Decor & Renovation
What it's really like to renovate a kitchen
Photography: Donna Griffith
Decor & Renovation
What it's really like to renovate a kitchen
The tears, the delays and the budget woes. TV host and DIY-er Karen Bertelsen shares what it's really like to renovate your kitchen.
On April 9, 2014, I cried.
I don’t remember much of the episode due to my state of mind at the time, but I’m told neighbours as far as three blocks away could hear my gasping sobs. It was the kind of hysterical crying that can only be brought on by one of life’s greatest horrors: the kitchen renovation.
You see, April 9 should have been the day my new kitchen was finally completed. The reno, which I figured would take around four months in the worst-case scenario, had somehow stretched into 12. With the confetti gun primed and ready, the only thing left to do was drop in the kitchen sink. And I did. And it was warped. And there wasn’t another in Canada. And I was looking at another six weeks before one could be shipped from the U.S.
My eyes immediately started vomiting tears. Things were not working out like they do on television. I should have known they wouldn’t. I’ve been a television host for years and even worked on a few makeover shows myself, so I’m very aware that TV Time and Real Time are two entirely different things. And now, Real Time meant six more weeks of washing dishes in my bathtub.
Ironically, this all started when I decided my smallish eight-by-15-foot kitchen needed a new sink—a farmhouse sink, to be exact. But then I measured my countertop and realized that the sink I liked wouldn’t fit. So I did what any rational person without any plans to remodel her kitchen did: I planned to remodel my kitchen.
My old kitchen was an authentic 1940s- style, complete with glass-fronted cabinets and charming wood drawers painted Depression-era green. They looked good; they were just a bit... temperamental. Pull too gingerly, and the drawers wouldn’t budge. Pull too hard, and they would shoot across the room, showering anyone in the vicinity with butcher knives and cleavers. So even though the kitchen was comfortable, it wasn’t at all convenient.
I had a renovation budget, and it was a fairly tight one. Because I’m handy and I have an entire website devoted to DIY projects (theartofdoingstuff.com), I knew I could save a lot of money on labour by tearing down the old cabinetry and installing the new flooring on my own.
I also knew where to spend. Although I have a good design sense, I’d never taken on a reno of this scale. So again, I did what any rational person would do: I hired an interior designer whom I knew only from Twitter.
I’ve followed Carol Reed’s work (and tweets) for years and I knew I’d like her suggestions. Carol spends much of her time on the East Coast, and I live an hour west of Toronto, so I used her online design consultation service, which worked out great and cost considerably less than a flight to Halifax. I simply sent her photos and measurements, along with specs for the new stove and refrigerator I’d already lined up, and she came up with a layout that worked for me.
I told Carol I’d like my new kitchen to have the same authentic, comfortable feel as my old one, and that it had to be a true cook’s kitchen with easy access to everything. Knowing that I wanted Shaker-style cabinets on a blogger’s budget, Carol suggested I take a look at the Martha Stewart line at Home Depot. Ready-made and priced at a fraction of the cost of custom cabinetry, it was the perfect solution.
So yeah, it took a year. Yeah, I had to haul a cabinet over my backyard fence because it wouldn’t fit through the front door. And yeah, I cried—once. But I’d do it all over again. I love my kitchen so much, I squeal every time I walk in. And rumour has it, neighbours can hear those squeals as far as six blocks away.
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