As with all remodels, it began with demo of the existing kitchen, and A LOT of it. This demo took me 3 full days working about 14 hours per day over the weekend (Friday - Sunday) to knock out.
First step was to remove all the cabinets, appliances, trim, etc. Since our new kitchen was getting 1 1/8" oak hardwood flooring, the tile and concrete backerboard also had to be torn up as well. There were a lot of "sins" committed that these pictures don't show. Romex was run unprotected behind the peninsula cabinetry and over finished wall to provide power to the light switch that powers the pendants. There was a jbox flying in the wind buried behind cabinets that looked like it was old dishwasher location. Of course, the wires inside were not protected and live. Corrected the electrical code violations while everything was open. This took 2 of the 3 days.
Demo1.jpg
Demo2.jpg
It was at this point I found issue #1. Our kitchen remodel goal was to have seamless flooring throughout our main floor, since the kitchen is the only room that doesn't already have 1 1/8" oak hardwood. However, in the two images above, the subfloor for the kitchen, and only the kitchen, was about 5/8-3/4" higher than the rest of the flooring. Instead of having a transition piece to bridge the gap, we decided to tear out all of the old tongue and groove subfloor. This was not an easy task. I think this process took me 15 hours on a Sunday.
Demo3.jpg