Client Feature: 117-Year Old Home Kitchen Remodel
Over the years, we have had the opportunity to work with some truly amazing clients on their remodeling projects. Getting to know each of them and helping them bring their vision to life is why we love what we do! Here’s what one of our clients has to say about us.
Client Story
“We hired J. Carsten to remove a wall and open up our kitchen in our 117-year old home. We initially worked with Jason to help us discover options because I didn’t think there was enough space to have an island and walkways on both sides (Our old kitchen was unbelievably tiny). Jason came up with three designs, all of which were awesome.
Once we decided to move forward, Jason provided a detailed schedule and our project would be completed in about 5 weeks. Although certain items shifted a day or two throughout, they finished the project on the exact day as planned.
J. Carsten’s subcontractors were all professional, courteous, and have excellent craftsmanship. Jason worked with us on our budget and was able to preserve some of our existing cabinets that were only about 15 years old. He and the cabinet maker were able to match the wood and install all new matching doors. Nobody can tell which cabinets are new v. the old! Another impressive feature is the flooring. In an older home, our floors are very uneven. The transition of the new kitchen flooring to the existing wood floors in the dining/living area is seamless.
Finally, Jason was just an all around great person to work with on this project. In any renovation, it’s disrupting to the home, family and pets and working with Jason was better than we could’ve imagined. We have two senior giant breed dogs who went on a mini-vacation for the first two weeks of demo and drywalling, but they were home every day for the remaining three weeks. We both work full time so the dogs stayed in our garage (which was also a staging area for certain equipment and materials), so some days there was no avoiding our dogs.
Our dogs loved Jason and he or the subcontractors would let them back in the house before they left and some days the dogs would even hang out outside or in the house while Jason was here. I agonized over what to do with our dogs during the renovation since it’s not easy transporting two giant dogs to a doggie daycare every day on the way to work, so it was such a relief that they could stay home.
I always heard horror stories of renovations, particularly with delays and unexpected issues. We had none. Our stress was having to finally pick our finishes and once we did, J. Carsten made it happen. Above all, our new kitchen has literally changed our day to day life. Our home is so much more useful and we couldn’t be happier.”
Jason’s Project Notes
When I first looked at the Johnson kitchen, there was a lot of head scratching! At some point, this 117-year-old house had a whole new level added above the existing kitchen. Before we could remove the main wall, we needed to thoroughly investigate the upper-level floor system and come up with a plan to update the 1800s layout of the kitchen. Our final plan included a farmhouse sink, center island, coffee brewing area, and new flooring butting up to the original fir floors. The Johnsons and their 2 150 pound dogs, Boris and Zeus, were so fun to work with and we definitely had some laughs throughout the project!
Are you ready to tackle your next remodeling project? Contact us to get started!
