Kitchen Completion

Alright! the big,giant, never-ending house project list is starting to wrap up. The latest item to be removed was the kitchen. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve spent a lot of time finishing out the space to be more like what I want, and to make it more functional. To start, I removed the old countertops which I had painted with the Rustoleum countertop paint and replaced them with butcher block which I stained and sealed. I knew I wanted them to be dark and I also knew I was never going to be cutting on them so I didn’t really care if they were food safe. The stain I used was Special Walnut and then I sealed them with several coats of oil based glossy poly. The countertops came from Lumber Liquidators and I got an eight foot section for about three hundred dollars, which was much more reasonable than a Granite or Soapstone remnant . As far as installation was concerned it was easy peasy. Thankfully, my Ikea Domsjo Sink was square and went the entire distance from the wall to the front of the countertop so I only had to make two cuts in the butcher block. I then placed it on the the counter top, leveled it, and screwed it in from the bottom with L brackets.

Here was the kitchen before, with the old doors, sink and countertop:
(it looks cute in that picture but I was very hard to keep clean)

Next, I added the sink which just sort of dropped in and hung on the edges of the countertop. Once that was placed properly. I used compression fittings to add a dishwasher hook-up and then installed the new faucet. I really wanted to stay with a double handle but the sink only had one hole (it had places to drill more, but that seemed to risky) so I compromised on a single handle with pull out sprayer which is a little modern for my taste but it works well. I then added a garbage disposal.

That old sink might have looked good in that before photo, but here is how I looked most of the time:

Here is the new gaint sink:

With the sink in working order I ventured on to the dishwasher. The dishwasher was the whole reason this project got started. I knew I needed a compact model but they were so expensive. They ran from about 400 dollars to anywhere near 700. So I happened to be trolling around Craigslist when I saw one about an hour away in Naples, NY. It was a better model than I was planning on purchasing and looked to be in good condition. Needless to say I was off for an afternoon road trip through the Finger Lakes wine country. When I got there I noticed it had a small dent in the front panel and the kickplate was missing, allowing me to talk them down from 100 dollars to 80. Sold. When I came home and installed it I called Sears and ordered the missing kickplate. I almost ordered a new front panel but when it was installed you could barley tell that there was a scratch so I figured I’d let it go for now.

The last(ish) thing that I needed to do was sort out what I was going to do with the cabinet doors. I had gotten quotes for all new cabinets in the week prior. I needed about four cabinets, Two uppers and two lowers but no matter how I laid out the stock cabinet options I was loosing space or was not going to be able to center my sink on the window. Plus all the cabinets I was willing to buy were not as well built as my current, solid wood, 50’s custom numbers. So… I bought a table saw and with the help of Old Town Home and this old timer on YouTube built my own. Now I am not a woodworker and have zero skill in this area. I have to say aside from a few issues, the doors turned out great and I’m pretty happy with them.

So with all this done, I’m in a pretty good house project position. I’d say we are leaving the renovation zone and headed into the maintenance/task zone and it feels great. The big projects that are left are to refinish my floors and do something about that driveway, and in the distant future change my furnace from oil to gas. And that’s it, even better is that only one project (the floors) is really a DIY job so I’m mostly off the hook.

Before I sign off, I have to mention that that yellow/gold color of my kitchen does not read well in any images I take.I’d say it looks most true in the second/before image and to be honest I’ve flirted with the idea of changing it to taupe several times. My main concern is that they yellow with the check floor reads too retro while I’m aiming for more of a vintage/classic look. I’d like some feed back on that so chime in.