Kitchen Is Done...For Real This Time

When I say done I mean of course 'not really done' but five year done.

Which means we've got the kitchen to a point where it is usable and we can live with it for five years until we get everything else done and save up enough cash to do our 'dream kitchen'.

Now Some Pics

Check out this awesome shot of our awesome stove finally after five years hooked up and working!

Closer up shot of my horrible sheet metal work...

We've cooked several meals on the stove so far and the double stick tape holding the stainless steel sheet to the fridge hasn't melted! The gap between the fridge and the wall is because I forgot that our fridge does not sit flush against the back wall....duh...
The hood is pretty amazing..on high we have to crack a window nearby and then it really sucks. No problem bbq'ing in there now.

Mrs. MadMadScientist had a great idea for the giant hole in the back splash thing...

Turn it into an art piece! That's a baby MadMadScientist original.

Horrible epoxy job...

Yep in this pic and the one above you can see my 'invisible repair'....I bought the official epoxy and colorant for granite...and I mixed it up to look just like peanut butter! Then, it kicked off too fast, before I had time to remove the tape and smooth it down...it literally looks like I filled the gaps with peanut butter!

We've got more storage!!!
In the random niche in the kitchen we installed a pull out pantry and a pull out garbage can set.

I screwed this up a bit too...you'll see... The lower door is not inline with the upper...I have to reset it...

Pretty Doors

I was able to buy custom sized doors online made out of cherry. I should of ordered them 2" wider as that would of hidden a lot of flaws....They are stained with a antique chestnut oil stain....I was literally installing these doors and handles on Xmas eve minutes before guests were set to arrive....stressful...

The upper door had to be notched a smidgen...

But look, it holds sooo much stuff.

Its got the great auto close system so you just give it a push and it gently closes itself. Which, now that I think of it probably isn't optional. The cabinet loaded down weighs a ton and if someone where to slam it everything inside would probably go flying.

Trash!

Why they thought making trashcans white was a good idea is beyond me....
The lidded one is the trash and the back can is for the recycling. I did not spring for the fancy slide model on this one as it was a huge increase in price and it didn't seem necessary.

So, its not perfect (of course) but its a waaaaaaay more functional kitchen than it was before we started the redo.

Kitchen Redo Day Uh, 4,5,6......

Kitchen Redo Day, Whatever....

Okay so, I've been a bit remiss in getting stuff up about the kitchen...
Here in pics is the last bit of work I had to do to finish it.

This post could also be titled.

The One Where I Constantly Screw Up

So here's a couple of things I've learned about myself...I am not a granite fabricator by a loooong
shot....Also, not a great idea to order stainless steal sheet metal online...it gets tweaked in shipping....

Where to start where to start....How bout with our fancy pants Wolf Range Hood....wow, where to start...I gotta say that for the  money one of these things costs its install and manual were really, really, really lacking....The manual read like it was the mixture of two different versions of install instructions, both written by non native English speakers, that were kinda mixed together without any proof reading....the 'diagrams' are tiny and of a poor quality as to not show any useful detail. My fav thing was that the same diagram purporting to show the same method of installation was actually very different on two separate pages!

Here's the dumb thing installed on the wall.

That electrical box on the upper right? That's how the instructions wanted it done!?!?!?
Closer look.

Then you bring the wires in.

From the inside it looks like this.

Every other hood I've installed the electrical comes into the back of the hood. Out of site...what's up with this. One set of wires is coming from the panel the other is to power the remote blower.

Instead of having the remote blower hard wired there is an outlet in side the hood.

Then you run the wires from this outlet into the box.

So, I spent a lot of time like this.

Which is really, really dangerous because the inside of the hood looks like this.

To do any work you have to get your head up there and you neck presses against that sharp metal edge...I felt like I was one sneeze away from a slit throat the entire time...

Yay Scaffolding!
Next was setting up the scaffolding borrowed from Casa de Crepit.
They had two stages of 3' wide scaffolding they got at Harbor Fright...first time in my life I'm actually trusting my life with a HF product...To be safe I bolted the scaffolding to the wall in 4 places. It was rock solid....but with a lack of safety rails.

Mugging for the camera.

Back to work prepping the window for the exterior ventilator.

I scraped off all the old paint and cleaned it up and put on two coats of a quality primer before I installed the blower.

Blower on wall

Almost the exact correct size! Had to fluff out the bottom a bit. I chose to raise the blower up so that it wasn't blowing 'right' on the window sill.
Its not all that loud outside. With the blower on high the loudest thing is the damper kinda vibrating.

