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Kitchen renovation

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
This past week we have had the kitchen here at Dos Palmas renovated.

Here we see the kitchen as it essentially was just before (although this is a 2012 shot):

3102_F31922-01-S800.jpg


Doug Kerr: Kitchen in 2012

It's a fairly spacious kitchen (10 ft × 10 ft free floor space) for a house of this modest size (1550 ft²), but was a little short on counter space, which we had rectified by installing that nice center island (we built it from a kit).

But, although you can't tell from the photo, the floor was gravely battle-weary. It was vinyl tile laid over two layers of sheet goods ("Linoleum"). The surface was badly scuffed, and here and there were little bumps, from which the surface had totally worn off. Carla had a terrible time keeping it clean.

The cabinets were in very nice condition, but Carla wanted something a bit more "cheery".

The countertops were 1978 laminate, and had an anomaly where we put our induction cooktop, apparently the result of at some point in the history of the house an "oversize" cooktop being installed, to later be replaced with a normal size one (which required the rather agricultural wood "appliqué" seen here):

3102_F31907-01-S800.jpg


Doug Kerr: Kitchen in 2012 - cooktop "retro-adaptation"

And the countertop heights were to 1978 norms, much too low for comfortable use even by a 5'2" tall Cherokee.

So, in honor of Carla's 78th birthday, we undertook a substantial renovation. The existing floor covering was stripped off (all three layers) and ceramic tile laid. (We also had this applied to the entrance hall, which meets the kitchen in a doorway.)

The countertops were replaced with new countertops made of a material described as "solid surface" ("Corian" is a famous brand of that type of material, as made by DuPont, but ours is a less-famous brand). It is composed of acrylic polymer and alumina trihydrate (ATH), a material derived from bauxite ore. The countertop on the "working side" (with the cooktop and sink) side was raised 2.5" above the former height.

A large two-bowl sink was integrated into the working-side countertop, with a new "pull-out" faucet (the head pulls out of the arm to use as a sprayer).

All the cabinet doors, drawer fronts, and cabinet fronts were sanded, primered, and painted with a lovely turquoise semi-gloss enamel (a very labor-intensive operation), with new hardware in a satin-silver finish.

The result is just exquisite:

Q04890-01-S800.jpg


Doug Kerr: Kitchen renovated

Here is the "working" side:

Q04886-01-S800.jpg


Doug Kerr: Kitchen renovated - "working side" countertop

Suffice it to say, Carla is delighted by her new cuisine. And I am always delighted by her cuisine.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, James,

Looks very functional and wonderful colours too!

Thank you.

Carla picked the color. She is the style maven here.

She put the pix up on Facebook. Some girl responded, "Well, I hope that blue isn't the final color."

She said she just deleted that.

I said, I would have responded, "Well, then, you're just sh​it out of luck."

Best regards,

Doug
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
By the way, all these pictures were processed with Silkypix Developer Studio 6. The name indicates that its "main" function is to process raw files, but most of its functionalities can be applied well to JPG originals (my normal mode of use).

It provides easy-to-use control over:

• "Exposure compensation" (does a good job working from a JPG original)

• Fill light (my term - Silkypix curiously designates this "HDR")

• Cropping

• Image rotation

• Perspective adjustment - V and H, or one can rotate the set of adjustment axes

• Downsampling

• Post-downsampling sharpening

It can also do tonal curve processing.

This is all done in a "non-destructive" fashion, creating files that define all the parameters of the processing. One can make different "edits" of the same original and save the parameters for them separately.

The program nicely maintains the original EXIF metadata, except that it replaces the original proprietary data section ("Maker Note") with its own block of data.

Overall, a very handy tool for my "routine" work.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This past week we have had the kitchen here at Dos Palmas renovated.

Here we see the kitchen as it essentially was just before (although this is a 2012 shot):

3102_F31922-01-S800.jpg


Doug Kerr: Kitchen in 2012

It's a fairly spacious kitchen (10 ft × 10 ft free floor space) for a house of this modest size (1550 ft²), but was a little short on counter space, which we had rectified by installing that nice center island (we built it from a kit).......


3102_F31907-01-S800.jpg


Doug Kerr: Kitchen in 2012 - cooktop "retro-adaptation"

And the countertop heights were to 1978 norms, much too low for comfortable use even by a 5'2" tall Cherokee.

The result is just exquisite:

Q04890-01-S800.jpg


Doug Kerr: Kitchen renovated

Here is the "working" side:

Q04886-01-S800.jpg


Doug Kerr: Kitchen renovated - "working side" countertop

Suffice it to say, Carla is delighted by her new cuisine. And I am always delighted by her cuisine.

Best regards,

Doug

Doug,

This is a major investment and time and at this point the fidelity of each in the relationship is tested as what seems obvious, reasonable and economical to one might be kitche, or out of style! Congrats on an upbeat design and great new surfaces.

I wish you and Carl many years to come conjuring up new treats for the palette!

Asher
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Asher,

Doug,

This is a major investment and time and at this point the fidelity of each in the relationship is tested as what seems obvious, reasonable and economical to one might be kitche [kitsch?], or out of style!

Well, I contributed some "engineering" inputs, but the choice of what to do and the "style" parameters were all Carla's doing.

Congrats on an upbeat design and great new surfaces.

I wish you and Carl many years to come conjuring up new treats for the palette!

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug
 
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