Happy Thanksgiving to all. I know with the economy it may seem like there isn’t a lot to be thankful for, but if you can read this you are doing well enough to afford a computer and internet hookup; you’re doing it from a home or a rental; and you have friends and family. With friends and family, we have plenty to be thankful for.

So this will be my final entry. I’m done posting about the kitchen remodel. I thought I’d put these together just to show the contrast. The one thing it doesn’t show is the new ceramic tile floor instead of the old linoleum.

The fridge, before and after:
 

The pantry, before and after:
  

Above the range, before and after:
 

Lazy Susan corner before and after:
 

The sink before and after:
 

To the right of the sink, before and after:
 

The peninsula, before and after:
 

Wow! At last! A usable kitchen! Finished plumbing the sink using a new strainer basket and our old dispose-all. Then installed the faucet. It seemed to be working OK, then…. disaster. One of the slip joints I was using did just that – it slipped… and on the CPVC that it really was designed for! I jumped into action and turned off the main, but several gallons had sprayed all over. I was PISSED! So I went out to Menards and got a proper copper compression to CPVC fitting (that glued the CPVC) for the hot and cold water leads and installed them. Looks good now and it isn’t going to slip or leak.

I’m virtually done. I’ve got the following items to do (and none of them will be noticeable to most people):

• Two pieces of shoe mold trim at the wall near the fridge, each about 6″ long.
• A bead of caulk on top of the backsplash of the counter top – I have purchased a little device to make the bead uniform the entire length of the countertop.
• A bead of caulk between the floor tile and the sliding door to the deck to seal the wood below – I’ve got some colored caulk that will match the grout.
• Four pieces of shoe mold that will be trim underneath the cabinets to cover up some of my inadequacies of plastering close to the bottom of the wall cabinets.
• One piece of shoe mold that will cover a small gap between the trim and the wall next to the pantry.
• One piece of shoe mold that will cover a small gap between the trim and the wall next to the dining room side of the peninsula.

It’s up to KC (and Breezomatic) to decide how far apart to put the adjustable shelves in the cabinets and what items to put in what cabinet and drawer. Here’s the photo of the sink:

While it looks like I got a lot done, I really didn’t. First off, I worked from home today and was here when the counter top was delivered. I also redid the plumbing – I had a very slow leak and I couldn’t stop it. So, off to Menards I went and got all the plumbing fittings I needed as well as some longer stove bolts to hold the knobs on the drawers and some Sprechers Lo-Cal Root Beer (it’s the BEST!).

I put two compression fittings on the hot and cold water lines for the sink. This is so I can join the plastic shutoff valves and the copper pipe. I tried sweating the leak away (using heat and solder) but it just wouldn’t go away, so I resorted to the compression fittings. I also have the sink leads on but laying out. I put the horizontal pipes for the waste water P-traps in place, but won’t finish those until I get the sink in. I have the sink in place but only because it’s the best place to store it. I had to scribe the counter top in order to get it to fit perfectly. I still need to run the final bead of caulk. I’ve also put the rest of the knobs on the drawers. Pearl City Wood Products made a box for the drawers and then put the cabinet facing on the front of the box to make the drawer, so it is 1½” thick instead of ¾” thick like the cabinet doors. Here’s the photos:
     

Didn’t have as much time as I’d liked, but I did get a lot of things done. Hey! I went to church today AND we had our family Thanksgiving gathering. Got knobs on the doors; for the drawers I’ll have to get longer bolts to hold the drawer handle. Got all the crown mold up. Got the kick plate down as well. Tomorrow is the delivery day for the countertop!! Here’s the pictures:
  

Wow! It’s really starting to look like a kitchen again! Here’s a rundown of today’s events:

• Painted the splash wall with decent paint made for kitchens and bathrooms. I got two coats on it.
• Installed the microwave. Had to cut the circuit to the overhead lights as they are on the same circuit. (No, I don’t like getting zapped!)
• Trimmed out the window.
• Installed the over-the-sink light. Didn’t have to cut any circuits for this – just turned off the power switch for the light.
• Installed the face plates over the outlets and switches.
• Installed the 1×3 rider that will carry the crown mold.
• KC put wood putty over the errant nail holes.