Boo Venting!
With the blower and hood installed it was time to connect em with ducting.....
Holy friggen mackerel was this the opposite of fun...
In this area we have a dropped ceiling and the 10" smooth wall ducting had to be run through this ceiling.

Here's the roomy side looking out toward the now removed window.

By roomy I mean that there was 2.5'.

The other half of the dropped ceiling was only 2'....and full of old rat droppings.

It was hot, dusty, crowded and MAN was I grumpy for the two days it took me to
do this job...so, so grumpy!
Sorry, no awesome pics of ducting.

Cept for this one.

That's 26 gauge 10" smooth wall galv ducting. Attached with 4 screws and real duct tape.

Here's a shot of the hood all installed!

Check out those giant heat lights in the back! We'll probably never really use em but without them being there, there is two huge holes in the hood that look kinda fugly.

The last two pics show a couple of screw ups. The back splash is creased from shipping..and I thought it would go away on install... The writing on the sheet does not seem to want to come off!
Annnd, I had to cut the hole in the ceiling a lot larger than the duct and I'm not sure how to finish it off.

Thought I would finish off the sink cabinet with a water proof liner and a nice slide out shelf for all of
our cleaning chemicals.

Cept that the shelf is just slightly too big.

So I used my HF multi-master to make a cut and it fit.

I hoped the cut was going to be invisible with the cabinet door closed.

No such luck.

The new from Costco cabinets I installed.

Where to start with these...how bout, 'Nice color Match!'
I forgot that the new cabinet doors are full overlay where the old ones are not..which means I don't
think that I can install the old crown moulding on the uppers.
On the lower cab I forgot to get toe kick moulding to match.

I am not a granite fabricator
Check out the awesome gaps on the back splash and counter top.

I'm told real granite fabricators leave less than a razor blades thickness in their joints...
I've been told to buy two part epoxy and color it to match to fill the gaps and then blow
granite dust onto the wet epoxy to color it...

But honestly...

Now its fixed! I don't even see the gaps anymore....

Check out this awesome electrical outlet.

I screwed up mult ways here.
First, that's the wrong type of box. Not the kind you can screw mud rings too.
So, I made my own mounts in the mud ring and voila a two gang box becomes
a single GFCI outlet. Except the hole in the granite is sized for the double outlets...
That's a clear scuff guard making up for the shortfall.
Had to only use one for box fill issues and for code there HAD to be one outlet here...
Hey, it works and is pretty handy actually..just fugly...I'm told I it might be possible to buy an outlet cover that's big enough to cover the hole...we'll see.

And finally...
Here's the done picture.

Notice anything missing?
Yep, our big glorious stove might not fit....

Well, it will fit but then the fridge doors might not be able to open more than half way......
Hurray!!!

Next up, the code enforcement inspection.....



 

How Am I Going To Do This?

One of the next big things I have to do with the kitchen redo is run the code correct venting for our fabulous new hood.

I've run into a bit of a hitch (when don't I).
I have to install the exterior vent motor to the outside of the house.

My plan is to take out the 'window to no where' and install the exterior vent motor in its place....
Problem is, its 13' up off the ground...
Well, that's not really the problem, the problem is, is that I only have 46.5" of clearance between the fence and the house at this point.

I borrowed my neighbors rickety old extension ladder and put my ladder stabilizer on it.

That ladder is really not at a great angle..
Plus its kinda anti-confidence inspiring...

I can get my fat arse up there and I will probably be able to work from the ladder to remove the window. I just need to remove the parting bead and four nails it looks like...

But humping the big heavy ventilator up there and installing it...I don't think so...

The super cool kids at Casa Decrepit offered to let me borrow their scaffolding!!! Hurray!!!
Except that, their scaffold is 62" wides...not gonna fit.

Does anybody have any ideas on how I can work up there safely???

We Have An Outdoor Kitchen!!!

I've been putting all the stuff I'm taking out of the kitchen on the deck for now.

It looks like this.

One of my nosier neighbors asked me, 'Uh, what ya doing on the deck back there?'
With as straight of a face as I could muster I said, 'We putting in an outdoor kitchen!!!'

Y'all shoulda seen the look on his face.....priceless.....

Kitchen Redo Day 3

Started off with a simple fun job, installing the new lights in the breakfast bar.

Don't they look purty?
We really love them over the craptastic IKEA puck lights. We really like the quality of the light and are using them way more than we used the old lights.

Then, onto the glass block window.

Bi Bi Window!

