Patch Job Done

Well the patch job is done and I'll be starting the cabinet install tomorrow. Lots to do, making sure the base is level, getting the upper cabinet height right, then installing them and then the base cabinets. They'll need a little work, two will need cut outs for plug access, the cook top one will need an opening to pug it in and the sink, well that speaks for it's self. I'll see about progress pictures, no promises.

Left side, not perfect. They won't be seen
behind the cabinets.

Right side, same here and the back splash
will hide any other imperfections.

Under Cabinet Lighting

It's never as simple as just putting up the under cabinet lights and plugging them in, you see you're not suppose to see the wires or plug, and they need to be good LEDs. So I opened up the walls to add a plug down behind the lower cabinets, so I can plug in a little transformer for the LEDs, and run a low voltage wire for the lights. With the new LED's you can't just hard wire them in. When I install the lower cabinets I'll have access behind the drawers to the pug and all is good if I have to replace the transformer, easy access and no requirement to re-open a wall later.

The right side of the kitchen.

Add a little mud.

The left side, sorry no mud pictures this time.

The Drawers Are In

The last two drawers are in and they fit perfectly, this time. As well I added a small strip of wood as a spacer above the top drawer for the cook top cabinet. It needs a clearance of 4 inches and with the counter top we'll have 5, to help define the depth of this drawer, this spacer helps maintain the clearance. I'll be starting shortly the installation, it will take a bit of time, many things to fit, like the outlet for the cook top needs to be cut out of the cabinet, that is if I don't have to move it first, as well holes for the drain and water lines for the sink, as well wires run for the under counter lights. Its the little things and the details that takes up my time. But we only want to do this once.

All three drawer cabinets will have the same size fronts. This
top drawer is shorter because of the cook top. The two
drawer cabinet will have a panel door on it.

Good News - Bad News

A funny thing happened after I assembled all 11 drawers, two were the wrong size, here is how it played out. When it was time to install the slides, I started with the two drawer cabinet first, I made a few cuts in the drawers for the slides, added the locking mechanism to the bottom, drill a couple of holes for the end of the slides and get ready to install the slides in the cabinets. I always check to see how everything fits before screwing things in, and this cabinet is different from the others because it has two drawers not three. And I had to make the drawers a little narrower then the open space to accommodate the hinge hardware for the door. Well here's the bad news, when I checked it I noticed it was a little over an inch narrower than it should have been, so I had to make new drawers, as I already had the material prepped it didn't take long. A little frustrating on how it happened but these things do happen. After cutting the material needed for the new drawers I noticed that the old ones would fit if I turned them sideways, not an option because the dove tails go in the sides and not the front and back. Now here is the good news, as it turns out I did measure correctly, it's just that I labeled the pieces incorrectly. A minor set back and now I'm moving forward with the last two drawers. By the way the other 9 went in with out a hitch.

Old on the left, new on the right.

Do We Have Enough?

I've started cleaning up the drawers and thought I'd see how much storage space there actually would be and as it turns out just the drawers for this wall only, we'll have 24 cubic feet of storage. I haven't calculated the space under and over the oven or the cabinet that will go over the fridge or even the upper cabinets over the main counter area. It has to be enough, we'll see.

A strange thing happen yesterday when we got home, something eat our mail box and yes I mean eat. From the picture below you can see what happened, and it was left just beside the post it was sitting on. I wonder what did it and what damage it may have cased to the machine that eat it.

Here is what 24 cubic feet of drawers looks like.

Our mail box, after it was spit out, folded inside out.

Once Again They're Taking Shape

The drawers are taking shape, last week I cut the dado's for drawer bottoms, I took two days to set up the dovetail jig and cut the dovetails, because I haven't used it very often, so it took several tries to get the fit just right. Once that was done I was able to get them done. It took two days because I had a few rounds of golf in the middle. Yesterday I assembled six and the remaining five today. Tomorrow I'll give them the once over, fix any little accidents that may have occurred during cutting and assembly, that can happen when you cut dovetails with a router into plywood. Then a final coat of poly and start fitting them in the cabinets.

The first six, I only have so much room to lay them out.

The final five.

Still Here, Still Working

I'm still here and working, some of what I have been doing really doesn't show well in pictures. Let me see, where do I start, I put on the edge banding on the base cabinets and they are painted, 3 coats. I applying poly to several sheets of plywood for the drawers. Each sheet of ½ inch got three coats per side and the sheet and a half of ¼ inch only to one side. During all this I did manage to get some time in at the golf club, a good rest and needed distraction. Back to work this past weekend and this week. We picked up the bottom mounted soft closing drawer slides and hinges on Friday so I'll have the proper measurements for the drawers, they are a little different then the side mounted ones. I then cut the boards to finished dimensions and have spent the last day and a half putting on the edge banding. Tomorrow I'll cut the groves for the bottoms, and then start on the dovetails for the drawers, its all set up and ready to go. Did I mention there are 11 drawers.

You can see the finished base cabinets, the bottoms for the
drawers and the two boxes of hardware.

The other base cabinets waiting to be installed.

It may not look like much but there are the drawers.
You can see in the foreground a sample drawer made up
to make sure it goes well.

Base Cabinets

I finally assembled the last base cabinets this evening, earlier I make the base frames for them to sit on. And yesterday I completed the cabinet for the sink, this one required a little more work. It requires a frame to hold the sink, supports for it to set on, because it is recommended that it hold 350 lbs, that's the sink, water and a garbage disposal, if installed, which we are not. It also needed a little extra work to fit the frame under the front, it is slightly round, after a bit of tweaking it's done. Now to get the drawer slides, and build the drawers, after we decide how they'll look. And of course the upper cabinets doors still have to be made.

The sink cabinet with frame and supports

It fits like a glove.

Six base frames ready to go.

The last cabinet assembled.

  

From The Tees To The Road

Today I recycled some of the wood that was used for the tree house into a garbage box at the road. This will keep the birds from tearing them apart. The main frame work is from some cut offs that came from the second floor addition, always good to recycle if I can. It's a simple box and lid, the hinges are even reused from the door of the tree house.

An easy spot off the road for the crew to pick thing  up.

Two chains added to keep the lid from going over.

And The Tree House Makes Two

Today was a good day to dismantle the old tree house, not too hot and very little bugs. This wasn't too difficult to dismantle, nails mostly, except for the hinges. The wood will be recycled into garden beds and maybe a road side garbage box to keep the birds from ripping through it before the truck comes. Anyway this is another project off the list, and yes the list is still very long.

It was located a couple of rows in behind the shed.

A nice pile of wood, some 11 inches wide.

It was 3 feet off the ground nailed to these four trees in centre
of the picture.