With the walls and cabinets in our newly acquired home finally painted, it was time to turn our attention to the rest of the kitchen remodel. Before having the new countertops installed, I wanted to replace the two windows over the sink. The original single-pane windows faced west, and since we plan to live here year-round, upgrading to double-pane windows made sense. They would be much more energy efficient thus keeping the kitchen more comfortable during the hot Arizona summers.
Replacing the windows turned out to be a fairly easy project. They were secured with screws from the outside, so I simply removed the screws, scored the old caulk with a utility knife, and carefully worked each window out of the opening.
The hardest part of the job was removing all of the old caulk. Once that was finished, I set the new windows in place, made sure they were level both horizontally and vertically, and fastened them with screws. A generous bead of exterior caulk around the perimeter sealed everything to prevent any future leaks.
With the windows finished, it was time for the countertops. We found a local fabricator who offered a solid-surface product similar to Corian. After he came out to measure everything, a few weeks passed before he returned to install the new countertops along with our larger single-basin undermount sink.
Once the installers finished, all I had left to do was reconnect the plumbing under the sink. Then it was on to the next project—the backsplash.
We decided on a simple white subway tile. During a trip to Lowe's, we got lucky and found the tile on clearance for just seven cents a piece. In fact, the tile, mortar, and grout together cost about the same as the tile saw I had to buy to complete the installation.
The kitchen has now become exactly what we envisioned. Someday we'll probably replace the refrigerator, but for now we're very happy with it. We also found a few finishing touches on Facebook Marketplace which helped pull everything together without spending a fortune.
Looking back, this was one of those projects that made a dramatic difference in the look and feel of our park model. Best of all, we were able to accomplish it without breaking the bank.
