A Kitchen Renovation Story

Lorne and I both love to cook but in all the places we have lived, the kitchens were too small for both of us to be able to cook together at the same time.  That was the first thing we loved about the kitchen here in Cabo, it’s a big “L” shaped kitchen and we both had room enough to have our own “zone” to work in.  On the flip side, the first thing we did not like about the kitchen here was that the floor plan was designed for a dining room table right in the middle of the kitchen.  Having an “official” dining area is always an important selling feature, but for us, it wasn’t really practical as we tend to eat our meals outside on the patio. 

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The dining room table became very annoying quite quickly as we were constantly bumping into the high-back chairs and the table was too low to do any prep work on.  We realized early on that we needed to give away the table and chairs and install what this space really needed – a kitchen island with counter seating.

This kitchen was a “builder grade” kitchen, which consisted of lower cost, lower grade materials as well as lower end appliances that would not hold up over time, and shortly after we moved here we started noticing a funky smell in a few of the upper cabinets.  We thoroughly cleaned them and left them open to air out, but over time the smell kept returning.  After considering all our options, we decided that along with the new island, we really needed to put in all new kitchen cabinets as well, which meant this was no longer a simple kitchen island build, this had now turned into a full-on kitchen renovation.

We started to make a list of all the things we needed (and wanted) in our new kitchen.  We were happy with the existing layout so there was no need to tear down walls or move the appliances and leaving the layout as is would end up saving us money in the end.  And of course, we wanted to look for ways to add more storage into the kitchen, because anyone who knows us well, knows we believe there is no such thing as too much storage. 

After a lot of thought and discussion (and of course watching some HGTV home improvement shows) we finally came up with our list of “must-haves” for our new kitchen:

Cabinets:  Lorne insisted on having real wood cabinets made, rather than having the prefab ones put in.  As for colour, we kept navigating towards dark grey, which we felt would match our countertop choice perfectly.

Countertop:  The current countertop (and backsplash) in this condo was black and white speckled granite, which at first seemed quite nice, but soon found it hard to see any crumbs or spills on it.  I wanted the same countertop we had in our Richmond condo, which was white quartz.  It was durable and always cleaned up nicely with no crumbs or spills ever left behind.

Kitchen sink:  The current sink was a double sink but both sides were quite small and not very deep at all (maybe 6 inches).  It was nearly impossible to wash any large pot or the blender in this sink, so we knew we needed a much larger and deeper sink.

Lighting/Electrical:  In our Richmond condo, we had undercounter lighting which we totally loved.  When we first bought the Cabo condo, we put in some basic DIY undercounter lighting in the prep area near the stove and really wished we had it all the way around the kitchen.  With the reno, undercounter lighting was added to our “must-haves” for sure.  We also wanted to add an additional electrical outlet as there were only two in the whole kitchen, which we soon discovered was not enough. 

Appliances:  Lorne was insistent that we get a new stove, one that had more than two settings – low (really really hot) and High (really really freaking hot). Side note: Make sure to check out his blog on Cabo vs Camping if you haven’t already.  We also wanted a new dishwasher, one that had the third rack for more loading space.  We knew eventually we would also replace the fridge and microwave, but that would come later. We felt the stove and dishwasher were essential for us to replace first.

Island:  And of course, we wanted a big, beautiful kitchen island and it needed to have seating for 6, plus lots of storage space.

After creating our must-haves list, we then needed to set our budget. Our kitchen is approximately 11’x12’ and after researching what average reno costs in Canada were for a kitchen our size (since we didn’t have any info on reno costs in Mexico), we found that the average cost would run between $26,000 to $52,000 CAD.  We had about $25,000 CAD set aside from the sale of our Richmond condo for this reno so really wanted to keep the costs down at the lower end.  To help with this, we decided we would source our own appliances, rather than have the contractor purchase and possibly add a markup onto them.  We also wanted to make sure we had some money left over to purchase a wall cabinet that we could use as a pantry and additional storage. 

We learned quickly that tackling a kitchen reno is seriously overwhelming – so many choices to make, so many things to consider, and we certainly didn’t want to make any wrong choices that we would regret later.  In addition, we knew this reno would be even more complicated as we would be doing it in a country where we could only minimally speak the language. 

This is another way our property manager has been simply invaluable.  We needed to hire a reliable contractor to handle this reno, and she was able to recommend someone right away, someone she has used for various projects, and someone she trusted as well.  She arranged to bring them over, made the introductions, and helped with translations as we discussed what changes we wanted to make.  After taking many measurements and photos, they left promising to have a quote to us in a few days.

