insert your own island pun...

... because I'm running out of them. I've done most of the crap I said I was gonna do in the last post. I ordered, received and installed the roof rack for the Pathfinder, thus allowing me to transport a sheet of 5/8" particleboard home, in turn allowing me to finish "sheathing" the island sides for extra strength. Taking my handyman's advice, I actually screwed a 2x4 across the top while I was doing it to pull the sides in a bit so it would end up straight. You can see the end result above, which amusingly looks more like one of those "Acme" crates you see in a Road Runner cartoon than a kitchen island.

I also purchased a sheet of 24 AWG stainless steel for the front face of the island locally from Curtis Steel (awesome 70s porn actor name). It was a little cheaper online, but the $300 shipping on a $120 piece of metal wasn't so good (once you get past certain dimensions, you can't USPS or UPS, etc). I was gonna do all kinds of extra wood and gluing trickery to mount it, but while researching online I found "J channel" stainless trim which is a simple edge trim that you nail or screw in, then the metal slides in (looks like THIS if you're really curious), so this will simplify mounting. The only goofy part was that the metal place didn't have it- I had to go to ANOTHER metal place in town for that, but lucky for me, it was about 1/2 mile away, and the guy there was nice enough to explain exactly how much it would affect the dimensions of the big piece that I'm having Curtis Steel cut. They tell me it'll be ready early next week.

Once that's installed, I'll start cutting up the mahogany trim pieces for the sides (and a couple wee ones for the front). I still have to deal with the bare wood edges, but I'm actually leaning toward real wood iron-on mahogany edge banding... seems to be the thing a lot of pros use, and the place that sells it is close to the metal places. Once all this crap is sorted, it's time to call the happy counter-top installin' folks at Lowe's.

P.S. Really enjoying my Kreg RipCut circular saw attachment thingee that lets you easily make wide, straight cuts. No, I'm not a paid endorser :P

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'...

white power

Possibly my most offensive entry title yet. Another not-too-exciting shot, but this is my family room which, 'til yesterday, was baby crap brown. Now it's super brite white, yay. This time I used one coat of oil-based Killz primer, which indeed works better than water-based, plus one coat of fancy-pants Behr satin paint. It's gonna need another coat, but that should do it. You're also looking at the "nook" bay window that's gonna get torn out pretty soon and turned into an eight-foot wide sliding glass door to the back yard. Handyman Keith will be enlisted, provided he isn't too busy. This will be a Big Job. I will also take down that hideous ceiling fan/light and do either four or six more five-inch recessed lights (like the ones in the big room).

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.

getting some trim.

Added three of the side trim panels to the high cabs. These were a little deeper than they needed to be, so I had to carefully rip them down with the table saw. Attaching them is slow goin'- you have to clamp them in place, tweeze them into exactly the correct position while they're clamped, then install a lot of screws from the inside of the cab, which makes for some funny angles on a stepstool. And forearm soreness which I'm currently enjoying.

(BTW, that's not a blemish on the bottom right edge of the panel below, just the light hitting it funny.)