In downtown Newport, in a neighborhood known as the Yachting Village close to the water, we had the opportunity to do a full gut reno of an old Victorian. Like most homes of this era, nothing was plumb, square, or level. In this particular kitchen, there were some places that were 3 inches out of level—both the floor and the ceiling. To bring this space into line, we jacked up the first floor, and were able to take up about 1¼ inches of the floor and ceiling together. From there, we were able to level the floor with sleepers and the ceiling with sistered joists leveled to the lowest point of the existing ones. Only then, with a perfectly level floor and ceiling, were we able to get all the parallel elements—cabinets, countertops, open shelves, shiplap walls and island, and a quartz backsplash behind the stove with dadoes to match the shiplap—to plane out perfectly. One trick we employed was to start the shiplap layout with the refrigerator door panel—the unit with the least adjustment—and align the rest to that.
