Under cabinet lighting, and tile backsplash

It has been a week and a half since the last blog post, so you'd think I'd have more done than I do.  But I don't.  Doesn't mean I haven't been working, I just haven't been working myself the long hours that I had previously.

I installed the deco strips (trim under the upper cabinets, see here) and toe kicks (trim under the base cabinets, covering the feet).  Those were relatively straightforward, the only major hint I have for the deco strips would be to attach the right angle brackets to the deco strip, then hold it in place under the cabinet.  Use a pen to mark along the entire length of the elongated hole bracket (you'll know what I mean).  Pre-drill in the middle of the marked area, careful not to drill through into the bottom of the cabinet.  Start your screws in the holes, then place your deco strip in screws before tightening them down.

Toe kicks were also fairly simple.  Measure, cut to size, stick the clips on the back and pop onto the legs.  IKEA really did make it easy.

Next up was the under-cabinet lighting for the new section (my guinea pig section).  You can read more about the type of  lights I used in this blog post.

Lights with deco strip

Lights and dimmer without deco strip

This section was easiest, because it was simply a cut to fit, stick on, and mount the dimmer. The lights look really good, the color is nice and warm. Still hard to believe the whole section was only $25.

Deco strips, done, toe kicks, done.  Tile backsplash and baseboards are left.  I've done plenty of baseboards before, and I usually gravitate towards what I've already done...  But I really wanted to see what the tile looked like.  

The tile will be mostly 3"x6" subway tile, with a 3" high strip of 1" greenish glass tiles for an accent strip.  We've had the tile since May, possibly even April.  I've never done anything with tile before, so I was rather intimidated.  I measured, I marked, I calculated, I played with the layout on Google Sketchup.  How many tiles would I have to cut?  How hard would it be?  Should I calculate it all out first, and make all the tile cuts before I start spreading mastic?  Well, I got tired of trying to figure out on paper (or screen) something I'd never done before, and tiling is always made out to be an easy task on the HGTV shows, so I figured I'd just go for it.  I used mastic rather than thinset because 1) it's easier to work with, and less droopy than thinset, and 2) it's premixed, so you can work in small batches if you need to.  From what I understand, mastic isn't water proof/resistant, so it's okay for backsplashes, but not for bath/tub surrounds.

My friend Phil let me borrow his wet tile saw, and I tried it out on a tile.  Cuts beautifully. Didn't need to cut the tiles before the project, just measure and mark on the tile where it needs cut, walk it out to the saw, and cut it.   So Saturday morning (September 22), I started tiling.  First 5-10 tiles, it was very, very slow going.  I thought it was going to take me forever.  Then, I started picking up speed.  The 7 1/2' backsplash took about 4 hours total. If you're into calculations, that means I can tile at 0.000355113636 miles per hour.  

I think it came out pretty good for a first time at tiling.  I see there were a couple tiles that I didn't get quite as even with the other tiles, as far as how far they stick out from the wall.  Hopefully wont be too noticeable with the grout, we'll see.  The grout is another day, as according to what I've read, you want to mix the whole bag.  I want to get the other cabinets' lighting done first, as it was rather convenient to tile with the lighting right there.  

Dishwasher, doors, and more!

Thursday, September 6th - Plumbing is the part of this project that I was least comfortable with.  Specifically, "supply" plumbing, the part under pressure that brings water to you.  I don't think I mentioned it on the blog, but you may have noticed during the renovation, any shot of the sink area/pipes included an old red plastic coffee container.  That was because after removing the copper tube running to the dishwasher, the valve developed a very tiny drip.  Tiny in that I would have to empty that red bucket every week or so.  With the project coming to an "end", I finally needed to tackle that.  Had I known how easy it was, I would have done it long ago.  Really, it was a matter of turning off the hot water at the water heater, using a wrench to remove the compression valve, putting the new valve on, and tightening it down.  That's it.

So I figured, with the "supply" part of the sink done, the drain part should be easy.  Except I'm a super-novice plumber, and was rather overwhelmed by the vast array of plumbing parts at my local Lowes.  Father-in-law Kevin came over again to help out.  In fact, I'm such a novice, that I'm not even going to detail what I did to get the sink drain working.  The important part is, it works.  :)  I do still need to hook up the 2nd bowl, we didn't quite have the right fittings for that.  But the sink and garbage disposal works, it beats washing dishes in the basement.

