Rumford Kitchen Renovation

This beautiful kitchen in Rumford, RI had very humble beginnings.

It started out looking like this.

On the outside, it went from this.....

...to this...

....and on the inside, from this 80 year old bungalow galley kitchen...

....to this mid-century-style beauty

Before (Keep an eye on the existing door casings....you’ll see those again)

After

This early 30’s gambrel ‘bungalow’ didn’t have nearly enough space in the existing kitchen for our current-day kitchen-centric lives. Through our Conceptual Design process, we explored several remodeling solutions within our client’s budget. Ultimately, he decided that the option incorporating a small kitchen addition would give him the results he wanted including a bigger, newer kitchen including an island and a much needed ½ bath on the 1st floor.

The exterior was in need of significant maintenance and repair, so an addition took care of two problems at once.

Our client enjoys remodeling, so he pitched in to help by doing much of the demo work himself.

At only 7’ x 14’, this was a very small addition, but that little addition allowed us to double the size of his existing kitchen.

From the outset, our client insisted that the addition look like it was always part of the original house. To do this, we aligned the addition w/ the existing exterior wall, soffit and roofline of the existing house. Additionally, we were carefully matched all of the existing siding, soffit and trim details...including extending the original wood gutters.

Like it was always there.

We were asked to replace the driveway as part of this project (you can see why).

To eliminate water run-off from the driveway, we installed a permeable paver system.

Walkways and a completely custom cedar & red meranti picket fence and gate. Our client has plans to build raised beds for his gardens in the area to the right of the walkway.

Original kitchen (facing the driveway).

Original kitchen (facing dining room)

With nearly all the demo complete and the addition framed and dried-in, the next step was to remove the old exterior wall. a To do this, we needed to support the floor above while we removed theold wall and replace it with a new beam which would span the width of the kitchen.

The new beam and support post can be seen to the right of the window (the window is where the old side door used to be). Note the radiant floor heating system.

Typical for remodeling an old house...there was a surprise. It turns out that the big cast-iron waste pipe from the 2nd floor bathroom was located in the exterior wall...right where our support post needed to be. We’d been granted an ‘opportunity for a solution’. With structural engineering, pipe replacement and wall padding, the solution was found.

If we’d used conventional insulation, our wall would have been too thick to align with the original wall on both the outside and the inside. In order to meet the code for energy efficiency and keep our wall the same thickness as the original, we used high-density spray foam insulation to get more R-value in a smaller space. This also virtually eliminates air leakage.

In addition to foaming under the radiant floor, we also insulated the walls of the crawl space to further improve energy efficiency.

...and because we were already there spraying foam, we sprayed the rim joist of the original house because this is the area prone to the most air leakage. It cost almost nothing extra because wewere there anyway and will have a huge impact on the amount of cold air infiltrating the house in winter.

With our insulation inspection passed, we installed blueboard (aka the sheetrock needed for skim-coat plaster work)

With Warmboard radiant heat system, we accurately recorded the location of every inch of hydronic tubing and then we were VERY careful with our nail placement.

Yes, the appliances are stunning, but as luck would have it, the stove exhaust hood was not made to the correct size (29 7/8”). It was oversized by 3/16”. It’s not much, but it was the difference between fitting in the standard 30” cabinet opening and not.

We had to drill out the factory rivets, clamp the sides to reduce the width to what it should have been when it left the factory, then re-drill and re-rivet the fan case.

Ta-DA!

Remember the original door and window casings? We were asked to save and re-use as much of the original material as possible. When we were done, the trim we couldn’t use would have fit in a lunch box.

More original trim at the window over the sink.

At this point, we were nearly done. Our client enjoys remodeling so he elected to do the painting and tile backsplash himself.

2 years later, he finished. That kind of schedule isn’t right for everyone, but it was perfect for him. The results speak for themselves.

This gorgeous kitchen is the result of plenty of hard work, thousands of decisions and a great working relationship with our client.

Another great selection by our client: Praa Sands quartz counters pick up the green of the appliances, beige of the walls and black and white of the tile and cabinets.

The morning sun lights up this kitchen. And for when the sun isn’t shining, dimmable LED under-cabinet lights and pin-hole lights in the ceiling provide plenty of light for prep-work, yet can be dimmed down to provide a warm ambient glow.