Kitchen Update

"It's always something.
-Roseanne Roseannadanna

My husband, being the engineer that he is, decided to measure just where on the wall the new cabinets would hang. After doing so he realized that all the electrical outlets on said wall were placed too high and would have to be dropped down at least a couple of inches. This meant removing the back splash that ran the length of the wall and that is when things got a little frustrating.

First he removed the strip of decorative wood that sat above the back splash. Then he tried to peel the sections of Formica that made up the back splash off the wall. No good, the Formica was glued to the drywall. Next he got his Sawzall and cut a line across the wall right at the top edge of the Formica. This is when he found out the Formica hadn't been glued to the drywall, it had been glued to a piece of plywood that had been attached to the drywall. He got a crowbar and started prying the drywall off the joists, still hoping to take the back splash off in one piece. No good, so he took the Sawzall and started sawing the back splash into smaller sections and again used the crowbar to pull these sections off the joists. This is when he discovered that the drywall had been attached to the joists with nails and then the plywood attached through the drywall and into the joists with screws and, finally, the Formica glued over the plywood. Yep, someone had decided that screwing the plywood on to the wall and then covering the screws with Formica was was a great idea. I am sure it made his job easier but it sure made my husband's job harder.

When my husband finally removed the last section of drywall-plywood-Formica, nails and screws, he realized that if he cut the remaining drywall just above the outlet boxes it would make the job of lowering them a lot easier. We snapped a chalkline and he used his Sawzall to remove another section of drywall producing what you see below:



I've always thought the kitchen wall marked where the house originally ended and the insulation we found behind it proves it.

I kind of like this look and may just have a large piece of clear plastic put over the opening. When anyone questions it I will say it is a new style call modern-rustic.