The Necessary Abominations

Probably the most difficult aspect of an extensive renovation is that there are a myriad of things needing work making it difficult to calculate where to begin. The process is testing my OCD, though we are referring to the renovations as exposure therapy. The greatest hurdle for me is having to settle for a quick fix rather than the complete renovation.

The kitchen sink is a great example. This is the before picture.
I pulled the refrigerator and the dishwasher - which had its height adjusting legs grouted into the tile. In the process of removing the dishwasher I pinched the copper line causing a small leak and a wading pool for the kitties on the kitchen floor. I tore out the lower cabinet to be greeted by soaked pressed wood (ridiculously this is the subfloor).

Originally (and still) I wanted to tear out the old tiles and remove the cabinets to start over in the kitchen (I admit this is always my first choice, cut the chaff and start over, though I'm not sure on the wisdom of this approach in all scenarios). Kari reeled me in, so we had to find a way to fix the floor. We opted for tiling the small section.

We purchased the tiles from the Community Forklift. I used a floor patch material that could be troweled over the subfloor instead of a thin-set to level the small section (an added plus is that the floor patch and the grout is mold and mildew resistant). I wanted the new tile section to be level with the old tile but this wasn't an option. The kitchen floor consists of subfloor, substrate, two layers of linoleum and then ceramic tile. Its tomfoolery like this that provokes me to tear it all out. The "fix" was to not stress over the depth of the new section but to level the tiles and use a 1"x1" wood border to create a more dramatic aesthetic break (as if the drastically different tiles wasn't enough).

This is what I refer to as a necessary abomination. Its not what I wanted, it still causes me anxiety to look at it but it was necessary to move on to far more important problems. When the dust settles and we move to working exclusively on the kitchen I will revisit the floor.

The end product doesn't look as obnoxious. Its amazing what a new dishwasher, new sink, new garbage disposal, and new plumbing have done.