The Kitchen: Paint, Blocking and Blinds

Over this weekend I painted the upper cabinet doors and touched up some of the walls. I also touched up the black paint on the baseboards and gave them a couple of clear coats.

In the upper cabinets, I added some blocking to attach the hinges to. 

Its just pine that got screwed in and the holes filled. Before the doors get hung, they’ll get a coat of white paint so they blend in.

Finally I reinstalled blinds, which gives the room a more complete look and adds some softness.

And now we know: I wish I’d added the blocking at the start when I sanded the cabinets but after doing it, pine was a lot easier to use for this than oak. The oak was hard to drill in place in these tight spots.

The Kitchen: Finally Hanging Some Doors

Today was the day we tackled hanging the giant pantry doors. These monster doors are 24” wide by 7 ft high and have 4 hinges each, so hanging them was definitely a 2 person job. Surprisingly, it was not as hard as predicted, once the top hinge and bottom hinge were in place, the center 2 were easy to do. 

Next was hanging the base cabinet doors and drawer fronts. They went on fairly easily, I marked the overlay with painters tape and then determined the placement of the hinge. There is a lot of room for adjustments with this type of hinge, so you can play with it to get everything lined up perfectly.

Next was hanging the base cabinet doors and drawer fronts. They went on fairly easily, I marked the overlay with painters tape and then determined the placement of the hinge. There is a lot of room for adjustments with this type of hinge, so you can play with it to get everything lined up perfectly.

Down in the shop, I assembled more upper cabinet doors. Yesterday I had cut the centre plywood panel and Tom sanded them in preparation.

And know we know: It’s much easier to align drawer front if you build a complete box and then attached the front while the box is in place on its hinges, vs pre-attaching it then trying to fiddle with the hinges, like I did for the bedroom dressers.

The Kitchen: Drawers and Trim Installation

Unfortunately the kitchen still looks like a construction zone. There is construction stuff all over the island and still no doors on the cabinets.

At night this week I’ve been working on getting the drawer glides and drawers in. Installing glides is one of those things that would have been easier to do before the counters went it, but there was just no time.

The drawers did not go in easily. Even after measuring for the drawers once the cabinets were built and the blocking in place, they were still too big. I had to trim 1/8” off the edge of each drawer to allow them to move smoothly. This was really a pain to do and have it look good. I only removed about 3” up from the bottom on one side of each drawer, where the glide is attached, then painted it white so it would be less noticeable.

Trim was another item that did not get done, so we headed to Home Depot to pick up what we needed. The flat trim and quarter round for the base cabinets started off by getting a couple of coats of black. 

The rest of the day was spent running up and down stairs cutting the trim and nailing it in place. Obviously it needs the nail holes filled and some paint, but it does make the room look more finished.

 I especially like the 5” high baseboards. 

And know we know: double check before you paint your trim black. Some of it, like the piece for below the pantry, might not need to be painted. Luckily the back is the same profile, just not primed.

The Kitchen: Reno Day 10

Our last full day before going back to work was spent getting the kitchen to a point where we could use it to cook again and be able to move some stuff back in. To start Tom put a coat of sealer on the back splash grout and I caulked the edges. The outlet needed an extension piece due to the extra depth from the tile, so we switched it from a cream one to a white one at the same time.

The upper cabinets got a final coat of white paint, both inside and out. 

We recruited my brother and dad for help to move the fridge and stove back into the room. The stove just fit, honestly there is less that 1/8” clearance and I was so happy it fit after all the problems with the counter ends. 

In the corner cabinet, I installed the half circle lazy susan unit. This set was from Lee Valley; it came with brackets that screwed into a vertical post and 2 shelves that clipped into them. Installation was easy, the only issue was the screws that came with it; they were such bad quality that the head broke off when you tried to screw them in.

As you can see the cat came home today and gave her approval to the lazy susan. 

And now we know: my timeline for the kitchen was a little too ambitious. I wish we were a little further along before we had to go back to work but it is operational even without any cabinet doors.

The Kitchen: Reno Day 9

Now that the base cabinets are painted, I was able to put the clear coat onto the cabinets. They got the same polycrylic as the doors. 

A first coat of white paint went on the upper cabinets, although hard to tell in photos, they now look much cleaner in person.

The back of the pantry doors also got a couple of coats of white paint. They are currently taking over our dining room table much to the happiness of Tom.

Finally, the back splash got grouted. I used a non-sanded white grout and followed the typical progress; put it on, wait, wipe off excess, wait and lastly buff. I love the difference grout makes to tiles, it makes it look cleaner and polished. 

And now we know: wash your tools right after you finish with them. We had let the grout from the bathroom tiling dry on the stirring drill attachment, so Tom spent some tile chipping it off before we could use it again. 

The Kitchen: Reno Day 8

After another coat of black paint on the base cabinets, we ripped up the paper on the floor and gave it a good cleaning in preparation for applying a clear coat.

Over the course of the day, I put FIVE coats of clear water based semi-gloss verathane on the floor. Every 2 hours I put on another coat, cutting in with a brush, and then using a flat pad attached to a pole for the main areas. I finished up the final coat at 9 pm. 

In between coats, I put 2 coats of clear polycrylic on the backs of the doors. 

And 2 coats on the drawer fronts. Since I used matt black paint, the clear coat gave them some shine and the durability they need in a kitchen.

And now we know: all those coats and the time sanding really paid off…the floor looks amazing. Also that clear coating dries incredibly fast.

The Kitchen: Reno Day 7

Well the range hood went back in today. When we took out the old one it turned out that it never vented outside…which obviously concerned us. We got a few quotes to install a vent to the outside but people kept saying how hard it would be to do it as the chimney is behind and the clay pipe inside could collapse. So we looked into other options and it turns out you can buy a charcoal filter attachment for the new range hood that works just as well. We got it and installed it, the only draw back it that the range is now lower by almost 3” to the stovetop, but luckily it is still within the allowable distance. Needless to say it is also much better looking than the old cream one. 

