I want to paint the under side of the cabinets and the backsplash is about 1/2 inch thick and butts up against the cabinet. I guess I don’t HAVE to remove it, but I will have to touch it up when I do get ready for the new countertops and backsplash. Besides, it’s ugly. Maybe I will just leave it for now.
Removing a solid piece of laminate off the kitchen wall is not going to come off clean. My guess is that it was installed in the 70s so they would have used a heavy glue, similar to what they used to put on all that lovely thin wood paneling in those days. No matter what you do, pulling it off is going to make holes in the drywall where the glue is. So, you have two choices… mix up drywall mud and smooth it on or cut out the drywall, screw in new piece but still have to tape the joins and mud over the tape. Since there are cabinets below and above you should probably do first one. If you have textured walls directly next to the damaged wall from that same era such as orange peel or some rough texture you will never be happy with trying to match it.
In the end, you will be better off painting over the existing linoleum, or putting some inexpensive thin sticky tiles over the linoleum or all new tile installed after removal. Matching drywall texture is a skilled art. It’s actually easier to DIY tile install than perfectly fix drywall patches or at least that’s my opinion.
If you plan to pull it out in the future, then just prime and paint over it now and then purchase new tile in the future. There are many ways to make your new backsplash 1/2” thick in the future. You can put a piece of 1/4” tile backer board up and tile onto that. That does cause an issue with a raw edge showing on the open side of the tile (unless tile is going wall to wall) but a piece of 1/2 metal edging (called Schluter) can cover the edge.
I just looked at it again and think I will leave up for now and paint around it. When I do put up the new backsplash (thinking subway tiles right now) it will cover the exact same area so texture around it will not be an issue. I do expect to have to do some drywall repair when it finally comes down, but I wasn’t sure if the common application method was glue or they somehow screwed it to the wall underneath without it showing. And you are correct–built in 1978.
I am having new cabinets and a mirror put in my master bath. I came home today, and the mirror was not installed, which is not a problem. BUT, I looked at the size of the mirror, and the size of the space it’s supposed to go in, and I guessed there was going to be a problem. The mirror is 42” tall. Right now, before the granite and 4 inch segment that goes on top of that are installed, there is only 43.5” of space between the cabinets and the light. The designer is the one who measured and ordered everything.
I can’t be held responsible or made to pay extra for this, can I? I feel bad, because I have really liked working with this person, and my job is pretty small, but I don’t feel inclined to pay another close to $500 for another mirror.
42" seems to be standard height for mirrors. (We just ordered two after looking at many) Are you also replacing the lights? Have them move the lights if there is room above. At least this is what I would do. Bigger mirror is better. I don’t see how you can be accountable for paying for a new mirror if you weren’t the one doing the measurement. Be nice but firm if they refuse to replace it or move the lights higher up and insist on doing what they promised to do.
Thanks @BunsenBurner. I’m HOPING that’s the plan, and that they are NOT going to try and charge Me extra for moving the light.
ETA - We were not planning to replace the light, but I assume they can just move it.
I would take a look at the contract and see if the electrical work is included. Moving the lights around could be either a piece of cake or an elaborate project - depending on what is behind the drywall.
Any recommendations here for a toilet? I know we want a comfort height, elongated bowl toilet - but no preference other than that. Should be easy to clean. For the other bathroom, we were very constrained on space, so we went with a Kohler San Souci one piece toilet that has a minimal footprint.
We have a Toto with sanigloss finish that makes it super easy to clean. We bought an American Standard at the same time for a different bathroom and it has a real clunkly flush, takes longer to refill, and has stains already from minerals in the water.
We got Kohler Wellworth Dual Flush toilets, they seem to work well, and they save water:
I am a fan of Toto Aquia one-piece. Sanigloss does makes cleaning easy. We also have a two-piece one which looks just as great and is hard to tell that this is one piece.
We have two Toto Aquia dual flush toilets. One is great. The other one’s flush mechanism is super finicky. Right now you have to hold it down longer than is strictly comfortable for a full flush. If we adjust it it tends to keep running.
And where do you shop for toilets? Or vanity/mirror/sink and all that? We are thinking about remodeling a couple of bathrooms. Don’t even know where to begin.
DIY? A home show would be a good place to start to see what is trendy. Plus, even if you don’t need to talk to remodelers, you can come across some products that you can install yourself at these shows.
We got one of our toilets ordered from Lowes… which I enthusiastically do NOT recommend doing. 
Twice the delivery goons managed to break it in pieces! Plus it took forever for both toilets to arrive. Then we found a local plumber who not only sold us the same toilet $50 cheaper, but had it at his warehouse, so we were able to pick it up from his home 2 days after ordering. Our mirrors are coming to a local showroom in a week, fingers crossed.
There is not really one magic place to buy everything needed for a bathroom remodel. Also depends where you live for suggestions
For example, is there a Floor and Decor near you?? They are a good start to look at the entire world of tile choices in different price ranges. And Lowe’s has better faucet fixture choices than Home Depot. Or you start going more higher end where you have to wait for things to be shipped and much harder to return if you don’t like it, it doesn’t fit, or arrived damaged
There are usually plumbing showrooms around that will show a good selection of fixtures from various manufacturers like Toto or Kohler etc. They should also have a good supply of vanities, mirrors and other stuff as well. Search google for “kitchen and bath showroom” or “kitchen and bath gallery” or “plumbing showroom” or whatever, it should turn up some places near you.
Visit one or two of those to start to get a feel for what you like and what price range you will be in.
Also, the large tile showrooms will often have 10 or more entire bathrooms set up, and you can get some good ideas of what you like, and go from there. Find the large ones in your area and check them out.
For the furniture-y stuff like mirrors and vanities, you can also browse on Wayfair. It can be hard to get a good idea of what they are like without seeing them in person, but Wayfair has literally thousands of vanities on their site, and you can search by all sorts of criteria like size, color, material, etc. They have some plumbing fixtures too.
I bought two vanity/countertop/sink combos on Wayfair, the price was about half of what was in the showroom for similar items, and the whole process went very smoothly.
I would also tour some new construction open houses as “showrooms” to see what homebuyers nowadays like.
Around here there are a ton of kitchen and bath showrooms. They usually have lots of full set ups so you can see what many things look like in a bathroom. There are also plumbing show rooms which don’t show quite as many cabinets, and have more faucet selections. If I google “Kitchen and Bath showrooms near me” several of the biggest ones show up.
You can also look at pictures of bathroom remodels on Houzz.com to get an idea of what you like.