Friday, September 7th - Dishwasher installation.  Because of the size and shape of the kitchen, the dishwasher is 24" wide, and the hole it fits in is roughly 31".  I used a couple of large L brackets, and cut a Perfekt cover panel down to size, and mounted it to the side of the cabinet to the right of the dishwasher.  Sturdy, and fits well, and doesn't look weird at all.  If I were super-awesome, I would have made it a little vertical "shelf" to hold cookie sheets.  At this point, I just want a working kitchen.

From what I can tell, there's 2 ways to hook up a dishwasher.  The easy way, with a vinyl or rubber or some type of hose that goes from the valve to the dishwasher, and the hard way, with a flexible copper tube that goes from the valve to the dishwasher.  The vinyl or rubber hoses wear out over time, and can leak, sometimes catastrophically.  Companies make special hoses that "detect" when there's a catastrophic leak, and automatically shut off the water.  Unfortunately, from the reviews I read online, they don't work well, and tend to fail rather often.  The copper tubing, on the other hand, will last far, far longer than the dishwasher ever will.  I decided that I'm not a fan of leaking, so I went the old fashioned and difficult way with the bendable copper tubing.

Difficult doesn't begin to explain it.

Again, perhaps it's just because I'm a super-beginning plumber, or I don't have the right tools, but the copper tubing was just really hard to work with.  It snakes through a hole in the side of the sink cabinet, and then has to work its' way to the front of the dishwasher.  Because of the nature of the copper tubing the fitting it goes into points towards the back of the dishwasher, making it very tough to get a wrench in to tighten it.  It took a couple rounds of "I think that's tight enough." (water on, drip, drip, drip) "Poop, no it isn't." before I finally got it tight enough to be leak free.

Saturday, September 8th - My father-in-law Kevin came over once again, and we installed the two new interior doors.  No major problems or snags there, just the usual fighting with the doors, trimming, leveling, shimming, and nailing in place.

I'm not sure I'm totally happy with the quality of the doors.  Maybe that will change once they're painted, right now they're just primed.  They're Menards' "Duracore" doors, meaning they're hollow-core, but filled with 3M foam.  They seem to block sound pretty good, and have a satisfyingly "solid" feel when you close it.  They just seem rather cheaply made.  It will be one of those "time will tell" things.

I made a mistake installing the first door knob.  In my defense, the directions should have been a little clearer up front.  But I should have paid more attention and read completely through the directions before I started.  The jamb was cutout for the strike plate, and the door had cutouts for the handle and the closer mechanism (whatever it's called), but it wasn't cutout for the metal plate that goes around the spring latch... thingy.  So I used a chisel to carefully chisel out the door where the plate goes.  Problem was, that part of the door is practically cardboard.  Ugh.  I then continue following the instructions...  At the end, as an, "Oh, by the way..." sort of thing, it says that if your door isn't cut out for the metal plate, you can remove it and use the little round metal pieces that come in the package.  Ugh.  So needless to say, the second door knob went on much, much faster.

After the doors, we continued drilling for and installing handles.  IKEA has a nifty little plastic guide for making sure your handle holes all get drilled in the same place.  I also put on some of the cover panels on the end cabinets, hiding the rest of the birch colored part of the Akurum cabinet frames.

There's a paper towel holder... toaster oven... coffee maker...  Kitchen table!!  Saturday was also move-back-in day to the kitchen, marking the end of just under 4 months of cooking in the living room.  The kitchen isn't officially done, but it's functional.

Sunday, September 9th - A quiet, restful Sunday.  Put on a few more cover panels, and, since the fridge is coming back in Monday and it would otherwise be hard to access, I also installed the deco strip under the cabinet over the fridge.

Monday, September 10th - Kevin and Phil came over, and between the three of us, along with extra plywood on the floor, managed to safely wrestle the refrigerator back to it's home.  Like the dishwasher, I went the copper tubing route to supply water to the ice maker.  The fridge is substantially easier to access though.

A happy wife in a functional kitchen!

Yet to do:  Tile backsplash, toe kicks, deco strip, undercabinet lights, and baseboards.  That list is getting mighty short.

