Kitchen Cabinets

Cabinets Installed by coffeechaser

Mr. Fuller -badass with power tools- visited to install the kitchen cabinets. He is a friend who knows more than I about carpentry and so I played second fiddle most of the day keeping the beer cold! The process was simple yet time consuming. We started by marking the studs and finding the floor's high point. Working from there the cabinets were shimmed, squared, and leveled. We added some filler pieces to the corners for hardware clearance and moved on to the next cabinet. Each unit was secured to the wall and the adjoining cabinet. If your are installing cabinets make your own shims as we did. Set the saw to 1.5 degrees cut a 6" block with the grain, flip the board and cut again.


Final Layout by coffeechaser

Colossal Sink

Tight Fit by coffeechaser

I have a love for vintage sinks especially the ceramic ones with their worn patina. I left behind a nice one at the duplex I was renting. This one I’m installing is waiting to tell a new story. The first wail of a tale is about installation. The sink base had to be sturdy to support its weight. I reclaimed some floor boards and built a skirt. There's little clearance the faucet but sink is pretty.


3" 1/2 Depth to Wall by coffeechaser

Painted Kitchen

Within 12 hours my brother and I made a punctual effort to prepare the kitchen walls for cabinets. We sanded the walls, cleared the room and vacuumed the dust in record time. Before heading to bed the walls were textured and paint ready. I’m rising early after a four hour nap to begin painting. The color you see now is gray when the paint dries it will be Kwal Drew CL2992W a greenish gray with a blue hue.



Prep by coffeechaser


Textured Wall by coffeechaser

Kitchen Ceiling Texture

Kitchen Ceiling Texture by coffeechaser

Popeye arms and patience are a must if you insist on DIY home repair. The next is a healthy dose of do-it-again. The flat area shown in this photo is my fifth attempt to plaster the soffit areas. The first passes were to resurface after soffit removal. The remaining to patch areas where the paper backing pealed while texturing. I've mixed a slurry of paint and joint compound (1:4) as roll-on ceiling texture. Applied lightly, I will repeat the process until satisfied.


Roll On Texture by coffeechaser


Ceiling Slurry by coffeechaser

The Shiner Family Fridge

The Shiner Family Fridge by coffeechaser

When I cleared the kitchen for remodeling everything went into the adjoining rooms. The dishware, table, cookware went into the living room. The stove and refrigerator into the hallway. I focused on acquiring materials & tools needed to complete the job. The bedroom later became a cave to house the kitchen cabinets. The food perishables remained safe stored in the fridge until I found a great deal on flooring. I arrived home with 17 bundles of solid oak flooring at $1.35 per square foot and no remaining storage place. I had an hour to unload before returning to work. The car was loaded and so I scrambled. The entrance way items were pushed into the living room and hallway. At that moment I unplugged the refrigerator thinking I'll grab and extension cord and plug-in later. After getting the wood inside I locked the house and returned to work. Almost a week later -because I was broke and the refrigerator was damn near empty to begin with- I opened it up and trashed everything. I can't cook at the moment so I've restocked with liquids, eggs, and lunch meat. Cheers!


Liquids & Eggs by coffeechaser

Kitchen Pantry

The pantry has been closed for months during the remodeling. I'm not surprised by the expired goods and plaster dust. Since committing to The Kitchen Cure at ApartmentTherapy.com I'm opening the door with a renewed focus. We are tasked with cleaning out the pantry and mine is shameful. I’ll throw out more items than I keep then reorganize what remains. The Cure has come with great timing I’m wrapping up the remodel and could us some fresh stock. Over the weeks ahead the goal is simplifying the kitchen. The challenge will be balancing cooking to match my life habits. I am a meat & steamed veggies cook. My Asian inspired kitchen pantry must transform to suit my style. I'll keep my favorite flat noodles and cast away the bean paste and fermented fish sauce. Life is about embracing the stages at the moment I’m focused on soul food and The Great American Hamburger. When the remodel is over I should have a fabulous kitchen with some cultural richness in the pantry.

Weekly To-Do List:
Clean Out Pantry
De-Clutter Equipment
Deep Clean & Beautify
Restock
Enjoy!


Dusty Shelf by coffeechaser


Dusty Top Shelf by coffeechaser

Floor Protection

Floor Protection by coffeechaser

Covered the floor with rosin builder's paper to protect the polyurethane. This weekend I'll be revisiting the walls and ceiling. The think layer of fine plaster dust will return to cover whole house. Its amazing how the stuff settles in areas otherwise closed off.

4th Coat of Polyurethane

4th Coat of Polyurethane by coffeechaser

I am learning to crawl again this week. I've taken each night after work to sand between coats, vacuum, tact cloth, and seal the floor. This is the fourth coat of polyurethane. I'm saving the final coat for last. Once the cabinets and lighting are in place the floor will glow. It's a kitchen with hardwood flooring so I've been over protective!


Floor Close Up by coffeechaser

Ikea Lagan Countertop

It's Valentine's Day and I'm running around Ikea for countertops! I've spent weeks researching and schedule appointments for Granite, Corian or Concrete counters. All were well over budget the most outrageous was Sensa Granite from Sears at $7500. The most humbling would have been a Wilsonart laminate DIY effort. I already had plywood for the job but wanted to stay away from laminate. I then visited Ikea's website with a rumor they were discontinuing their stainless steel countertops. In fact they were for $20 per 6' foot sheet. When I arrived I found the stainless too thin and prone to scratches. Out of options on this day of love the walked out with the newly issued LAGAN solid beech butcher block counters. The NUMERAR product is a long-standing Ikea hit at $169, however the thinner cheaper $59 LAGAN is right for my budget. The kitchen is approaching 70's wood grain overkill but plans change as does life. I'm going retro!

Top Cabinets

Top Cabinets Staging by coffeechaser

Original my plan was to do away with top cabinets completely and use open shelving. I had also planned to build the cabinets myself to save money. Boy was I wrong! After spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentines without a kitchen I had to rethink the budget. My health and well being are more sacred than saving cash. Instead I bought the materials in stages while realizing the kitchen would be more functional with top cabinets along the cooking wall. The open shelving will accent the adjoining walls.

Hardwood Flooring Installation

Subfloor Removal by coffeechaser

The walls have reached state of uniformity and are ready for texture. The ceiling was a royal pain as it's paper backing would pealed. I've sanded the old and applied new texture. Frustrated I've moved on to installing the hardwood flooring. I made it half way through removing the sub-flooring before deciding it would take thee nights a week and three weekends to finish the job alone. The next day I called floor installers. I was able to work out a cheaper rate having the materials on-site and and the kitchen cleared. For the day rates of two guys and additional $150 to foreman the flooring was installed and sanded the next day. I planned to stain and seal the floor myself. Once they arrived we worked together and finished within eight hours.


Hand Planed Transitions & Corners by coffeechaser


Hallway Transition by coffeechaser

Remodeled Kitchen Layout

New Kitchen Layout by coffeechaser

The Ikea Kitchen Planner is a great spacial tool for planning a workable layout. I've modeled several versions in typical bi-polar-anal-retentive fashion. The file's Nina Simone's Ikea kitchen. After seeing the cost sheet I may demand my pay like she did!

Wall Color Staging

Wall Color Staging by coffeechaser

I did my best to purchase wall paint once. Well, I purchase twice once green then blue. In dig the blue. It's fabulous without being over the top. The green works well my kitchen table. I'll more than likely keep this as an accent wall for the dining area.


Wall Color Staging by coffeechaser