The quote came in as promised but was a little higher than we had hoped for.  Turned out the price for my very much wanted quartz countertops accounted for half of the total reno quote.  We really wanted the white quartz but seeing how much it would cost, it did not seem like the best bang for our reno buck, so we knew we had to change it.  After more research, we decided to go with granite instead, in a darker tan-brown colour. This brought the price down quite a bit, and as it turned out (spoiler alert) – it was totally the right choice.  Since our kitchen receives so much sun and natural light through the patio windows, a darker countertop totally works.  If we had made the splurge to go with the white quartz, I think we would have blinded ourselves in the mornings just by walking into the kitchen!  Of course, after we changed the colour of the countertops we then needed to change the colour of the cabinets, so instead of the dark grey we originally picked out, we changed to a dark espresso brown instead, to match the countertops. And because we changed the countertop and cabinet colour, we also decided to go with a travertine tile backsplash.  This was a little pricey but decided this would totally be worth the splurge.

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The quote was revised a few times more as we made a few more changes and compromises, trying to save a bit here and a bit there mostly to be able to have a contingency for the unforeseen – we’ve all seen those reno shows on HGTV where they just want to do a simple replacement of the kitchen sink but find out behind the sink there had been a slow leak for decades, or that they want to install a new light fixture and find the wiring for the whole house is not up to code and suddenly $50,000 needs to come out of the budget for the “necessary” which leaves so much less for what is wanted.

The final quote came in at $202,000 Pesos (approximately $12,000 CAD).  We accepted the quote, agreeing to their terms and transferred the 60% down payment into their account.  We were so excited that after dreaming about it for so long, our reno was finally going to start. And anyone who has had the pleasure of living through a kitchen renovation pretty much knows how this story will go!

The reno was scheduled to start Monday February 22 so we spent the entire weekend prior packing up the kitchen and moving all the boxes of kitchen stuff into the guest room, and all the food – plus the few items that we would need (couple of plates, some cutlery, a pot, glassware etc) into our bedroom.  We then set up a makeshift kitchen in our master bathroom, complete with the toaster oven and the dish rack as we would need to be washing all our dishes in our bathroom sink (turned out, it was the kitchen sink we ended up missing the most during the whole reno).  We then moved the water cooler and my coffeemaker into the office and moved our fridge into the living room, which looked very weird, and took us two weeks before we were finally used to finding it in its new location. 

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We prepared a survival plan, which allowed us to be able to still cook, eat, and live here while the reno was underway.  All our meals would need to be cooked using only the toaster oven or barbecue.  We would not have any access to the stove or even to our microwave as it was an over the stove model, and they would be taking it down to remove the cabinets around it.  We figured we could manage “roughing it” like this for the few weeks that we would be inconvenienced instead of going out to eat the whole time, because that would quickly add up in cost, not to mention we are still living in COVID times.  And as it turned out, other than picking up pizza twice and grabbing some McDonald’s while out and about one weekend, we did manage to cook and eat all our meals at home. 

Demo day finally arrived and while they were bringing out all the old cabinets, they had to stop and show us what they found.  The backs of the upper cabinets were covered in mold.  Turned out, this was the funky smell we had been smelling after we first moved here.  The mold came from a roof leak we had last August (a month before we moved here) when hurricane Genevieve made landfall in Los Cabos.  After the storm was over and power was restored and roads were reopened, our property manager came to check on our place, and found mold all over the inside of the exterior wall in the master bathroom.  She called in the experts and they found the issue which was a roof leak.  She contacted us right away giving us quotes to have the roof repaired and she made sure it was fixed right as soon as possible.  She also had a crew come in to remove the mold inside and treat the walls and repaint.  She then had them check the other rooms too (the office, our bedroom, and the kitchen) but no visible mold was found.  She did make sure to have them treat the walls and repaint anyway just to be sure, however, there was no way they could check behind the kitchen cabinets at that time without having to take them down, which didn’t seem necessary, as there didn’t appear to be any visible mold in the kitchen.  But unbeknownst to everyone, it was lurking behind the cabinets and over time, developed that funky smell inside the cupboards. This was the smell that made us decide to get all new cabinets put in, and in retrospect, we are so glad we made that decision.  After removing the moldy cabinets, the guys then cleaned, treated, and repainted the walls to make sure no more mold would be lurking in our new kitchen.

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During the reno, Lorne and I spent every day sequestered in the office as Lorne still had to work and it was the most out of the way place we could be.  When it was time for lunch, we would sneak out past the guys to grab what we needed from the fridge and head into our bathroom to cook our lunch in the toaster oven.  Once it was ready, we would bring it into the office to eat, with all the noise going on down the hall.  When they were done for the day, we would emerge from the office, excited to see what they had accomplished during the day.  I would then start dusting off all our living room furniture (everything was covered in plastic, but all the dust still managed to get underneath it) while Lorne prepared our dinner.  We would enjoy our evening watching TV, then cover everything back up before we went to bed, so it was ready for them to start again the next day.

