NewOld Kitchen progresses

Quick check-in post today on the state of the kitchen. Most of this work is being done by others while I work my 9-5 and then Boo and I clean up or move stuff around on the evenings and weekends. The construction has been moving at an incredible pace after so many months of seemingly slow-go. To be fair, I was only really getting after it on weekends versus a crew working multiple days. So, it's probably not fair to me to compare. On the personal side, my band's EP (find detail here) released on Groundhog's Day (2-Feb) and my sister came to visit for the following week. 

Where Were We

current state

Once the floors were finished, we could get moving forward on the kitchen. Consider, we have been living without a kitchen for about a year. Instead of a kitchen, it has been a version of an efficiency apartment where we have a fridge, but only a crockpot, a single burner hot plate, a microwave and a hot pot for making food. I suspect most folks, at least Americans, would have lived on take-out food. Had this project only lasted a few weeks, we might have gone that route. Into our 12th month like this, however, yeah, we could not afford that. After the plumbing work I described last time was completed, our electrical rough-in was done by our friend Gary.

Electrical Started

For electrical, we simply focused on the "sink wall", making sure we had juice where we needed it for the dishwasher and disposal, as well as some over-counter outlets. Last, he ran a line for task lighting over the sink. Since that initial work, he returned to run the 220V for the wall oven and the 110V for the fridge. He will return to run lines for the stove and some additional outlets.

Drywall and Cabinet Set

rough plumbing done

With the electric on the "sink wall" done, Ray, our general contractor was able to get the drywall repairs completed. This included some of the rough bits around the new rear door, the holes for the old furnace location, the false beam where I removed that wall and everywhere else in the main kitchen space. Once drywalled, mudded and sanded, they primed and then painted. Once dry, the "sink wall" cabinet was cut down to fit the dishwasher, and both were set in place. They continued by installing the pantry cabinet and fridge, and then the cooktop peninsula. The cooktop peninsula, similar to the sink wall cabinet, was cut down to fit our space. Again, most folks design and buy cabinets to fit the space. We bought and are customizing. Considering the cost of new cabinetry, both in terms of dollars and environmental impact, this path is far less expensive on both counts.

So we could get a sense of the workability of the space, Ray cut down some 3/4" plywood for countertops and pin-nailed them into place. The cabinets along the once-furnace-wall have not been cut down and installed yet but already it feels like there is considerable space to work in. We have not had a kitchen in a while, so it is more pronounced for us, but visitors have made similar observations: for what looked like a really small space from outside, it is looking like it will be very functional with lots of counter space. Boo and I have been calling it the TARDIS-effect. Dr. Who fans unite.

Water and Gas

setting pantry depth

For the water rough-in, the plumber did everything he could that did not require a permit. From that point forward, the work is either mine to complete, or I need to get permits and farm it out. Boo and I decided to split the difference: I do the work, but have the gas plumbing inspected by the gas company. Fortunately, the water is quite simple these days: shut off the main, release the pressure (dumping water down the drain) and do the work. In terms of the work, there are shark-bite valves that are no-solder connections. I simply cut off the closed nipple on the end of the pipe and attached the shark-bite around the pipe. It really is that simple. Once the valves were on, we could re-pressurize the system and check for leaks. Seriously, it was that easy; I have no idea why that part of the plumbing needs a permit while the pipes in the walls don't. 

For the gas line, we ran 3/4" pipe from the "T" near the furnace over to the peninsula in the crawlspace, but did not connect it. Instead, where the union will be, we capped it off. At the peninsula, we necked down the 3/4" pipe to 1/2" per standard to pass through the floor. Above the floor, we added a pressure gauge. All of the joints were coated with pipe-dope, of course. We applied air-pressure into the pipe run (from cap near the "T" to the pressure gauge) to 15 psi to verify there were no leaks. As of the publishing of this post, the pressure is still holding at 15 psi. We did all this so we could document it with pictures for the gas company inspector. We do not have the inspection scheduled yet, but after 5 days of holding 15psi, I think we have demonstrated we are good. I expect to finish the gas line next weekend.

what's next

That's as far as we've gotten in the last couple of weeks. It has been a whirlwind of activity, though. Next up will be the construction of a cabinet to hold the wall oven, installing the oven into that and then installing the cabinets along that wall. We have not made any decisions about upper cabinets in the main work area. At this point, however, we are considering leaving the walls without upper cabinets nor open shelving. We have a cabinet we call "the Archie" that we expect to install next to the oven cabinet (on the all in the picture on the right, here). It is possible that it will be the only upper cabinet. Again, we'll see how it evolves.

Thanks, as always, for following along. Hapy broke his speedometer cable a couple of days ago, so I will be posting on that replacement as soon as I've completed that.