The kitchen at the TEP Mansion has needed a serious renovation for many years. Plans were drawn up in May of 2015 that would have replaced the existing kitchen with custom cabinets while keeping the same footprint. The estimated cost of this design was $65,000.00. Fundraising efforts continued for the next couple of years with a large increase in funds coming from Alumni donating during the 50th Anniversary alumni weekend in Summer 2017. Through the generosity of Alumni as well as a large donation and loan from an anonymous Alumnus the fund grew to $58,500.
The design was changed to concentrate the renovation in the main kitchen area to reduce the overall cost of the renovation. The new design had a budget of $50,000 - $55,000. Van Zant Construction was hired and the renovation began in the Spring semester of 2018. The rennovation completed in May 2018 with a total expense of $51,000.
The project consisted of:
- Vinyl planking throughout the kitchen and store room.
- Custom cabinets in the main kitchen area.
- A new 10-burner stove and a new Bosch dishwasher.
- The walls and ceiling were skim coated and painted.
- Wainscoting was installed on the wall across from the cabinets.
- Stainless steel pegboard was installed for pots and pans.
- The existing kitchen lighting was redesigned and replaced with energy efficient LEDs.
- New shelving was installed in the storeroom.
- The fire suppression system was upgraded and passed inspection.
Pictures of before, during, and after the rennovation.
Video after completion of the rennovation.
In addition to the kitchen renovation, a Simplisafe security system was installed with sensors on the exterior doors as well as motion sensors and break glass sensors on the ground floor. The security system was monitored by Simplisafe throughout the summer.
Thank you to all the Alumni that contributed to make this huge improvement to the TEP Mansion possible !
Snaps to Alumnus Brian Carroll (#234) who manage the project from start to finish and spent a lot of time in Potsdam.