It was so much fun to watch the new kitchen unfold before our eyes.  All the cabinets were built by hand in their shop and then brought over to install.  As each one arrived, we got more and more excited, seeing all the puzzle pieces start to fit together.  And with every step of the way, they double checked with us to see if we preferred this or preferred that.  That’s when we realized we needed to make a couple changes to the island we wanted.  They had measured out the dimensions in the kitchen and while we were all standing there looking at it, we realized having seating on three sides meant the storage under the island would be so much smaller than we had anticipated.  So, to maximize the storage area underneath, we needed to add a couple inches in width, and remove the seating on one side.  This changed it from an island seating six persons to an island seating four persons.  It turned out for the best because we ended up with enough room under the island, and we also solved the problem of seating more people by using stools on the side of the island that is not closed in, so it was a win-win all the way.

Then about half-way through the reno, I had a crazy idea.  While setting our reno budget, we wanted to make sure we had some money left over to purchase a wall cabinet that we could use as a pantry which would go on wall, opposite the stove.  But after looking at how the kitchen was coming together, I had this bright idea that what we really needed was another bank of the same upper and lower cabinets put there, along with the same countertop and the same backsplash, so it would match everything.  This way, it would become an extension of the current “L” shaped kitchen, making it a rather large “U” shaped kitchen.  Lorne agreed and contacted our contractor to ask for a quote and to see if it could be done concurrently with the rest of the reno.  The quote was for $35,000 Pesos (approximately $2,000 CAD).  We agreed, and they started to build the additional cabinets for our new wall unit.

The reno continued and the kitchen was coming together nicely.  It was such an exciting day when the granite arrived, and it took five guys to carry up the “L” shaped countertop piece (“carry up” as in walking up the stairs to the third floor with it), and then another four guys the next day to carry up the granite for the island.  The granite was so beautiful, and turns out, it’s the thing we get the most compliments on when people see our new kitchen.

After the countertops were installed, it was time for the tile backsplash to go in.  This ended up being the nastiest, noisiest, messiest part of the whole renovation.  Cutting the tile was so loud, I could barely think straight, and Lorne could barely hear his clients in his zoom meetings.  He had to keep apologizing, telling them we were undergoing a kitchen reno and he had hoped it would be finished soon.  The tiling went on for a whole week.  At the end of each day, the crew would use their shop vac to suck up the tile dust and do a quick mop of the floor before they left.  Then we would emerge from the office and still had to spend over an hour each night dusting, vacuuming, and washing the floors just so we would not be sitting in it or breathing it while preparing dinner and relaxing for the evening watching TV.  That tile dust was everywhere!  And it seemed like every time we cleaned a section, five minutes later everything was covered in dust again as there were just so many fine particles in the air.  And just when we thought our nerves couldn’t take any more of the noise and mess, the tiling was finished, just in time for the Easter long weekend and by that time, we all welcomed the break. 

After the Easter break, all the fun stuff started happening. The shelves were put in and the cabinet doors installed.  Our new stove and dishwasher were finally connected and working, and at long last our ever so missed kitchen sink was installed.  The final touchups were then done and after what seemed like an eternity to us, they were finished.

From start to finish, our renovation took seven weeks from demo to delivery and was completed on April 16.  As we neared completion, we were starting to worry and wonder how much the final bill would be.  We had the remaining 40% still in our Mexican bank account, plus the amount for the additional cabinet we had request, plus we had an additional 20% contingency to cover all the extras that could end up being added to the final bill.  However, if the final bill were more than that, we would need to do a quick money transfer from our Canadian bank to our bank in Mexico and hoped they wouldn’t mind waiting a few days to receive final payment. 

We couldn’t believe our eyes when we opened the final bill, as it was only for the 40% remaining from the original quote (plus the amount for the additional cabinet).  There were no additional fees, no extra costs, it was exactly what they quoted us.  We were totally surprised!  All in, the total renovation, including the cost for the new appliances came to a total of $18,745 CAD, still well below an average cost of a Canadian kitchen reno!

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Lorne scheduled a week off work so we would have time to unpack all the kitchen stuff that we had packed up in preparation for the renovation, plus all our additional kitchen stuff we brought from Richmond that we hadn’t even unpacked yet.  There were boxes and packing paper all over our kitchen and living room as we carefully started going through everything.  Opening these boxes was a bit like being a kid opening gifts on Christmas morning – “wow, I really wanted that” but occasionally we had to stop and wonder “hmm…. Why did we think we would need this here”?

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It took the full week for us to get the kitchen unpacked and set up.  From lining the shelves with shelf paper, to adding shelf risers, to installing cutting board and sheet pan organizers, to corralling all the plastic food storage containers into their own storage system, and then to filling all the spice jars, mason jars and storage containers with dry goods. 

And then finally, it was done!

Below are some before & after photos of our kitchen. Be sure to check out the gallery for more photos of the entire process.

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Just like for everyone else who has lived through a kitchen reno, there were many changes and compromises we had to make along the way. But in the end, it’s really the whole that matters so much more than all the tiny little parts, all the little decisions we sometimes agonized over.  

We now have the perfect kitchen for us, a kitchen that was built to be used – be it for a casual weeknight dinner, or for a big kitchen party.  There is room enough now for everyone!

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