"Kitchen Cabinet Re-do," in the Other Home Decorating & Remodeling Projects forum, begins: "Still waiting for my countertop hardware, so I worked on upper cabinets today. I decided to start a new topic ..."
Still waiting for my countertop hardware, so I worked on upper cabinets today. I decided to start a new topic just about the cabinets. For most people, a kitchen remodel is one of the most time consuming and expensive remodeling projects in a home. Some of you know I've been working on my apartment remodel for 6 months now (6 months tomorrow). I don't know how much time has been devoted to just the kitchen area, but it has been considerable. The expense has been up there too, but I don't know the exact dollar amount (I have been keeping all the receipts to add it all up when I finish).
Six months ago, I started with this (click to see full-size):
I built a 2-sided pony wall to contain the refrigerator just across from where it was originally. This opened up the space to move my stove to where the refer was (and the microwave oven/vent will be mounted above the stove). The stove used to be right next to that weird stub wall and when I tore into it, I found this:
I notched the studs so I could get the pipes and wires contained within the main wall and that gave me enough room to have a space for a standard size dishwasher. I textured and painted the wall and installed my base cabinets where they belonged. It was just a few days ago that I covered the ugly black toekicks with some oak veneer (and once the new flooring is installed, there will be a white quarter round or base shoe molding installed).
Then I tore all the cabinets off the wall last night and this morning. I like the destruction part. I don't like the mess and I had no place to put the contents of my cabinets, so they are scattered everywhere. It feels like my place is turned upside down sometimes.
I managed to wrangle a new cabinet for above the sink. The landlord said I couldn't paint any of the oak cabinets I had, but he didn't say I couldn't paint a new cabinet. It's oak too, but it had to be so it would have the same door and trim style as the rest (actually, the newer cabinets have a slightly different cut to the door edges and the double-door cabs don't have the center stile that the old cabs do). I had a brilliant idea to make the center cabinet a feature on that wall by giving it a unique look.
I cut the raised panel out of the doors and cut a recess into the opening. I got some glass from an old customer and bought a can of "frost" paint to give the glass a frosted look. I haven't painted the glass yet, so I'm keepin' my fingers crossed it will look as sweet when it's done as it does in my mind.
My revised plan also calls for the featured cabinet to be slightly higher than the rest too. And I want crown molding (of sorts) to top them off. I screwed that ledger on the wall to make mounting the first cabinet easier. I also pre-drilled all the holes I would need to screw the side cabinets to the center cab, as well as attach the nailer I need to attach the molding (the bottom edge of the molding is just barely over the cabinet top to allow the doors to swing). The whole process today took me all damn day and 4 tanks of oxygen - and it's still not done.
But man am I proud of the way it's going. No major problems. The wall isn't perfectly flat so I had to go scrounge up some shims to adjust the left cabinet. Then the small cabinet that goes to the left of that and is s'posed to hold the microwave and vent sustained some damage (couldn't get the screws out of the side where it was attached to another cabinet, so I had to use a Skill Saw to cut it - oops). So I have to get another cabinet for that. Then I can attach the nailers and the crown moldings. I think I will also add some kind of trim to the bottom of the cabinets too. Something subtle.
Great day though. Best Friday the 13th I've ever had.
From all you've done so far, Lo ain't never done any of this stuff you been doin.
.............. I feel like Iz' watchin a season of Jim's O'l House. Cool show, you ought to syndicate it.
It kinda reminds me of all the "mod logs" I did when I was modifying computer cases an' such. Posting the progress is almost as much fun as doing the work.
I've seen some of the work you do, Lo, and I ain't got nuthin' over you.
More waiting on the sink hardware, so more progress on the cabinets. I started my day frosting the glass for my featured cabinet. It's a spray paint from Rust-oleum. It dries very fast and can be re-coated at any time, so no waiting. The frost effect is visible immediately, but looks much better after about 10 minutes. I did 4 coats a few minutes apart (I couldn't spray that crap indoors, but I also couldn't leave them outside, so I had to take each one out, spray and bring it back in, take the other one out, spray and do it all over again).
Even though I don't have the left side cabinet yet, I wanted to get the crown molding ready and installed where I could. The cabinets are all installed on the same plane, but I wanted to give the crown molding a kind of wrap-around effect. I coulda just capped the end with a 45° cut and piece, but I wanted something a little different. I cut the end cap piece with a 45° where it meets the cabinet and the two ends of the crown molding that meet are both cut at 22½°.
For anyone reading this that doesn't know how to cap a piece of trim, this is the way I have done it for years while working on the floor (baseboards). It works the same way for the crown molding on the top of my cabinets.
Make your cuts clean and burr free.
Align the pieces and tape the back to hold them together.
Hinge them open.
Use a good quality glue and coat both surfaces liberally.
Press them together. Oozing glue is okay.
Wipe clean with a damp cloth and let dry (if the board is warped or the work surface uneven, weighting the piece will assure they bond well).
Because the crown molding is 3½" tall, but the space above the cabinet doors is only a couple inches, I added a nailer to the top of the cabinets. The way I have chosen to "wrap" the molding required me to add a small piece of oak filler on the wrap end.
The bottom bead of the molding is centered on the join between cabinet top and nailer bottom. Makes the cabinets look taller. I like the way it looks and I think the frosted glass and crown moldings add a lot of style to these builder grade oak cabinets.
