Before: 2006-01-02

Committed to the adventure…a year ago we were tearing up the kitchen floor.

After: 2007-01-06

On the 12th Day of Christmas my truelove gave to me…one working kitchen.

After the masons left on Thursday, we installed the kitchen sink. That was a bit troublesome because the clamps did not fit correctly. They are designed to clamp to the granite but along the back and front the granite is lying on the base cabinet and the combined thickness made it impossible to clamp the sink down. We put the sealant around and weighted the sink down and crossed our fingers.

Oh, the other problem was that the front edge of the sink was slightly warped. This produced an ugly gap between the lip of the sink and the countertop. Clamping it would have ameliorated the problem; however, we couldn’t get the clamps to fit. In the end, AJM, banged it flatter with a rubber mallet. He did this before we installed it; the granite would have cracked under the abuse. As solutions go, this was not my favorite. I could imagine big dents in my brand new stainless steel sink. Fortunately we did manage to get a little straighter and it didn’t dent.

Friday morning I installed the faucet. I have the tendency to bang dishes against the faucet so I wanted a faucet with a high curve.

This morning AJM hooked up the drainpipes. Now we have a sink and hot and cold running water.

The space at the end of the cabinet run next to the trash can is where I stand when AJM is cooking so that I can talk to him while chopping up or mixing ingredients, and stay out of his way. Most people would have made an L-shaped cabinet layout but our kitchen is so small that an L-shaped doesn’t provide enough room for both of us to maneuver comfortably. I’ve always thought that L-shaped layouts create a lot of counter and storage space that’s difficult to access.

Although there is still a lot to do (buy the refrigerator, install the backsplash, finish painting and the trim, put in the sliding doors to the entryway, reinstall doors over the cabinet where the hot water heater lives, and decide on what kind of cabinets or hutch we want for the glassware), the kitchen feels finished now. We can use it and it is pleasant and light to sit in.

Today, after we bought groceries, I scrambled eggs at one counter and AJM made sandwiches at the other. We sat at the table and ate like civilized folk–for the first time in 13 months.

Update: 2008-01-06

We still haven’t put in a backsplash behind the counter of the gas range. We can’t decide what we want and as we can use the kitchen as is, we aren’t pressed to move on with the project.

DIY house remodel renovation