“Look how they massacred my boy”

We’re remodeling our kitchen. Or maybe it’s more like a “do-over” or a “take two.”

Our house turns 88 years old this November. That’s pretty old for Southern California. And it’s a small house, at least by modern standards.  A galley kitchen from 1927 has a lot of charm (we have a built-in ironing board, for example) but not a lot of room or conveniences associated with 21st century family life.

So we’re opening it up and making it brand new again. Well, our contractor is. Round one is gutting it. That includes removing our plaster ceilings and walls, tile floors (put in by last owner), and even knocking down some walls.

Here’s the old kitchen, with original cabinets in the front/left of the shot and new cabinets we added on the right:
  

There’s little breakfast nook beyond the arch. A modern fridge (even our small one) can’t fit in the main kitchen so we put it in there.
  

This is the “mud room” that goes out to our backyard. It’s also where the dog sleeps.
  

And here’s the end of day 2! No more walls, ceiling, arch–no nothin’!     

You can also see the dog’s room is opened up to make one larger space.
  

At the end of day 3 most of the poorly-installed tile is removed, exposing the original floor that’ll be refinished.  
 

And this is what an 88-year-old kitchen looks like deconstructed and neatly piled:
 

When it’s all done there’ll be a dishwasher, new tile counters, and self-closing cabinets. The whole thing should take about three weeks.

In the meantime we’re being creative with cooking and washing. With everything crammed into the dining room it’s like we’re raising a family in a single room studio. A small inconvenience when all is said and done.

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