September | 2014 | ourvintagepleasure

I find that one of the focal points of a kitchen is the range hood. There are many styles and designs to choose from. In sticking with the overall vibe of the home we decided that we wanted to keep the range hood pretty traditional. To me, that meant covering the stainless steel vent hood with a bit of plywood and molding to make it seem as if the hood were really just part of the cabinetry.

I started out by gathering a few reference pictures on Houzz and Pinterest. Then, I took the elements from each design that I liked the best and combined them into something that would work in the space that we had. I needed to show something to my dad so that he could help me turn my dream into reality so I had to brush up a bit on my sketching skills 😉

Once we had established a plan of action we got to work building a frame for the range hood itself and a place for the exhaust to be pushed out of the kitchen and to the outside air.

We cut a piece of plywood to mount the range hood to.

We purchased this standard stainless steel range hood. Make sure the controls for the fan and light are on the underside of the hood and not on the front. If you are going to cover your range hood you want to make sure you don’t restrict access to the functional part of the hood.

We attached the range hood to the frame we had built.

After that we cut a hole for the exhaust fan.

Then, we installed the vent system.

Once the hood itself was installed and functioning we custom fit a piece of plywood which would essentially hide all of the inner workings of the exhaust system (not to mention that pipe you see which is the plumbing from the upstairs bathroom!).

We then created a box that would serve as the cover for the range hood itself. I knew that we wanted the box to have a curved bottom so we started by bending a flexible, thin piece of wood to create the pattern for our arch.

With our line now drawn we could begin to cut out the design and then sand it to make sure the arch was perfectly symmetrical.

Once the box was mounted the real fun began!

We wanted a layered look with multiple depths so we created this overlay piece using a saber saw and a hand router.

Once our overlay was attached to the hood cover we began to trim the box out with molding and also the panels above the box itself.

We decided to add an applique to the center of the cover. We ended up liking that so well that we added one more to the panel on either side of the hood as well.

*Sorry, for the poor quality photograph but my camera lens is scratched and I sent Raul on an errand to check out some tile for our mosaic backsplash that we are hoping to install this weekend so… no nice Iphone photos 😦

Seems like the only one who isn’t working his tail off to finish this kitchen remodel is the little pup Ruco 😉

We were able to salvage a few cabinets from the pre-remodel kitchen but the majority of the cabinets for this renovations were custom made by my dad and Raul. It has taken weeks to get all of them done but economically it has been worth it. I would have spent $$$ thousands $$$ if we hadn’t done it this way. On the plus side everything is tailor-made to my needs and wants. On the downside, we still have a LOT of sanding and painting to do. All in good time, though!

We started out by establishing our baseline for the upper cabinets.

The first cabinet we hung was one of the corner cabinets that we had removed from the pre-remodel kitchen. The cabinet has a lazy susan insert that we really kind of liked before we tore everything out.

Since we wanted the new cabinets to extend all the way to the ceiling that meant that we would have two rows of upper cabinets in some places.

We had to build a smaller corner cabinet to sit on top of the one we had just installed.

Next we started filling in and making the rest of the uppers. Everything seen that is the dark colored wood were cabinets we salvaged and reused. The lighter colored cabinets were made by my dad and Raul using 3/4″ plywood and 1″x 2″s for the frame. The backs were created from 1/4″ plywood and the shelves were created from high grade 1/2″ plywood.

My job was to go along and fill in any cracks or holes with wood filler or paintable caulk.

We left a gap between these upper cabinets for our custom hood range.

Yay! Lower cabinets, too!

We purchased a new counter-depth refrigerator. Here my dad is taking measurements for the pantry and storage unit that we built to surround the refrigerator.

Broom closet anyone?!

Ruco’s dog station! A handy way to hide all the puppy “stuff” including a pull out drawer which will hold his food and water bowls.

On the other side of the kitchen we added a handy coffee nook complete with a shelf for the coffee mugs and topped off with a dish rack.

After everything was built we started the long and stinky process of priming everything. Since we had to prime cabinets which were previously installed in our kitchen (and likely very greasy and grimy) we chose to use Zinnser’s Cover Stain oil-based primer.

Finally, everything is the same color and the kitchen is starting to look a lot more cohesive!

Next up, we have to sand and paint all of these! (ugh)

Until next time!

-L

ourvintagepleasure

Monthly Archives: September 2014

Custom Range Hood Cover

Cabinets are up!