Gutting Our Double Wide Kitchen

Our most recent project in our home is gutting our double wide kitchen. We are working hard to create a budget friendly remodel that is both functional and pretty.

Gutting our double wide kitchen in our mobile home, includes tearing out all of the kitchen cabinets, some of the flooring and sheet-rock. Here is a look at the process as we work towards creating our simple kitchen without going into debt.

Gutting Mobile Home Kitchen Walls

To gut the walls in our kitchen, we started with the wall that didn’t have the kitchen sink on it. Because, this wall is where the former pantry was, the sheetrock had been replaced and was very easy to remove. It was a simple process of finding the screws, unscrewing them and then removing the pieces.

The wall where the kitchen sink is, was not as easy to remove. There were many staples, and the wallboards are glued onto the studs. This creates a huge mess as it all comes off in pieces. To remove the glue and left over wallboard pieces from the studs we use a metal chisel to scrape the excess pieces off. Then, we use a hammer to remove the staples or to hammer them into the studs.

Gutting a Double Wide Kitchen | Video

Removing Kitchen Flooring in a Double Wide Mobile Home

Several years ago, we put hardwood flooring in the main areas. For this section of the floor, we had to remove the hardwoods. We will need to replace some of the sub-flooring. Then, we will be installing hardwood flooring back in this space.

As we gut the kitchen, we are also redoing our laundry room. I will have a full post on that later. We are making the laundry room larger. That is why you can see the walls removed between the laundry room, kitchen, and master bedroom closet. Again, more on that later.

We did remove our old heating and air system. It is original to our 2002 Clayton home and no longer worked properly.

We knew that there was a soft spot in the floor from where the previous owners had allowed the unit to leak onto the floor. Since we have everything torn out, now is the time to correctly replace the flooring and do things correctly.

So, we will be pulling up the bad sub-flooring and replacing it with new pieces before putting the hardwood floors back in.

What are Mobile Home Cabinets Made Out Of

Our kitchen cabinets were made with MDF material and then covered with styled paper wrapping. According to Clayton Homes, MDF is medium density fiberboard and it is a composite material made up of wood chips. It withstands heat and humidity well which means it will not expand and contract as much, is a very affordable prefab home product and doesn’t have the inconsistencies that wood can have.

Why We Are Replacing Kitchen Cabinets in our Double Wide

Our cabinets have needed to be replaced for a very long time. Water damage and a lack of care from previous tentants, didn’t leave us much to work with. If the cabinets were in good shape, I would have chosen to paint them and then update the countertops. In our situation, getting new cabinets was the only choice I had.

Our new cabinetry will be solid wood shaker style cabinets from Lily Ann Cabinetry. They have graciously shared a code with me to share with you, my followers. You can use code, SARA3810 to save 5%. While I can’t wait to assemble the new cabinets and get them installed, we have to remove the old ones first.

Gutting a Mobile Home Kitchen | Cabinet Removal

Mobile home kitchen cabinets are easy to remove. When most people think of a kitchen cabinet, they think it is one solid piece. In our situation, it appears that they were pieces that were put together as they were built. Therefore, the cabinets came out in piece, not one solid cabinet.

To remove the cabinets, we used a hammer to get most of the fronts of the cabinets off and the sides. The countertops were screwed into place, and so we had to use an impact to remove those. There were also a few screws through the bottom of the cabinets into the floor. Removing the cabinets was an easy task.

Since I do a lot of cooking and dishes in this space, I chose to leave the sink for as long as I possibly can. We removed the cabinet around it and then screwed in 2×4’s to hold the sink in place. It’s not the greatest set-up but it prevents me from using the bathroom as a place to wash dishes.

Whats Next in Our Double Wide Kitchen Makeover

I shared the original plan in a post called, double wide kitchen makeover. In the next coming weeks, we will have the sub-floor fixed, two new windows put in, assemble our Lily Ann Cabinets, and hanging shiplap on the walls.

Then, it will be time to start installing all the pieces and putting everything back together. I look forward to seeing our vision come to reality.

Thank you so much for stopping by. You can follow me on my social channels and don’t forget to subscribe to get the latest news directly to your inbox.

Sarah