She had to bribe her construction crew with cookies and muffins, but the job got done.
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Shannon Bumgarner wanted a new kitchen last Christmas, and cookies, muffins and slices of cake just might have helped make it happen.
The Branchburg wife and mother of two boys had baked these treats in advance of a November 2015 kitchen and dining room renovation. They served her well in her encounters with the crew that worked on her home, she says.
"The entire project, I was bringing out things that I had baked and saying, 'Please, can we have a kitchen by Christmas?' "
A little more than a year before the makeover, she was struck by a serious case of kitchen envy after having visited the custom-built dream home of relatives in Colorado. When her family returned to their four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home of 17 years, Shannon Bumgarner and her engineer husband Brian Bumgarner began to poke around at area showrooms for the latest kitchen innovations.
"There was about a year of planning before anything started," she said. The window shopping (and eventually buying) would result in their own kitchen with enviable amenities. For instance: tucked beneath the Signature Custom Cabinetry is a flat-folded step stool that rolls out, disguised by a drawer front; one of the two Wolf convection ovens cooks more quickly with the help of steam.
The couple got a major head start for their project plans and in selecting their professionals thanks to renovation of two neighboring, center-hall Colonial homes built from the same plans as their 2,900-square-foot, 1979 home. While the couple interviewed two architects and five general contractors, in the end they went with professionals their neighbors had used.
In one neighboring kitchen renovation, square footage was taken from the garage to enlarge the kitchen. With nothing built above the kitchen, ceiling height could be increased, giving the updated kitchen a greater sense of spaciousness.
By hiring their neighbor's architect, Steve Druga, the Bumgarners gained the benefit of his familiarity with a kitchen of the same design. And while bids from all the general contractors were comparable, they chose Bradley Contracting because they liked the work the company had done on another neighbor's living room.
And they granted her Christmas wish. The kitchen was operations by Dec. 23.
Baking bribery aside, she attributed timely completion of their project to the skill of the crew as well as the fact that she and her husband had made many decisions, orders and purchases in advance. "We put the cabinet order in in September. We ordered quartz in October," she said. "Everything was ordered to be ready when it was time for installation."
Structurally, the kitchen expansion took 5 feet from the garage, and its ceiling was raised to about 11 feet. Additionally, rather than fully remove a wall between the kitchen and the dining room, the couple opted to have the wall and doorway carved down for a half-height "pony wall."
"We were going to lose a lot of storage if we completely got rid of the wall," Shannon Bumgarner explained. Topped with the same quartz used for the kitchen counters, the short wall creates a ledge for guests to set drinks or small plates during parties.
Removing part of the wall opened up the kitchen and dining room while still anchoring cabinetry that includes a kitchen work station for her laptop. "I was aiming to be somewhere where I could be at the center of everything," she said.
The couple chose Brazilian cherry wood flooring and American cherry wood cabinetry with walls painted a Benjamin Moore yellow called Hawthorne. Shannon Bumgarner recalled the yellow kitchen of a childhood neighbor in her color choice. "The kitchen was bright and sunny and happy, and it always seemed to put me in a good mood," she said. However, the couple was concerned that all the wood might be overwhelming. To help break things up, they chose a blue finish for the island and cabinetry along the half wall.
The couple shopped locally in Bridgewater, taking advantage of rebates and discounts with multiple purchases from Barry's Appliance and TV. For the kitchen and dining room lighting, they shopped online for Quoizel chandeliers.
The mosaic tile backsplash was the final piece. "It pulls everything together," Shannon Bumgarner said.
In addition to improving the floor plan with added space, the renovation allowed the Bumgarners to create the cabinetry equivalent of a mudroom with a place their boys can sit and tuck away shoes, coats and bags upon coming in from the garage.
One casualty of the project was a tribute to family life: a refrigerator covered by their sons' artwork, clipped comic strips and vacation photos.
"It makes me very sad that this (stainless steel) refrigerator doesn't take magnets," Shannon Bumgarner said. Now that her boys are 11 and 15, however, she can enjoy a more streamlined kitchen in absence of the gallery. "It was just one place where I had to say, 'Nope, that's gone.' "
What they renovated
The kitchen and dining room of their 1979 center-hall Colonial
Who did the work
Architect Steve Druga of Piscataway; Bradley Contracting of Bridgewater; and various subcontractors.
How long it took
November 2015 to January 2016
What they spent
Approximately $120,000
Where they splurged
Custom cabinets
How they saved
"We retained the old dishwasher, as it was still in great shape, and relocated an existing window," Shannon Bumgarner said.
What they like most
"The addition of an island has made a great layout improvement."
What they'd have done differently
"Everything came out exactly as we wanted," Shannon Bumgarner said. "We took a long time deciding on not just details, but who to hire, from the architect, to the contractor. We feel that taking that time got us the exact space we were hoping for."
Kimberly L. Jackson may be reached at home@starledger.com. Find NJ.com Entertainment on Facebook.