Cabinets and Countertops - Part 2

Monday, September 3rd (Labor Day) - Today was a big day...  Countertops!  Father-in-law Kevin came over to help again.

We went with the Pragel stone effect black counters from IKEA.  They're beefy, a full 1.5" thick the entire depth.  Most laminate countertops are thick at the front, and then drop down to around 3/4" for the rest of the counter.  It also makes the 8' section weigh in at around 100lbs.

We had two 6' pieces, and two 8' pieces we needed to cut down to fit.  In hindsight, I wish we had gone with three 8' and 1 6' pieces...  The price difference between the 6' and 8' is only $10 ($59 for 6', $69 for 8'), and we would have had a large enough cutoff to put a matching countertop over the washer/dryer in the mud room.  Oh well.

First things first, we mounted the microwave.  Fairly simple process, take your time measuring and mounting the wall-mount plate, then it should tilt into place, and screw in to the bottom of the cabinet above it.  Make sure you cut your power cord and mounting holes in the cabinet first.  Before the microwave was mounted, we were concerned at how massively huge it looked.  Once it's mounted, you don't see much other than the door, so that was a relief.

After the microwave was installed, we brought the stove in from the garage, so we could confirm the mounting location of the final cabinet, a 3 drawer cabinet to the left of the stove, the only major design change from how the original 1960s kitchen was.

The weight and thickness of the countertops for some interesting cutting.  IKEAFans.com is a great resource for information on IKEA kitchens and other products.  I didn't have to post a single "How do I..." post, so many people have been there before with the same questions, all I had to do was read and find the answers!  Anyway, back to the cutting...  The suggestions from IKEAFans.com had me do the following:  Cut the countertops face down, with a 60 tooth Diablo ultra fine finish blade in my circular saw.  Use masking tape along the cut to eliminate (or at least minimize) any chipping of the laminate.  Go slow. I don't remember seeing this anywhere, but I would add in this:  Start your cut from the front of the countertop rather than the back.  Also, not sure if this is common sense or not, but the father-in-law suggested clamping a straight edge, in this case my drywall ruler, and using it as a guide for the circular saw.  It made for some nice, straight cuts.  Even with all of that preparation, we did still have some chipping.  Thankfully, because the countertops are so dark, a black Sharpie has done a nice job hiding some of the nicks!  I will probably look into some black silicone caulk and see if that helps cover it, as well as seal it.

Speaking of sealing, because the countertops are particleboard, you'll want to seal the edges, so water doesn't get in.  What I did was get a tube of clear silicone caulk, squeeze it on the cut side, and smear it in real good with your finger.  Dries fairly quickly, but stinks baaaad.

The toughest part of the entire day was cutting the hole for the sink.  I used a forstner drill bit at the four corners to get a place for my jigsaw in.  I then used a reverse blade, brand new, high quality Bosch.  The reverse blade cuts on the downstroke, minimizing laminate chipping.  Maybe I just didn't have the right blade, but cutting for the sink was a nightmare.  The blade end furthest from the saw kept bending and not cutting straight up and down.  The end result was an atrocious looking cut, that thankfully in no way took away from the structural integrity of the countertop.  Seal it with the silicone caulk like the other cuts.

I was pretty tired at that point, but as it seems with most nights, there's always little stuff that needs to be done.  Tonight was no exception, I cut holes in the back of the cabinets to access the under-cabinet lighting outlets.  Didn't feel like cleaning up for the picture, so you get a big-old-mess photo of the progress.

Tuesday, September 4th - Kevin came over to help once again.  We screwed down the countertops.  It was as easy as getting in the cabinets, carefully drilling pilot holes, and using the screws supplied with the cabinets to secure the countertops down.  We also mounted the faucet to the sink, and the sink to the countertop.  Faucet hoses too short, oops!

Speaking of faucet hoses...  I read many complaints on different internet sites about IKEA faucets, and how they're sized metric, and don't fit American plumbing systems correctly.  I had a moment of panic myself when the instructions said the US version comes with 9/16" hoses, and I knew that wasn't a normal size.  I looked at the PDF of the instructions on IKEA's site, and it said 1/2", so I think maybe it was a printing error?  Either way, once I found the right 3/8" to 1/2" hose extension at Menards (no easy feat), the faucet hooked right in, perfectly.

