Sunday, June 13, 2010

Kitchen cabinets: DONE!!!

Yesterday, we finally finished the kitchen cabinets (mostly). The cabinets and microwave/hood for the kitchen's east wall have been sitting the basement for more than six months, but we finally got back into the kitchen remodeling mood.



Originally uploaded by sweber4507
When we originally bought the house a year ago. The east wall had an old electric stove, tiny spice cupboard, and tiny base cabinet. The first thing we did was pull out the cupboard and cabinet (which is how we discovered everything in our 1929 house is held in with nails and can be easily pried loose with enough tugging).
Scott documenting kitchen Although it's a bit tacky, we decided to install the new full-size fridge next to the stove and blocking part of the window. We had new electrical outlets installed, the furnace people installed a gas line, and we installed an old gas stove from craigslist. We also installed some metal racks above stove before we committed to cabinets.
IKEAPlan Installing cabinets on the east wall wasn't really a priority; however, IKEA had a sale if we bought two appliances. So, we added the microwave/hood and east wall cabinets to our order. And then left them in the basement for seven months.
Microwave Hood: Detailed plan Microwave Hood Step 3 The electrician installed a dedicated circuit for the microwave/hood according to my detailed drawing.
Microwave Hood Step 4 I did a terrible job patching the electrician's hole, but it doesn't matter 'cuz it will be hidden behind the cabinets, right?
0606001542.jpg Last weekend, I got my first jigsaw and stupidly practiced my first cuts into our cabinet making a less than perfect hole for the hood vent. Even more stupid, I realize that we can't vent out the side of the kitchen because a stud in the exterior wall (and we have no interest in opening-up the wall to move studs). So, the jigsaw hole was for nothing -- although it will be helpful for when we do eventually decide to vent.
0612001807.jpg Yesterday, we hung the cabinets and microwave. For some strange reason, IKEA assumes we would leave space above the cabinets to reach around and screw-in the top molding. Our cabinets are nearly to the top of the wall, so we're going to ponder how to attach the molding.
0612001910.jpg Scott demonstrating that the cabinets were a terrible idea now that we will have to reach over the fridge to get to our precious cereals. More than the cabinets and microwave, Scott is excited about simply having a light over the stove.

The only left to do now are to get some knobs from IKEA, finish the molding .... and tile the backsplash, and tile the floor, and maybe some more lighting, and the hood vent, and....