Using my HF sawzall I cut the nails holding it to the framing.
Here's a shot of it mostly removed.

There's always one nail holding up the works.

The nail let go slightly unexpectedly and BOOM the window fell to the floor.

Missing the dolly that I had put there...
I was sure it was going to crack or crack the tile floor but both survived pretty well.
When the window hit the floor it made a very loud boom and kinda shook the house...Mrs. MadMadScientist hobbled downstairs to make sure I was still alive...I haven't put it on a scale yet but I'm pretty sure it weighs like 7000 pounds....

The glass block is fine, the wooden frame for it didn't fare so well...

 We plan on turning it into a table for the garden...with pink neon lighting of course.

And then magically the wall was done!!!
Ah, don't I wish...
Here's a shot of me putting up the blocking for the cabinets-hood and furring so that the drywall can actually be screwed to the studs!

After all that blocking and furring I'd be pretty hard to miss the wood..I hoped.

Here's a shot of me mixing up the Easy Sand 45.

This was a mistake and I knew it when I was doing it but this is all we had at the house...
I should of used Easy Sand 90 cause you get an honest 45min working time...with the 45 you really only get 20min...

Done!

Sorry, sometimes I get in these moods where I don't want to take pictures I just want to get the stuff done...I still need to go over my horrible mud job with a wet sanding sponge and through a couple of coats of primer on the wall. Luckily almost this entire area will be covered with cabinets and back splash so my sins will be hidden.

Ode To My Bucket Boss

 I always thought that they were silly till I used one.
Turns out they are super handy and I'm really enjoying using it.
Ton's of pockets for everything and they are all handy and right there.

Kitchen Redo Day 2

Yes, I know I posted 2.5 before 2.0

This post could also be titled.

The Saga Of The Too Tall Dishwasher

or

The Freaking PO Is Screwing Me Again

Today's goal was to swap out dishwashers, add the missing code required air gap, install the fabulous new 1HP garbage disposal, install a new faucet and drill a hole in the counter top for a soap dispenser.

Switching dishwashers should be a simple thing....slide one out, disconnect it, connect up the new one and slide it in, DONE!!! In this case, not so much....

Old Dishwasher Finally Pulled Out

You see, the problem is, the PO installed the cabinets along this run onto the sub floor. Then he added 1/4" cement board and the tiles....effectively trapping the existing DW in its place...instead of tiling the entire kitchen floor first or at least adding some plywood to bring the cabinets up he did....NOTHING!

Here's some fabu shots of me trying to figure out how to get the newer DW to fit.

See that look on my face? I've had that look a lot lately...
To get the new DW to fit I had to remove part of the padding on the top and massage a metal seam with my framing hammer! You can also see the crappy chrome plated plastic faucet in this picture.

On To The Garbage Disposal

Cabinet Before

Existing Crappy Plumbing

Whoops, gotta switch out those non-GFCI outlets under the sink!

Voila New Garbage Disposal

New Plumbing

Had to make a quick trip to Pagano's Hardware cause the P-Trap ripped in two and I need a longer tail piece.

Dead Plumbing Parts

Bye Bye

Drilling The Granite Counter Top
I was pretty worried about this, thinking that it was going to be some hard horrible thing. This turned out to me one of the easiest things about this redo so far. After watching some YouTube videos I was ready to try it.

My Drilling Tool

Don't ya love the handle? Can't find ANY of em anywhere....That's a diamond grit bit that still cost me $32 at the shady Chinese granite place...

Hole Marked And Ready To Go

Instead of using water to keep the bit cool someone suggested packing it with ice as it was less messy.

Action Shot

Hole Done

Cute Little Plug

I'm hoping that the black on the bit is just burned wood from cutting all the way through the granite and plywood underlayment....I'm hoping I didn't cook the bit...
Giant Mess....

Soap Dispenser Installed

Done Shot

We can't believe how much nicer the new faucet makes the kitchen look. It took me like 2hrs to pick
out this faucet. I had to call several manf to ask them, 'What exactly is this faucet made out of?' I wanted a solid brass faucet and NONE of the manf I talked to make em anymore! At any price point! All the high end faucets where 'all metal' but the metal was some sort of amalgam and they couldn't tell me what was in it...these are faucets that retail for like $600!?!?!  I got the guy at Pfister I was talking to to tell me which older discontinued models were made that way...then I found one at Amazon! Heavily marked down cause it was a discontintued model.

This shot also shows the new SS outlet covers we bought.

Some exciting pics of more SS outlet covers.

Next Up, What to Do With The Glass Block???