Ron Bontz
01-09-2009, 2:53 PM
Well, back in March I decided to finally gut our little kitchen. Something I have been putting off several years. The particle board cabinets were literally falling apart. We lost almost all ,95%, of our dishes when one ripped apart leaving only the back still screwed to the wall. 10 pm at night no less. You just gotta love it. Yes even that correll stuff breaks. The walls were bowed and out of plumb of course being a circa 1980"s house built cheaply. So down to the studs it went so I could cut warped 2x4's in two and add new ones to straighten the walls and put in new switches and wiring. Down came the ceiling to get rid of those ugly sofits add inset lights and yep, new wiring. Out came the floor to put down a new ceramic floor even under the cabinets. New plumbing, etc. The only thing I did not replace was the windows and door. Probably should have. My spouse and I could not agree on cabinet styles. I wanted shaker style or multipanel perhaps from natural finished Hickory, Maple or White Ash. My spouse wanted plain Jane red oak cathedral raised panels. I'll let you guess who won that one. Our Kitchen is very small so I decided to take the cabinets to the ceiling. Of course now I have to make a step stool. "I can't reach those shelves" Ok I fess up. Neither can I! We did agree on one thing. All new appliances. Sears loves me now. We could not agree on a marble or silestone top. Not to mention the cost factor. So high definition laminate it was. I did not like the price quotes I was getting for what I wanted so off to the laminate supply house I went. But wait... In the midst of it all, out of the blue, a neighbor became disgruntled toward my family, mainly me (for reasons still unknown ) and decided he either wanted part of our property or just did not want us to have it. Thus started a campaign of pushing around threats and basic harassment. A real tuff guy. Mostly after drinking. It was rather bizzar I must say. And to think he is actually teaching his two sons to be like him. Yikes. But after a couple of months, building a 130 FT. long 6Ft tall privacy fence, and a letter from an attorney with regards to his bully behavior, we were back on track. So far anyway. Slow but sure. Our kitchen is still not completely finished. Someone still has not picked out the ceramic tile. and I have a 30" deep pantry to build. Big hole in the wall.Some small trim/ crown molding to put up as well. But, well I really have been doing something this year other than cutting my grass and reading these post. This is certainly not up to par with some of the kitchens I've seen here. But it is at least functional. And no dishes are going to fall off the walls any time soon. The cabinet backs are either 3/4" plywood or 1/4" ply solid oak flat panel design with 1/2" tennons. Plywood sides are rabbit jointed glued and screwed with solid oak fronts of course screwed and glued with 1/2" face grain plugs. Mostly for effect. The hinges are 1/2" overlay to go with brass knobs yet to arrive in the mail. In hind site I wish I had gone with full inset doors. I can always remake those, but the question is when? The counter top is simply particle board with biscuits every 6 inches joining the routed oak edging. No back splash. We'll be using a ceramic border. The drawers were all 1/2" oak with through dovetails. Mr. Leigh came out of his storage box to help with that.:) I leave you with one question. How many of you have gotten close to the end of a project only to find your self spending more time thinking about the projects you want to do instead of finishing the one you are on? I hate it when that happens.:DLast year it was a set of book cases in the midst of a basement room.