super appliance fun Wednesday.

As most of you probably saw on Facebook, I finally got this behemoth moved in today. I'll try and give the brief version, but the guys I had out last week didn't end up doing the job. When I called back to reschedule the appointment, the nice lady informed me that "the owner had made some notes on my invoice". First note was that they wouldn't guarantee the install because the fridge was on its back for a long time (this shouldn't matter, I already called Sub-Zero about it). Second note was that because they'd need an extra guy to move it, the price was going to be $600 instead of the $250 I was originally quoted. SOUND OF NEEDLE RAPIDLY SCRATCHING ACROSS RECORD HERE. Are you freaking kidding me?!? I pleasantly informed nice lady that I would be looking into other options... here's what I think happened. I think surly guy who was here thought I would screw up making the opening the right size (I didn't) and/or relocating the outlet (didn't screw that up either). I also think he was scared off by the fact that they'd have to do some manual lifting/cajoling to get around the corner in my foyer and stand it up without whacking the ceiling. BTW, the name of this company is (ironically) Nevada's Best, so be sure and tell a friend not to ever use these douchebags.

Now let's cut to yesterday... through the nice Angie's List, I found another place that quoted me $99/hr with a two-hour minimum. And they could come next day. That's more like it. I very carefully informed nice phone lady #2 of the situation- 500 lb Sub-Zero, sharp turn in foyer, need water line installed, etc. She said no problem, and they showed up this morning. Now, this fridge is so large that you can't use a regular appliance dolly; the straps won't even go around. So they brought a special huge pivoting dealie dolly. But as it turns out, they never even used it. They strapped it to a garden-variety furniture dolly and rolled it in. When they got to the big step at my front door, they (and by they, I mean two guys) lifted it right up. Whoa. Anyhow, they got it in, got around foyer curve with no problems, stood it up and shoved it back. They also installed the water line.

As I think I mentioned before, because it's tall, shallower than a standard fridge, and a little top heavy, you need to stabilize it. Other movers said I needed to screw it to the adjacent cabs, but that seemed weird to me- I made the cabs as stable as I could, but they're still pressboardy MDF on plastic legs, and if 500 lbs of metal wanted to go over, I don't think they'd stop it. As I read in the install manual (and even shows on the side of the fridge), the better approach is to basically just stick a 2x4 horizontally to the wall with beefy L-brackets and screws ever-so-slightly higher than the top of the fridge. You then slide the fridge into place, and crank up the leveling feet to wedge it under the 2x4 and make it even (it has tricky hardware that lets you dial up the front and back feet from the front edge of the fridge). So... installing that 2x4 was today's project. This was some work because it's close to the ceiling and I used #12 screws, which are pretty big and hard to screw into the studs, especially at funky angles. It's lot of leaning very hard on a the drill at the correct angle. My wrists and back are now hating me for this but that 2x4 ain't goin' NO place :)

Only other issue is that you're supposed to check the water line they installed for leaks prior to pushing the fridge back, and until the island is done, the sink is installed, and reverse osmosis dealie is installed under the sink, there ain't gonna be any water back there. Thus I haven't decided whether to shove it back yet or not. I can get it in there myself, but I'm afraid pulling it back out it is gonna be a real drag (hey, get it!?!), so I'd rather just do that once and be done with it.

 

In the meantime, I finally finished building these nifty pull-outs. I had started weeks ago, but the mahogany door people drilled the big front piece wrong, so the holes were in the right place for the hardware, but they were way too big for the included screws. I remedied this by essentially turning it upside down and using different screws. I also filled the holes with shim wood and glue just to be safe. I will say that the hardware for this thing is pretty overly complicated and hard to figure out. You can see there's a little "sub" drawer up top, and I actually have another that's supposed to go directly beneath, but the extra drawer wasn't fitting together right- something's bent. Regardless, I don't think it matters because I think I only want the top one- I'll probably use this for a garbage can and use the top drawer for bags and ties.

In other fun, I also ordered the first batch of applicances today from AJ Madison which are:

1) aforementioned Smeg super sci-fi cook top hotness. They make a four-burner model (and a six!), but the five looked nicer and the biggest burner burns hotter in case I want to make hot dogs flambe'.

2) Vigo undermount sink. There's a ton of choices here, but this was a good compromise of relatively squarish shape, and not too crazy pricey.

3) Vigo faucet. Chosen not because it was the same brand as the sink but because their prices are reasonable, and it was the slickest most minimal one I could find. And believe me when I say that I looked at a billionty faucets before making up my mind. The head pulls out for extra dishwashing fun, and I sprung for the additional soap dispenser so I don't have to have a gooky bottle of Joy besmirching the magic of my sink 'n' faucet awesomefest. Hello hotness!

4) Bosch Ascenta dishwasher. Really hard to tell which to buy, but the Bosch's seem to have good reviews, and this one wasn't too pricey. Paying a grand for a dishwasher seems like madness to me, so, I didn't. (but I did for that damn cook top... I'm such a sucker!) Anyway, it's all coming soon to a Mitch near me. I would've sprung for the oven too, but it would've maxed my credit card, so I'm gonna wait 'til this goes through, pay it off and start all over- I still need the built-in oven, a microwave and a vent hood, but I haven't made up my mind yet.