The List

Since we've decided not to hire a general contractor to oversee our kitchen renovation, we're trying to line up and bid out all of our vendors on our own. We are making some progess, though. Here's the list of things we need to figure out before we start demoing:

Decide on our new kitchen layout--I think we're almost there. An IKEA kitchen designer came out this week and made a few suggestions about the plan we had created in the IKEA software.

Decide on the style/maker of our cabinets--We decided that we are going with the IKEA ADEL cabinets in medium brown. We're also going with a company that IKEA works with regularly for the installation.

Choose an electrician--We had a couple of electricians give us estimates over the past couple weeks and we're pretty sure we found the company we're going to work with. We're planning on rewiring the kitchen to fit our new layout, installing can lighting in the kitchen, and replacing the two breaker boxes for the house. Cause they're old. And a fire hazard. And they are some things in them that are way against code. Way to go, previous owners.

Choose someone to renovate the terrazzo flooring in the kitchen--We decided that, instead of putting down new flooring, we'd just shine the terrazzo that's already in the kitchen. I actually found someone to do this last summer when we were thinking about restoring all the terrazzo in the house. We're only going to do the kitchen right now, though--200 bucks to do the whole kitchen. Not bad.

Choose someone to drywall/reframe the parts of the kitchen wall we're taking out--Still trying to decided on this.

Choose a plumber--The plumbing we're doing isn't that major: we're moving the dishwasher and we need to install shut-off valves under the sink before we start taking the kitchen apart. Still trying to decide on this.

Those are the biggies. I'm hoping we can start demoing by the end of April. And we need to order our cabinets by May 1st--that's when the great 20% discount goes away at IKEA!