2003 Kitchen Remodel Project

2003 Kitchen Remodel Project

The Eighth Week

Last week we asked the following question: "Will the project be done on time after Week 8? Find out after October 6!"

The answer is "No."

Francie and I both took some time off on Saturday morning (Rob for a gunshow and Francie for kicking around the house). By the time I finished a 3-hour "final" Home Depot run, we didn't get started until 3 PM. We did get the final wall cabinets hung, including installing the new range hood. [Incidentally, I don't think I've mentioned the problem with the range hood. We had intended to have it vent directly out the wall, but we found that a wall stud was dead center in the space we needed to run the ducts. Rather than spend DAYS and $$$ trying to work around the stud, we went the faster route of using the hood in a "non-ducted" mode. It still sucks air up from the range, but passes it through a charcoal filter and then returns it to the room.] We then moved on to building and installing the 3 base cabinets. There's a fourth space which will house the dishwasher and a home-built small cabinet underneath.

On Sunday, Rich had once again agreed to help us with some heavy lifting (installing the countertop). While I worked to finish the last miscellaneous pieces of the floor underlayment and the under-DW cabinet, Rich finished off the last of the electrical work (outlets, main room light, laundry room light, stove wiring) and Francie installed the under-cabinet lighting. When we were finally ready for the countertop, we set it up on sawhorses in the kitchen and did all our cutting there. The sink proved to be a MAJOR pain-in-the-butt because it's mounting system, while ingenious, didn't work for our application. I had to cut and re-cut the hole several times, then we took a LONG time to get the damn thing mounted. Finally, we put the counter in place and there were smiles all around.

I took the day off work on Monday hoping to be finishing everything off. Right. Due to the morning off on Saturday and the fight with the sink on Sunday, we were so far behind that we knew the project would last into another weekend. I did get the room cleaned up from the previous two days work (tons of sawdust and tools everywhere). The floor underlayment was patched (screwheads and seams) so we can start laying the vinyl. The biggest change, though, was the final hookup of the sink, disposal and dishwasher! We once again have running water in our kitchen! Yeah! With a little luck, over the next several evenings we'll get the vinyl tiles laid and leave ourselves with only the details (backsplash tiles, shelves, drawers and doors) and the pantry for next weekend (not a full weekend of work).