In order to get all the old mortar up from the tile, we decided to rent a tool from Home Depot called a floor maintainer and a special attachment that cuts through mortar. It was a beast to try to maintain, but once I got a hang of it, it wasn’t so bad. My arms still feel a little weak from all the vibration and keeping the thing in line.
Downside: SO MUCH DUST. It was everywhere and even got into other areas of the house that we now need to clean.
We started getting some cabinets out. Got the island and strange set of smaller cabinets out. Today we will work on getting the rest of the cabinets out, cleaning up the wall, and hopefully start with new cabinets!
Wish us luck!