Running low on energy for big stuff, I finished the night by installing more cabinet doors, and mounting the first handles in the cabinet to the upper-left of the stove.

Wednesday, September 5th - Not much work done that night, as our Bible study is back to meeting after a summer break.  I did manage to install even more drawers and doors, so it visually looks like I did a lot more than I actually did.

That's it for Part 2.   Part 3 coming up shortly, with plumbing and dishwasher excitement!

The long overdue cabinet entry - Part 1

It has been almost 2 weeks since the last blog entry, but that's only been because I've been so busy with the kitchen.  I did make sure to at least take pictures and leave myself notes to remind me what happened on what day.

Thursday, August 30th - My friend Ross came over to give Sarah a break, and he helped me hang the "northeast" upper cabinets.  IKEA's rail system for hanging upper cabinets made this quite easy.  Take your time getting the rail level, and your cabinets will be level too.  My drywall job was sliiiightly uneven by the new window, and the cabinet over the fridge did require just a little bit of shimming.  Nothing too drastic.

My method for maintaining "level" cabinets as they go around the corner:  Install the rail all the way to the corner along the one wall, and then rest the end of the 4' level on the rail, to get the level on the second wall.  Seemed to work quite well.  Might be the recommended way, not sure, it just made sense to me.

Much to the chagrin of my wife, a die-hard Steeler fan, Ross, one of the Browns' 4 remaining fans, wrote "Go Browns!" under the cabinet in the corner, where there will be tile.  It will forever be known as the Corner of Shame.

Friday, August 31st - Sarah and I hung the "northwest" upper cabinets.  My drywalling job in that corner was worse than the other side by the window.  We went to put the corner cabinet it (always do that one first), and it wouldn't sit flush against the wall.  When I mudded the corners, I didn't feather it out enough and/or sand it enough, so it stuck out.  We put the cabinet in place, marked with a pencil where the cabinet hit the drywall, then took the cabinet back down and chiseled out the drywall so it would sit flush.  Sadly, no pictures of this, but the good part is that it is hard to see once the cabinet is in, and will be invisible once the tile is in.

Northwest cabinet mounting rails

Saturday, September 1st - Sarah's dad came over, and following the same method as the first set of base cabinets a few days prior, we mounted the ledger board for the u-shaped section of base cabinets.  I hadn't installed back legs on the first section of cabinets, but decided to for this main section.  I figured that the ledger board and rear legs would just be extra support.  It ended up that because nothing is ever completely level, the rear legs came in quite handy for leveling the cabinets.

This was also the day that I noticed that without the rear leg on the end of the cabinet run, I wouldn't have anywhere for the toe kick to clip onto.  Also, I couldn't put the foot on the cabinet without unbolting it from the wall, as well as its' neighboring cabinet.  DOH!  After getting very, very close to removing the end cabinet to put a foot on it, I had a revelation.  The cabinets were already resting on the ledger board, so the foot wasn't really for structural stability, it was just meant to attach the toe kick.  So I cut the wide base of the foot off, screwed the foot all the way up, and was then able to fit it under the cabinet.  Unscrew the remains of the leg until it's firm against the floor, and the foot is ready to accept the toe kick!  No massive dis-assembly required.

The sink cabinet was by far the most... fun.  The drain goes out the back, and the supply lines come up from the basement.  I cut a hole in the back for the drain with the Dremel tool, using the adapter I used to cut the electrical outlet holes in the drywall.  I could have done large round holes for the pipes to fit through, except for the hot water pipe, that sticks out with a 2nd valve for the dishwasher.  So I measured and cut 1" wide slots for the pipes to fit through.  I un-nailed the back panel and pulled it back, and then we lowered the cabinet over the pipes, which fit into the slots.  Carefully and awkwardly nail the back panel on, and we're good to go.

Because of the pipe cutouts, I screwed two 1x3 boards along the bottom of the cabinet, for extra strength.  Also, for the dishwasher/garbage disposal outlet hole, I used a piece of trim strip normally used for fiberglass reinforced panels (FRP) to trim out the hole I cut.

Sunday, September 2nd - Didn't do much that day, mostly just installed the upper door hinge hardware and doors.

Countertop set in place, but not cut yet!

That is it for week one.  Next up?  Countertops!  Cut!  And installed!