Doing A Kitchen Remodel Without Demolition

Doing A Kitchen Remodel Without Demolition

There’s no doubt about it, a kitchen remodel is a big job. Even a modest kitchen rebuild can cost from $20,000 to $30,000, and the more typical range is between $50,000 and $60,000. That’s a large chunk of change, especially in the world so financially strained by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, a remodel in the kitchen is still a positive move, adding value to your house and creating a more pleasant atmosphere in this pivotal and crucial family space. Today, we’ll be talking about an interesting way to get the renovation done without too much headache, and that’s cutting out the demolition.

Ways To Save: No Demo

One of the ways you can actually achieve some savings in your kitchen remodel, however, is by cutting out all — or nearly all — of the demolition step. This brings with it a number of other benefits, chiefly that minimal demolition means you won’t be forced to leave the house while the remodel work is going on. Extensive demolition brings:

• Dust
• Noise
• Disruption of plumbing fixtures
• Reduced or eliminated access to life essentials

Therefore, reducing or eliminating demolition during a kitchen remodel is a desirable solution. You escape all these negatives, and can remain in your home throughout the project. So, how can it be done?

Your floor could made from tile, stone, wood or vinyl. The easiest way to remodel a kitchen floor without any demolition is to go ahead and build right over the existing floor. Some existing methods for doing this include vinyl and laminate systems, but these have limited appeal aesthetically. You could also try to just place new tile over the old layer, but a better option, in our view, is the Semco system.

Semco is a seamless stone material available in a variety of finishes and colors that allows you to directly resurface over other solid surfaces. Regardless of any textures, grout joints, existing scratches or abrasions that are in the current floor, Semco can cover them with no remaining semblance of those inconsistencies remaining. It’s also easy to trowel the Semco all the way up to the edges and around existing fittings like islands.

A backsplash is invariably made using tile, and the issue with that is that you have grout lines, which are challenging to clean. In my own experience, something simple like a slow-leaking wine bottle that drips onto your counter tops and splashes onto the backsplash can wreak havoc on the effect. Using Semco for the backsplash allows for a seamless finish that’s much easier to clean in any event, especially in the hard-to-reach spots behind the oven and sink.

You could also use Semco for the surface of your cabinets, but there are actually even easier ways to do it. A prevailing trend at the moment is making use of lighter colors for kitchen cabinets, and to do that you can simply spray them with a lacquer or other durable kind of paint. In this way, you change up the color but don’t have to switch out the cabinets. No removal of the cabinets will save you a huge amount, and the visual impact of repainting is often surprisingly powerful. Once again, I speak from experience, there.

This is where the little bi of demo comes in. The kitchen faucet can’t be tiled over or repainted. If you want a new one, the old one has to be removed. While it does require a little bit of demolition to remove the old faucet or even the entire kitchen sink, it’s hardly “heavy-duty” demo, especially if you’re not changing the size. It won’t create a lot of dust or other contaminants, and can be done quickly. At the same time, it has tremendous aesthetic impact on the overall kitchen design, and can be a big part of adding value to your kitchen remodel project.

There is a bit more work to do when you want to change the size of your kitchen sink. In this case, you will have to switch out the counter top, or at the very least cut a bigger hole in the countertop. If you want to minimize demo, then stick with the same sink and faucet dimensions.

Your typical countertop can be made of granite, quartz, sometimes tile, stone and others. All of these can be easily recoated with the Semco seamless stone system. Adding just an eighth-of-an-inch layer to the entire surface can create a brand-new finish without having to take out a single existing countertop.

One more benefit here is that the Semco system even allows you to adapt your kitchen countertops to the latest trends without removal. For example, there is an increasing demand for square edges. Using the Semco system, you can take a rounded edge and you can make it square.

If you think pulling out and replacing cabinets is expensive, you haven’t yet gotten the bill —- or the additional noise and disruption — for a typical countertop removal yet. Once again, resurfacing with something like Semco is a great way to get the job done, creating a new surface and look without the hassle and expense of demo.

Kitchen Remodel: No Demo Needed

We hope the ideas above can help you to see that you don’t necessarily need to line up the demolition team when you are planning a kitchen remodel. You can make great savings and still achieve the dream-kitchen look with materials like the Semco seamless stone covering system, and a lick of paint where needed. Your new kitchen awaits!

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