someone to put together our cabinets (probably negating any savings from going with Ikea), plus hired an electrician, plumber, and roofer (fan install).
Despite the challenges, I love this kitchen. Partly because I know the story of how hard it was to complete. But I am also proud of how much functionality we added in such a small space.
