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Creating a Pass Through

When we moved into our raised ranch I knew we needed more light in our kitchen.

In our family room we have a large bay window and over the front door we have a window as well. These bring in a lot of light but we needed to let that light into our kitchen.

When you come to the top of the stairs there is a wall that divides the kitchen and the family room. We knew we had to open that up.

passthrubefore

For now we didn’t want to do MAJOR construction like taking the wall down and adding a header etc. So we opted for an opening to let the light flow into the kitchen.

Here is how we did it…

First, we found the studs, we needed to leave enough support on the sides since it is a load bearing wall. We then marked, leveled and measured where we wanted the opening to be.

passthroughmarking

Second, we cut the sheet rock and teared it down. Here is what it looks like from the living room side..

passthruduring

And the kitchen side…notice the light pouring in!

during kitchen side

We cut the studs inside the hole, and put our frame boards in place. We used pine, cut to size and screwed them into the remaining studs, framed the outside with a little trim, caulked the holes and gaps, primed and painted!

I love the way it turned out and how much light it brings into the kitchen!

What do you think?

passthruafter2
gray walls from a dining room looking into the living room
dining room pictured with links to projects

Jody

Friday 5th of November 2021

This looks fantastic! Can I ask what you used to cut the drywall out with considering there are studs to deal with?

Rita Willis

Tuesday 5th of September 2017

Your pass through is the exact one I was needing help on how to do .Great instruction. Crystal clear. I am also a Retired Grammie. Thank you.

Joe

Friday 27th of January 2017

Nice job, the renovation looks great!

Just a word of caution when working on a load bearing wall for anybody else that might be thinking about doing this. You have to be very careful. If you open too big a hole, you will not leave enough support to hold up your house. You have to at least use a header.

Clare

Wednesday 7th of September 2016

We knocked the whole upper wall out and now have a really nice island, we also had enough room in the dining room side to put in patio doors to our bi-level deck. I love your front entrance that's our next project.

Kortney

Saturday 12th of March 2016

We are thinking about doing this in our kitchen/living room. How much did this cost you? It looks great and really opens up the space!

HOMEGIRL

Sunday 13th of March 2016

Thanks! Since we did it ourselves the only things we purchased is the wood and trim. So I would say under $40

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