The rest of the day was all tiling the back splash.  Don’t you love it when something you think will take 3 hours really takes 8. I chose to alternate rows of white subway tile with rows of small glass subway tiles. I enjoy tiling so although it was hard on the back, I did fun doing this.

Tom not so much. He is the official tile cutter and spent the day running in and out to his wet tile saw in his lovely outfit. It got pretty cold by the end of the day.

And now we know: creating a pattern with tile adds a lot of time to the task. Cutting tiny glass tiles on a wet saw is very challenging.

The Kitchen: Reno Day 6

After a nice long weekend in Vermont, we are back at it. To start, Tom put the dishwasher back in so that the plumber could connect it when he arrived.

The new double sink was also put in and connected by the plumber. It’s very nice to have running water again. 

Next I worked on filling in the gap between the dishwasher and the corner cabinet. It was about 4” and I was waiting until the dishwasher was in place so that it fit perfectly. Using scrap oak I built a frame to act as support and a toe kick to mimic the rest of the cabinets.

For the front panel I used ¼” plywood, same as the cabinet doors, which was sanded and primed. Once nailed and glued in place, I filled the holes in preparation for painting.

Another gap that needed filling was to the left of the stove, where another one of those gable ends meant the counter did not sit flush with the cabinet end. Here I just cut scrap oak to the right width and installed them to again mimic the shape of the cabinet.

Once all the cabinet gaps were filled, I cut plywood, sanded it, primed it and installed it on the back of the island. 

To finish prepping it for painting, I filled the nail holes and caulked the corners on the plywood. The end where we cut to accommodate the counter needed some filling aswell…lots of filling and sanding and more filling and more sanding to get it looking presentable again. 

Work on the pantry continued, the face frame got assembled and primed, then installed. Although I used a lot of glue and finishing nails, it still seems a little less secure than it should, I am considering where I can add some blocking for additional strength.

The final task of the day was putting the first coat of black paint on all the cabinets. Its funny how much of a difference paint makes; all of a sudden the cabinets look much more polished and complete.

And now we know: well still learning my lesson about those gables, they are the gift that keeps on giving in this kitchen

The Kitchen: Reno Day 5

After all the cabinets that were installed the day before, the only one left was the island. To start I screwed the right end frame to the wall and floor, then installed the base frame and the left side. It took multiple adjustments to level them in all direction and I ended up having to cut a hole in the plywood to access the base for screwing it in place.

Next we put the cabinet in place and secured it to the base and end frames.

Progress on the pantry also continued, I attached the right side and screwed both sides to a top frame. Horizontal supports were glued and screwed to the wall for the shelves. As you can see the pantry is HUGE, I didn’t realize until the second side was in quite how big it really is…

Next we moved on to installing the island counter top. The blocking under the gable end proved a problem again and we ended up cutting a chunk off the panel with a circular saw to get it in the right place. 

The corner counter went in easily in comparison. The only difficult part was attaching the mitred corner with the bolts provided. Working in a tight space plus not being able to find a small enough wrench made it a frustrating task getting them in place. I also got the sink opening cut out in preparation for the plumber’s visit on October 10^th. 

The final piece of counter top to be installed, to the right of the stove, proved the most difficult. That stupid gable blocking again, for a number of reasons it ended up being easier and fit better to just cut a piece out of the side of the cabinet for the blocking. It’s hard to explain…but it looks good now and the end of the counter is flush to the end of the cabinet like I wanted. I also trimmed a little off the end against the wall, which went surprisingly well. No chips or anything.

The final thing we did was install the pantry shelves. They are ¾” melamine and are drilled into the supports from below. Eventually they will get trimmed out with some fancy routered edged wood…once I buy the wood and router it and install it…it’s a low priority obviously.

And now we know: gable ends have more blocking underneath that expected. Take that into account when measuring for your counters.

The Kitchen: Reno Day 4

Protecting the newly sanded floor was our first step today; we taped down some heavy paper throughout the room.

Finally we could start with putting the kitchen back together. The first step was securing and levelling the bases for the lower cabinets. These frames are made of 2x4’s screwed together and raise the cabinets the 3.5” to create a toe kick. I levelled and shimmed each one, then screwed them directly into the hardwood floor. I built these ahead of time and neglected to take into account the sink pipes, so that one had to be taken apart and re-assembled once in place around the pipes.

Once all the base frames were in place, the actual cabinets could go on top. Since everything was already level, they went in easily and got screwed through the bottom and through the back into the wall studs. Again there were problems with the sink cabinet, we had to take the back off the cabinet, cut it for the pipes and re-assemble it. 

The cabinet which caused the most difficulty was the one to the right of the stove. When the counter tops arrived, they had larger blocking at the gable ends than I had anticipated and this was not accounted for in my dimensions. I wanted the cabinet to align with the existing microwave slot above and to have the end of the counter flush with the cabinet. In order to do this, we had to chip out part of the wall to give us the extra ¼”.We had a funny misunderstanding; I asked Tom to chip out part of the wall, the top layer of drywall, and he interpreted it as take out the entire section of the wall…in the end it worked out as it is hidden behind the cabinet.

I finally got the face frame on the island cabinet and clear coated the wine slots. Its now ready to be installed as well.

Pantry installation began with the base being put in place and the left side panel attached. I decide to align it with the door frame instead of perfectly level, so there wouldn’t be a small gap at one end. 

And now we know: take into account the plumbing pipes when assembling the sink cabinet. I mistakenly thought more of it would be disconnected when the sink was removed and that I could just drill a few holes thought the bottom.