Concentrating on the Kitchen [at the moment]

Here's my bum refrigerator, just purged of its putrid, rotting contents, disengaged from its parasitic draw on my electrical and water supplies, and prepared to return to meet its maker. An identical (but hopefully more reliable) replacement is due in on Thursday. As you can see here, this one never got as far as being relieved of the bubble wrap on its door handles. There is still protective plastic film on the stainless doors.

Around dealing with the fridge, I went full-bore at the cabinets. They had been piled in the garage for 2 years prior to my buying the house, and they were covered in cobwebs & layers of dust, dirt and droppings. I previously set the base cabinets in their places in the kitchen, but they were not fit to use. This weekend, I gave them a thorough cleaning inside & out. They're not perfect, because they have some knicks and scuffs, but they are good enough to use in any functional kitchen. I'm impressed with the results; I was afraid I'd have to refinish them. I think I will just have to spot repair some areas. The wall cabinets may be a different story; I haven't touched them yet. I know that's backwards; you should put them in first, but given the jigsaw puzzle I started with, I decided that the base cabinets should be there first in order to sort out and organize the wall cabinets' locations and alignment. I'm pretty sure they were misaligned and mismatched under the previous ownership.

Above is my temporary sink, dropped into a piece of OSB placed on the sink base. Countertops are on order. They will be Formica, but ultimately I'd like to switch to granite. Maybe in a year or two.

The space at left is where the previous owner had his dishwasher. He had a wine cooler where I have the dishwasher now. I plan to put another cabinet in the empty space. I don't drink enough wine to justify buying a wine cooler.

There's that space again to the right. I am also missing a base cabinet that goes to the right of the fridge, between it & the wall. (See the first picture above.) I am having a replacement made. I have identified the wall cabinets that go there though.

I think they cleaned up pretty nice! I originally thought they were cherry, but there is a label inside saying birch. That may refer to the wood used inside, because it is much lighter in color. Whatever it is, I sure hope the new cabinets match! I sent them a sample (one of the drawer fronts from the sink base.) My dad knows a shop in Riceville, TN that always does good work, so they are handling the job. He is hauling them down here toward the end of this month--two base cabinets, various missing doors for the wall cabinets, and a full complement of countertops.

A Lot Going On

It's been a while since my last post, and I'll have to edit this one later since I don't have pictures to upload right now, but it's been really hectic. I moved out of my apartment and into the house at the end of August and got the big picture window installed in the living room the same weekend.

The cable company came out to transfer service and discovered that they would need to string a new line across the 4 lane highway, necessitating a bucket truck that didn't arrive for another 2 weeks. That left me without tv, phone or internet access all this time, which is part of the reason I haven't posted any updates lately. :) The very next weekend after moving in (Labor Day weekend), I had a family reunion in Pittsburgh, PA.

That has impaired my ability to get settled in, as have other problems: bad leaks in the newly plumbed water heater, a gimpy drain on the only working bathroom vanity, and now a failed refrigerator. And if you remember, that last one is brand new. I am finally back online and have resolved the water heater mess, so I hope to have more opportunity to get updates in. Maybe I'll expound on my water heater experience later, as well as get some updated pics. Just as soon as I get that fridge fixed...