Kitchen Remodeling: Countertops or Floors First?

LESLIE: Alright. Jeff in Texas is working on a kitchen remodel. How can we help you?

JEFF: I’m in the process of gutting my kitchen, basically.

TOM: Alright.

JEFF: I’m taking up the floors and we’re replacing the countertops and I don’t know where to start first; where to begin first in replacing. I bought the tile; we’ve bought the countertops. Where should I start, as far as putting – to be installing?

TOM: I think you should work from the bottom up. I would do the floors first and you have to decide – you have a dishwasher here, Jeff?

JEFF: I do.

TOM: You’re going to have to decide whether you want to tile in under the dishwasher space, because you can’t tile up to it; you won’t be able to get the dishwasher – well, you may get it in but you won’t get it out because you put it in before the top goes on.

LESLIE: Yeah. Once you get the counter on.

TOM: So, keep that in mind and make sure you have enough height for the dishwasher to tile right in under it. And add the countertop as a final step.

JEFF: OK. Great.

TOM: That would be the right order. Just watch the dishwasher issue; that’s where people get themselves in trouble.

JEFF: (chuckling) It’s old Formica and I’m putting in new faux-granite; it looks great [inaudible at 0:03:41.2].

TOM: (overlapping voices) That sounds nice.

LESLIE: Oh, very nice.

TOM: Yeah, that sounds great. But I bet you’re eating a lot of pizza right now while you’ve got the kitchen torn out.

JEFF: Yes, sir. A lot of microwave food. (Tom and Leslie chuckle)

TOM: Alright.

LESLIE: Well, you can use a microwave in any room of the house.

JEFF: That’s right. We have it in the dining room. (Leslie and Jeff chuckle)