Rock the Block

When we bought the base cabinets at IKEA, we chose their Oak Butcher Block counter tops. They are an incredible deal and look amazing. The downside?  You have to cut and fit them yourself. It can be a challenge, particularly when fitting the counter top that goes in the corner. To make it fit, I had to join the two pieces using a power biscuit-jointer and glue. You can see the counter tops clamped and gluing below:

Glue-up in progress. Those clamps are keeping things snug.

After gluing and clamping the countertops, they had to sit for 24 hours before instillation. After the clamps were removed, I sanded the joint to smooth out any irregularities. After the sanding, Leah gave them a good oiling with food-safe mineral oil.  Lastly, I locked them into the cabinets.

The finished joint. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Locking in the counter tops to the cabinet-bases.

Finished counters with the sink waiting for its hole.

Another shot, the missing piece is where the range will go. Also, you can see the piece of counter on the end cabinet

Next, I’ll measure and cut a hole for the sink. On Friday, Clemet comes back to do all the finish plumbing, for the sink, faucet, garbage disposal, dishwasher and water line  for the ice-maker in the fridge.  Stay tuned.

Free Find

Matt and I found this super cool (free!) hutch a few months ago at a moving sale.  For $32 worth of hardware from Anthropologie, we got a great piece of furniture for our kitchen!

While Matt and I generally prefer crisp, clean furniture, we love the hutch’s rustic, lived in feel.   And of course, I couldn’t help adding some cookbook the the barren shelves!

Down Below

Well folks, we added the base cabinets today.  Ok, so Matt did most of the adding, but who’s counting? Here’s a look:

The shop vac's taking the place of our fridge...use your imagination!

From another angle:

To the left of the black dishwasher (which will be covered with a cabinet front in the near future) is the home of our future sink.  Remember what used to be there?? To the dishwasher’s right, is the imaginary stove.  The real one arrives in 8 days.

Can’t wait!

Leah

Floors, what floors? Oh those floors…

Hey folks and fellers, you’ll notice I laid the floors today (or yesterday if you are checking Sunday). As Leah showed in an earlier post we chose vinyl tiles. You may think, “vinyl, how gauche” but really they are an amazing flooring option for a kitchen. Whereas new hardwood is on the costlier side and causes worry about spills and stains, vinyl is cheap and resilient. But, what about ceramic tiles or even stone tiles? Think about what you do in a working kitchen, most of the time you are standing at the counter or range, the key word here being “standing.” Ceramic and stone tiles are very hard and unforgiving, plus the grout lines between the tiles accumulate dirt and other kitchen detritus like a glue trap, making cleaning a royal pain. Vinyl tiles, specifically commercial grade vinyl (1/8″ thick) is a flexible yet extremely durable surface. I love it. Check out some of the pictures (as a note: the tiles look a little orange in these pictures due to the camera, the actual colors are a deep red and washed out grey)

A quadrant of floor spread with glue and waiting for tile.

The installation process is really simple. First you start by dividing your room into 4 equal sections with center lines running from each wall forming a cross. After this is completed, the vinyl adhesive is spread with a U-notch trowel in one quadrant. The adhesive is then let to set up for at least 3o minutes or until tacky to the touch. Once the adhesive is ready, you can start laying the tile.

The first section laid.

Laying the tile is simple task. Just plop down and make sure the joints between the tiles are tight and give it some good pressure before moving on to the next tile. Cutting the vinyl is extremely easy. All you need is a straight edge and a razor knife. You score the tile with the knife and bend at the cut to get the desired size.

Alright enough with the how-to, here are some more pictures:

Hope you enjoyed it as much as my knees did.

Here’s a bonus shot for all you cat lovers out there:

I cann has soul?

– Matt

Paint, Paint!

After drywall comes….paint!  Paint signifies the beginning of the final stages of our kitchen remodel.  Here’s what our kitchen looks like with primer:

Another angle

The unpained area is where our tile backspalsh will go (eventually).  Here’s the final product, we used Behr’s Silver Drop paint on the walls.

In addition to painting, Matt started framing out the window sills. Here’s a sneak peek at the unfinished action:

Plumb. Mud. Sand.

Ok folks — the plumbing is complete!  Clemet came this week and put in new drain lines for the sink:

Hot & cold water pipes behind the drain line

Clemet had to go underneath the kitchen in the crawl space, to hook up all the lines.  He’s a great guy to have around, always laughing and smiling.  Unlike the rest of us, the sweltering heat doesn’t seem to dampen his spirits.

Matt & Clemet in the crawl space beneath the kitchen

The next day, Matt mudded the drywall.  For those of you who’ve never “hung” drywall (and I included myself in this category until 72 hours ago), the process is time consuming and tedious.  Once hung, you go over every screw hole, seam, and corner, with “mud” so the walls are smooth.

Matt mudding a corner

Look familar??

The mud drys overnight and is sanded the next day.   Sanding, in a nutshell, sucks.  It’s tedious, dirty, and provides little gratification at the end. Thus, it was the perfect job for me.

Go Phils

This process gets repeated three times.  Sigh.  Thankfully, we’ll be done Friday and can start painting!