shudder island

I'm back from the dead again. I even managed to let the credit card expire on this site, so it was down for a couple days 'til my mom realized (they could give you a little warning...). Anyhow, there's been some developments, mainly in island world. Also I've come up against probably the only Colossal Massive All-My-Fault Screwup of the whole remodel, but I think I've come up with a pretty good solution that may end up being better than the original plan.

First big thing was that the 2x4 framing for the island is done (sorry, forgot to snap a pic of that). I was going to build it myself and have my handyman Keith anchor it to the concrete (tricky business because you don't want to put huge cracks in the floor, especially when the concrete IS the final floor surface). Since my folks were visiting last week, I just had Keith build and anchor the framing. He did a swell job and got the entire thing pretty level in all directions, but strongly recommended that I sheath it on the back and sides for further fortification (and alliteration). He was nice enough to pick up a 4x8 sheet of 5/8" particleboard for this purpose, but it was only big enough for the back; I still need another sheet for the sides... sidebar:

Throughout this project I've had the recurring issue of not being able to transport 4x8 lumber because my old Pathfinder above is too small inside and has a plain, rackless roof. Keith has helped a couple times, but I'm gonna need to do this a lot more in the future, so I finally bit the bullet and  bought this roof rack. I searched online before and couldn't find anything that wasn't $500, which is insanity for my worth-around-$1000 piece of crap truck, but this one was $219, is really basic and easily connects at the doors with no screws, welding or blasting required. Home Depot won't cut particleboard or MDF for you (only solid or plywood), so I'm at a standstill 'til the roof rack arrives. Once I get that, it'll open the doors to lots of building stuff madness (like a bed).

Moving slightly backward, once the framing was done, I attacked most of the island electrical. The plumbers already ran a power lead when they dug up the floor for the plumbing, so it was a matter of figuring out what I'd need and wiring it up. I need power for the dishwasher, so I put in a dedicated outlet right behind its location:

I wasn't sure whether I'd need power for reverse osmosis water thing (don't think so), but I knew I'd need a switched outlet for the garbage disposer, so I did this quad box with one set of switched outlets and one set constantly on- better to have too much than not enough. I made much use of my new cool push-in wire connectors- no twisty wire caps! I may swap those out for GFC breaker outlets if everyone yells at me enough (not sure they make plates that'll hold them for a gerneric utility box like this though). It'll be easy to do at any time because the cab doors are easy to remove, and I intentionally located the quad box toward the front. I almost put it way at the back and realized that once the sink and plumbing were in, I'd curse myself if I ever had to work on it (you can even see the two mounting holes I initially made at the back).

Below is the switch for the disposer, which obviously isn't staying there, I just threw a screw in so it would stay in one place for testing (and to prevent the cats from batting it around). I haven't decided where it will actually live, but I'll probably do some clever business recessing it in the front because I don't people to walk by and accidentally turn on the disposer.

Finally, I attached an extra Romex lead for an external outlet that will likely be semi-hidden under the overhanging counter top on the back for laptops, etc.

Once the sides are cut and attached I can, in theory, attach the mahogany trim pieces (just like the cabinet doors). This is where aforementioned Colossal Screw Up rears its head. When I spec'd out the size of the island for the company that made all the mahogany door stuff, I didn't really understand that I'd need big-ass 2x4 framing around the back and sides. Since a 2x4 is actually about 3 1/2" wide, this added 7" to the overall width, and 3 1/2" to the depth. And I didn't account for this when I gave them the size of the island, so the back and side pieces they made for me are too small. @#$!~!. My initial solution was to use more of the roughly 4" wide mahogany toe kicks that I wasn't using anyway vertically on either side to take up the slack. It's do-able, but after laying it out I realized it would probably look kinda hacky (for starters, the grain on the big pieces would run horizontally while the grain on the trim pieces would be vertical). Another thing I noticed is when I propped up the huge back piece (60"x31"), it was starting to look like a whole lotta wood:

I'm sure it would've been fine (and keep in mind that the counter is going to hang over about 15"), but the only way to really do it right would be to have the guys in CA make me a new back and sides, and knowing how much everything cost, I'm quite sure this would end up costing around $500 by the time I paid for shipping (not to mention that it took them almost two months to make everything initially). So... I had another idea altogether- cover the entire back in stainless steel. It'll look slick and match the fridge and appliances. There's plenty of places online that'll sell you stainless (people commonly use it for refacing dishwashers and making custom backsplashes), and the price was reasonable (around $110), but the shipping was around $200, so forget that. Someone turned me on to a metals place here, so hopefully it'll cost about the same locally and I can just bring it home in my truck. Another thing I disovered at the place online is that they make all kinds of side and corner stainless moldings with slots to hold the stainless pieces, so that should make mounting neat and easy.

With all that in mind, I can take the big mahogany back piece, cut it in half and use it for the sides. The only other glitch is that the edges are unfinished, but I already solved that. The unused toe kick pieces have veneered edges so I just ran them through my table saw and cut off about 1/4". I'll then clamp and glue the veneered edge "strips" to the edges of the side pieces and no one will be the wiser (and I just got a screamin' deal on some three-foot wood clamps from cheapo Harbor Freight for just this purpose).

In other news, all the applicance stuff I ordered has arrived including stainless sink, sexual faucet*, Bosch dishwasher and super-extra sexual cook top. I'd send a pic of the cooktop, but I haven't opened the box yet; probably will wait.

*If you really want to get technical about it, it potentially is a sexual faucet, because the spout pulls out making it infinitely aimable and an especially good thing that I'm overbuilding the island for strength. "Honey, careful, you'll splash water on the piano!" Yeah, that's happenin'...