Tomorrow, we go to church in the morning and our family’s Thanksgiving gathering will be at 1:00pm. I hope to get back home in time to work on the crown mold and finish it up. I’d also like to do the kick plate while I’ve got the air nailer. Here’s the progress in pictures:
      

OOOO! Trim! That’s right, I got some trim up. Not much, but it’s a start. I have yet to get a nail set and wood putty to fill in behind the finish nails, but the trim is up over the fridge. And, I got the coat of Zinsser primer on the wall so that it seals out the “drywall” from the paint – I’ll have to get the paint tomorrow. Ran the waste water hose for the dishwasher around the back of the Lazy Susan; the dishwasher is hooked up except for the waste water, which I’ll hook up when the sink is installed Monday. Also, I’ve got the carpet bar down, and shoe mold around the exposed edges of the ceramic tile floor. I’ll need to get some more shoe mold, some window casing trim and some oak stock just to complete the finishing, but it’s really rounding out nicely. Here’s the photos:
    

Again, not much to tell. After a little bit of sanding, I made everything “primer white” that was “joint compound gray” after I taped all the edges of cabinets. I also did a little trim work but nothing is really in place yet. Tomorrow will be busy as I’m going to the cabinet maker, Pearl City Wood Products, to return some items that were delivered with the cabinets (dollies and blanket-pads) and to see if they will hold up their promise of allowing me to borrow their trim nail gun to put the wood trim up. I hope so; then I can finish up the trim this weekend. If I can’t borrow one, I’m considering buying one.

Not much to tell or show. I spent tonight after work sanding the joint compound. I filled in some small “pocks” in the otherwise smooth wall. Then I redid the corners. There are two corners that will be highly visible and neither of them turned out as I’d like, so I sanded it all down and then added more joint compound to the corners. They look OK now, so tomorrow I should be able to sand them and then paint the wall with a first coat of primer (I’m going to use ceiling paint for my primer as I’ve got a lot of it). Friday night will be a coat of either Zinsser or Kilz primer to seal the wall and make it completely waterproof and mildew-proof. Then probably two coats of “Warm White” from True Value, which matches the rest of the wall paint in the kitchen and dining room. I should have two coats on and dry by the time the counter top gets here Monday!

Mud, glorious mud. Well, at least joint compound. That was tonight’s mission. To put joint compound on all of the new sheet rock. You see, when I put in that sheet rock I was under the impression that KC wanted to put some sort of laminated product over it. Well, after looking at a number of laminated products she proclaimed that we needed to paint the splash walls. So, I had to “mud” the walls. Tomorrow will be sanding those walls and if it’s smooth enough I’ll prime paint them. If it isn’t smooth enough, there will be another coat of joint compound. Here’s the closeups of the areas I’ve done:
  

Nothing much to report today. I finished grouting the floor. It will have to dry until Wednesday, so nothing more can be done there. I replaced part of the sheet rock around the outlets. KC now wants to paint the walls. It’s a lot more work now that the cabinets are in place – if I had known before, I would have finished the walls then; now it will make a big mess but it can still be done. Oh well… Also, the guy came in and measured for the counter top. It is to be delivered on Monday next week. I hope that before then I can get the rest of the stuff in place so that we can just drop in the counter top, drop in the sink, hook up the dispose-all and the P-traps for the waste water, and install the new faucet and then… have … a… usable… kitchen!!!

I didn’t post for a while, sorry about that. I’ve just been exhausted lately. Here’s why. Put up the rest of the base cabinets, including the peninsula – that one was a bit difficult to figure out but I did manage with a HUGE help from my brother Al. We had to shim the cabinet from the floor as I guess the floor isn’t level. Put down the rest of the tile floor in the dining room and grouted it. I did run out of grout during that process and had to go get another 9 pound bucket, but KC wants me to re-grout some of the floor. I returned the diamond blade ceramic tile saw to Kevin and immediately borrowed his table saw and miter saw. The table saw will let me rip wood to width, the miter saw will allow me to cut wood to length including angles for the trim. I’ve already used the table saw to cut some blocking to put the final cabinets in place.

Friday, I met KC and Breezomatic and we picked out a counter top. My brother’s wife Sue helped us out as she works for a company that supplies Menards with counter tops and does custom counter tops as well. After deciding color, edge style, backspash style and such, we set up an appoointment for them to come in and measure for Monday. It should be about a week after that when it is installed.

Saturday KC and I went to Menards and checked out all the range hood / microwave combos there. They do have a nice selection. We decided on a Whirlpool model. I’ve got that now, but can’t put it up until the weekend – the microwave is on the same circuit as our kitchen light and I can’t do the wiring in the dark! We also picked up our sink and faucet and new kitchen light. Things are really coming together now! Here’s the latest photos: