Kitchen Renovation in Embudo Hills in Albuquerque, NM

Here are some photos of a recent kitchen renovation project that we worked on in the Embudo Hills Neighborhood.

The customer had an oversized island that the original designer thought would be used as a breakfast bar. The homeowner called it “the aircraft carrier”. The first problem was that there wasn’t enough room for both stools and an egress in this open concept living/ dining/ kitchen space. Also, with no backsplash behind the sink, any dishes were in full view from the living area. Finally, there were no outlets for the use of appliances on the island. In addition to the dysfunction of the island, the customer had a broken trash compactor, and felt the golden oak cabinets didn’t fit with his contemporary style and decor.

Here’s what we did to change it!

First, we took out the dates tile counter tops for replacement with a dark quartz by another contractor. There was a dated tile backsplash behind the range that we removed as well.

We added ten inches to the existing pony wall but left one side at counter height to function as a service area for entertaining. All of this was the customers design.

Once an electrical contractor had added the outlets we installed and finished our drywall. We left the texture off at this point because we wanted the counter tops installed first. The higher pony wall was to be topped with quartz and we wanted a seamless finish between the wall and top. The contemporary design the customer was putting together wouldn’t work with a wooden apron trim below the quartz as is commonly done.

We removed the trash compactor and installed a new 24-inch base cabinet. Fortunately, we found a commercially available cabinet that was a great match to the existing, saving time and money over building a custom unit.

The customer also needed a new sink and faucet installed. We referred him to Reliant Services, who did a great job!

The look was completed with the preparation, priming, and painting of the cabinets. We used a top of the line waterborne alkyd enamel over a waterborne acrylic urethane adhesion primer. This has been a system that we have been really impressed with for years for its tremendous durability, quick return to service, and environmentally friendly products. We installed new hardware as well.

The customer is loving his new kitchen, especially since the cost was about a quarter of what he was quoted just for re-facing the cabinets! He also tells us that his guests have given him great reviews.