Rancho Peñasquitos
Rancho Peñasquitos is a suburban community in the northeastern part of the city of San Diego, California. It is named after the first Mexican land grant in the county, Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos. Peñasquitos means “little cliffs” in Spanish. It abuts Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, an open space preserve that offers hiking, biking, and equestrian trails. Check these links to learn more about the history of this First Ranch Community of San Diego County and Current Community Events.
The Kitchen Remodel Project in Rancho Peñasquitos shown below was a matter of space allocation and an updated look. Although the living, family, and dining rooms were all amply spaced, the kitchen was extremely small in comparison. Storage and countertop space was lacking and the kitchen was closed off to the dining and living room area by an awkward door
We solved the main problem by bumping out the kitchen an additional 3 feet and removing the door, opening the wall between the kitchen and dining room from 36” to 52” inches. Though only a small amount of square feet was added, the finished kitchen felt and looked so much larger. The gorgeous Finished Project provided a Lazy Susan corner unit, trash & recycle pull-out, and a pull-out pantry, allowing for more countertop space and storage
The look our client preferred was very crisp and contemporary. To achieve this we used plain slab cabinets with a bright, white finish. Pental Quartz Coastal Grey countertops with 3 x 10 white subway tile was used along with a grey/blue stone deco focal point above the stove. Flat chrome pulls on the drawers and cabinets were used for a minimal look. In order to preserve the entire first floor’s flooring, a coordinating tile was selected for the kitchen with a deco border to divide the two tiles.
After research and gathering information online as well as attending home improvement exhibitions, we invited 3 contractors to visit our home and to give us their recommendations. We selected Phil and Raelene Mathis of Mathis Custom Remodeling because we felt comfortable with their recommendations and their cost estimate was within our budget.
Our kitchen remodeling project is a relatively small project in terms of size and budget, but has all the required tasks of a larger project. It includes the removal of some exterior walls for a small addition as well as a portion of an interior bearing wall. Project schedule from demolition to cabinet installation was estimated for completion in 13 weeks with no guarantee on this estimate. We felt comfortable with Phil’s explanation that a contractor would profit more if he could complete the job earlier than estimated. Building plans were completed by a professional building designer and served as part of the contract and the basis for the project cost estimate and schedule. We paid for the building plans and its permit processing separately from the contract project cost.
Our project did not have a very good start. Right after the demolition it appeared that there would be problems with framing and plumbing. The existing second floor joints did not run in the direction as drafted and 2 drain pipes might have to route differently plan planned. These 2 problems caused us costly change orders and delayed the project for several weeks. In addition to these problems, while jack hammering to expose a pipe in the concrete slab, an explosion occurred where a plumber was working. Unknown to any of us in our neighborhood, our subdivision was built on post-tension slab. Fortunately, this accident did not hurt the plumber but added another cost to our project and 1-2 weeks to the schedule. Our project was completed with approximately 15% over budget and 2 months more than scheduled.
Throughout the entire project we were able to communicate with Phil and Raelene without any problems. Not that we were happy with the change orders or schedule delays, but Phil and Raelene were always professional, patient, gracious and responsive to our requests. We are satisfied with the quality of works from Phil and all of his subcontractors except one – the bookshelf sub. We still marvel at our new kitchen today and have already forgotten the long months of cooking and eating in the garage.
We would like to thank Phil and Raelene for helping us with a wonderful kitchen that we will enjoy for many years to come. We would not hesitate to recommend this professional husband & wife team to anyone who needs help to build his dream project.
Hung T.
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