Kitchen Remod In Progress
 

Started to update the kitchen should be able to put in my stove soon. This is where the stove is going. When I bought the house I fell in love with this mantle and always wanted to put a six burner in it.

I took out the meaningless junk collector hole to make it wide open. I will have another 24" cabinet made for the right side of the stove.

Trying to pick granite countertops for the cabinets too. Hard decision they cost so much and I don't want to get sick of looking at them.

Pics
 

forgot to add'em. Also pics of the island cabinet (peninsula) I had made. It was the same price to have this made to match perfectly and the way I wanted with all the doors being able to open, as it was to use mix and match pieces from prefab cabinet guys.

The cabinet maker did an incredible job matching the existing cabinets.

This is an idea of the look I am going for
 

the to the left of the sink was the end of the counter space I am trying to add a bunch more.

again

looking pretty good. love the brick. how old is the house?

lookin good there jj

Thanks, it was built in 1976.

I am contemplating doing the brick repair work myself. I have never worked with mortar and bricks before (virgin mason) so let me know if you think it is too much. I don’t know what I could mess up. It is not a structural wall, just cosmetics. There is no second floor and the mantle ends at the ceiling.

There are two walls to the mantle an interior and exterior (backside facing my living room). Nothing I have done has affected the exterior wall.

In Pic 1 and 2, above the plywood they used partial bricks. The plywood is cemented in. So that potion of wall has to be knocked down (about a 3’ wide by 2’ tall section), plywood pulled out and rebuilt with bricks the long way.

Then they used cinder blocks on the inside upper right corner. They came right out but that has to be rebuilt with bricks as well.

In Pic 3 and 4 on the right side of the stove, where cuddy hole wall the joined the back wall, there are some bricks sticking out the long way. Only 5 or 6 of these rows will be visible once I put the stove and 24” cabinet in. I know I can knock out the long bricks sticking out, but don’t know if I can put 3/4 - 7/8 size bricks in the long way to fill the holes.

I think a stainless back-splash could be used to cover a majority of the bricks on the right side above the stove (pending the bosses approval). But I want to try to fix it.

Does anyone think I should try this or am I better off getting a mason?

I think a stainless back-splash could be used to cover a majority of the bricks on the right side above the stove (pending the bosses approval). But I want to try to fix it.

I think you took the words rite out of my mouth , mite be alot of work weaveing those bricks in , keep up the good work.

Brick really is not as hard is it sounds.

It is just time consuming as h377.

The trick to the mortar is getting the right consistency and matching the
existing.
For my house, I can't use straight from the bag,
I have to mix special because of the age of the house.
Built in 1820, the bricks are soft and the mortar just as soft,
today's mortars would not allow the house to move and just break the bricks.

JJ that kitchen is off the chain full of character! VERY NICE! :hide:

Counter tops
 

Thanks Skool.

What do you guys think of this granite for counter tops?
I like it a lot but want to make sure it won't go out of style. It is calles Marinace. Has a lot of dark sea-weedish greens in it and some reds.
My house is rustic for the most part and has dark brown wooden plank ceilings.

Thanks Skool.
What do you guys think of this granite. It is called "Marinace". I want to make sure it is not going to go out of style.
My house is rustic and I think this is beautiful. There is a lot of dark sea-weedish greens in it to offset all the browns in the kitchen. My ceilings are dark brown stained wood planks.

ceilings. my kitchen isn't that dark. the pics were taken at night witha weak flash.
and yes ugly azz wall paper is gettin ripped down.

My personal opinion, being as you are going for the rustic look,
one of three options:

1 - real butcher block
2 - slate
3 - concrete with slate tinting

The problem is these require maintenance and care to last long.

Personally, I hate when people put granite into
a house that is supposed to be rustic.
We have an old house tour every year in Berks county
and the slate just looks out of place in some of teh houses.

Here's a link to the yearly tour:

http://www.berkshistory.org/events/3cent.html

I haven't even considered slate I will look into it. I love butcher block, but it would get destroyed in no time in my house (refer to pic of two little monsters).
What kind of maintenance does slate require and how durable is it?

Butcher block is more durable than slate.

all three have to be oiled every so often.

Okay, the boss says we can go look at slate. She will not even consider butcher block because she thinks we have to much wood in the house (imagine the thought).
Reviews from friends hae been pretty negative on the granite we picked out. Too complicated seems to be the thought.

Slate will chip, love that stainless steal counter. Granite is great. It's strong and wont stain, BUt it sucks the heat out of anything hot, like your dinner.

I agree with your friends on the particular granite you showed, but there are tons of different granite out there which would look very nice and be less "busy".

Looks great. If you really want to keep that brick work exposed I would pay the money to have a brick guy come in and do the work. I'm pretty handy and the few times I have done any brick work I mad a mess. Your spending alot on the kitchen and to have a professional come in should not cost that much. Plus they know how to match thing up and where to find matching bricks if needed. That new oven of yours will look great in there.

You are right I will probably end up asking a mason to step in after I tear down the little that is remaining.
Wife is really leaning towards the granite Marinace, looks great in person, a lot different then the pics. Some places call it RiverRocks.
Emailed family and friends and ended up about 60% for it and 40% against.
We will be tossing this around all weekend.

Getting there!!!!!!!
 

Well it's taking a while but I am getting there. Had a fellow Italian buddy of mine who knows masonry give me a hand with the brick and they came out nice.

After three trips to check out granite we still agreed to stick with our original choice and we both love the look of it n the kitchen.

I had another three cabinet made for the right side of the stove. Bottom draw is extra deep, holds a gallon of olive oil straight up, which is what it was built for. Oils, vinegars, cooking wines, spice grinders all the tall stuff is right there now. I stole the idea from my older brother.

Now we have to decide on the floor and the wall color. Oh yeah I tore off al the old ugly backsplash and lost half the dry wall with it tear it all out and replace the dry wall. Had a plaster guy come in and touch up all the repairs around the doors we changed as well.

Awesome job!!!!!.....my wife wants a new kitchen in the worst way but it is definitely not in my budget

cabinet
 

Waiting for Cecelia to start hiding in the drawer, better get safety latch. Pictures of brick work redone, thank God for talented buddies.

really looks nice, and I do like the granite you picked out. Looks very nice installed. Enjoy!

Thanks! It's getting there. Hood should be in this week just have to find the time to install it....then flooring and paint decisions come into play.