In case all that turkey and stuffing made you forget, here’s a reminder of how our kitchen looked after the upper cabinets came down:
With the new countertops scheduled to arrive in about two weeks, we needed to prep the walls for the backsplash. We won’t install the tile before the counters — fitting the backsplash after the counters gives a snugger edge and avoids any damage during countertop installation — but prepping the walls meant demo and dust, and we didn’t want brand-new counters in the way. So it was time to remove the old “random blue things” backsplash:
We have a soft spot for that old backsplash — it’s quirky and feels handcrafted — but it didn’t match our vision for the kitchen. The penny tile we picked stole our hearts, so we decided to say goodbye to most of the blue tiles. We did consider keeping a few accent tiles for nostalgia (more on that later).
Removing the tiles went fairly smoothly. Some came down in chunks with a quick pry of a screwdriver:
Much of it, though, came off one piece at a time or in broken fragments. Overall it was about a 45-minute job. I did most of it while Sherry watched Clara after her nap.
We wanted to salvage a handful of the blue tiles and even thought about turning them into coasters by adding felt feet. In the end, only three tiles survived intact:
It’s a little sad we couldn’t save more, but three coasters are better than none. The tiles were brittle — made from red clay — so many shattered. We considered donating whole tiles to the ReStore or giving them to friends, but most didn’t survive the demo.
We even put together a short tribute video to remember the blue tiles — yes, we’re cheesy like that.
Back to the rest of the kitchen demo: once the tile was removed, the walls still had bumpy leftover adhesive and plywood backing, which isn’t an ideal surface for tile — especially for heavy penny tile up to the ceiling along the stove wall. We decided to remove the plywood and replace it with cement board.
The Tile Shop, who helped us when we retiled our bathroom, recommended cement board. We were concerned because the countertop fabricators templated against the 1/4″ plywood; if the replacement material was thicker or sat lower, the counters might not fit. Luckily, 1/4″ cement board is available, so we can swap it without affecting the countertop fit.
Cutting the plywood along a straight seam above the lower cabinets was tricky. I used a Dremel Trio to control cut depth so I wouldn’t hit the studs behind the 1/4″ plywood. It’s not the steadiest tool, so I nailed a scrap piece of wood loosely to the wall to guide the tool and keep the cut straight:
As a safety precaution I turned off the kitchen power and used an extension cord from another room in case there were any hidden wires. Fortunately, the wires were deeper in the wall and not near my shallow cuts.
It took about 90 minutes to make all the cuts because I had to reposition and double-check the guide, but once the plywood was sliced, it pried off easily:
Progress felt good — even if the photos don’t show timestamps.
One more hiccup: the window trim was nailed on top of the plywood, so that had to come off too. Removing it also meant taking out the last remaining granite piece in the kitchen — the window sill. We sliced through the caulk and pried it away. We’ll replace it with a painted wood sill, which has held up well for us in past kitchens.
Goodbye granite. Goodbye plywood.
With the demo finished, the kitchen looks more chaotic than ever:
It wasn’t exactly a showplace before the demo:
Next we’ll hang new cement board and add some leftover paneling from our wall-opening project on either side of the window so the wall matches the rest of the painted paneling. It’s not the most exciting job — we didn’t love doing it the last time either — but it needs to be done. We’ll document the whole process here, so stay tuned. In the meantime, tell us: did you tackle any demo or tile projects this weekend? Any memorable demo stories to share?