There's some touch-up to do where I patched the nail holes, but that can wait until the rest of the molding is done. I think tomorrow I will be painting the backsplash area and starting the backsplash installation.
Looks like a lot of progress happened the last couple days. The sink hardware arrived and I got the countertop in: Butcher Block Countertops I picked up a new small cabinet where the microwave will be mounted and I installed that.
The crown molding is also finished - during the installation of the left side, I realized the right side was slightly out of level (I shoulda used the 4' level instead of the tiny little 9" one), so I ripped it off and re-installed it. I wish I wouldn't make so many mistakes.
I think I will be able to put my backsplash back together tomorrow. And, of course, there is a lot of trim to do around these cabinets too.
Looks great Jim. A friend of mine always tells me there is level and there is level. It don't always mean its level just because the bubble is between the lines, it has to be centered.
Still waiting for my countertop hardware, so I worked on upper cabinets today. I decided to start a new topic just about the cabinets. For most people, a kitchen remodel is one of the most time consuming and expensive remodeling projects in a home. Some of you know I've been working on my apartment remodel for 6 months now (6 months tomorrow). I don't know how much time has been devoted to just the kitchen area, but it has been considerable. The expense has been up there too, but I don't know the exact dollar amount (I have been keeping all the receipts to add it all up when I finish).
Six months ago, I started with this (click to see full-size):
I built a 2-sided pony wall to contain the refrigerator just across from where it was originally. This opened up the space to move my stove to where the refer was (and the microwave oven/vent will be mounted above the stove). The stove used to be right next to that weird stub wall and when I tore into it, I found this:
I notched the studs so I could get the pipes and wires contained within the main wall and that gave me enough room to have a space for a standard size dishwasher. I textured and painted the wall and installed my base cabinets where they belonged. It was just a few days ago that I covered the ugly black toekicks with some oak veneer (and once the new flooring is installed, there will be a white quarter round or base shoe molding installed).
Then I tore all the cabinets off the wall last night and this morning. I like the destruction part. I don't like the mess and I had no place to put the contents of my cabinets, so they are scattered everywhere. It feels like my place is turned upside down sometimes.
I managed to wrangle a new cabinet for above the sink. The landlord said I couldn't paint any of the oak cabinets I had, but he didn't say I couldn't paint a new cabinet. It's oak too, but it had to be so it would have the same door and trim style as the rest (actually, the newer cabinets have a slightly different cut to the door edges and the double-door cabs don't have the center stile that the old cabs do). I had a brilliant idea to make the center cabinet a feature on that wall by giving it a unique look.
I cut the raised panel out of the doors and cut a recess into the opening. I got some glass from an old customer and bought a can of "frost" paint to give the glass a frosted look. I haven't painted the glass yet, so I'm keepin' my fingers crossed it will look as sweet when it's done as it does in my mind.
My revised plan also calls for the featured cabinet to be slightly higher than the rest too. And I want crown molding (of sorts) to top them off. I screwed that ledger on the wall to make mounting the first cabinet easier. I also pre-drilled all the holes I would need to screw the side cabinets to the center cab, as well as attach the nailer I need to attach the molding (the bottom edge of the molding is just barely over the cabinet top to allow the doors to swing). The whole process today took me all damn day and 4 tanks of oxygen - and it's still not done.
But man am I proud of the way it's going. No major problems. The wall isn't perfectly flat so I had to go scrounge up some shims to adjust the left cabinet. Then the small cabinet that goes to the left of that and is s'posed to hold the microwave and vent sustained some damage (couldn't get the screws out of the side where it was attached to another cabinet, so I had to use a Skill Saw to cut it - oops). So I have to get another cabinet for that. Then I can attach the nailers and the crown moldings. I think I will also add some kind of trim to the bottom of the cabinets too. Something subtle.
Great day though. Best Friday the 13th I've ever had.
Jim
OK Jim, the 13th is commin up again real quick......... so what ya been doin? Been a while since an update.
I was also wonderin about that lunch box on top of the cabinet in the "before" photo................. sumpin you aren't tellin us about your birth date? fess up.
OK Jim, the 13th is commin up again real quick......... so what ya been doin? Been a while since an update.
I was also wonderin about that lunch box on top of the cabinet in the "before" photo................. sumpin you aren't tellin us about your birth date? fess up.
I used to be an avid lunch box collector. I have a couple hundred. I tried selling some on eBay, but they either don't get the reserve or get way too little to be worthwhile. I should try again though. Maybe I should just take what I can get and maybe, if I sell all of them, I might get enough to buy a dishwasher.
Progress has slowed because of the computer problem I had a couple weeks ago. What little money I had to put into this remodel went into the new computer instead. But I did already have the cabinet door knobs and pulls. I also had enough of some MDF to use for the upper cabinet valances (the trim at the bottom of the upper cabinets). I finished the backsplash too - using the spar varnish on it drove me out of the house for a couple of days, even though it was touted as low VOC. And I finally got the bar constructed and the top put on.
My hope is to get the floor laid before Christmas eve - I'd really like to have some Christmas decorations, maybe even a small tree, for the first time in 4 years.
I don't like the mess and I had no place to put the contents of my cabinets, so they are scattered everywhere. It feels like my place is turned upside down sometimes.
...................
And, of course, there is a lot of trim to do around these cabinets too.
