Order of operations on kitchen remodel

[JimD]

Looks good. Melamine is very durable and works well as long as it isn't unsupported in shelves.

[dbhost]

Okay on the fridge water feed line.

It seems that the configuration varies depending on who is doing the plumbing. I have seen them fed through a box in the wall, but those seem somewhat rare. Most of the time a simple hole is drilled, and you are lucky if they use a grommet. Mine is tapped off of the cold water valve to the kitchen sink with a Tee after the valve, one side going up to the sink, the smaller side going off to the icemaker / water dispenser. The feed line is passed through the cabinet via a simple drilled hole...

On the power for the dishwasher. Haven't futzed with that, but I know at least the one in my house says 110V 10A for power, so going to an outlet behind the cabinet shouldn't be a problem. My disposal is hard wired instead of plugged into a socket, I should probably convert both when I get to the kitchen remodel.

[atgcpaul]

Looks good. Melamine is very durable and works well as long as it isn't unsupported in shelves.

After a lengthy discussion (and the usual quibbling) over on Woodnet, I drilled matching shelf pin holes in the backs of the cabinet, too. I decided not to put a center mullion on each cabinet to ease accessibility.

After I got them installed, though, my "builder's remorse" set in and I started second guessing my construction technique. I ran a 1/4" wide groove 1/4" from the back edge of each of the boards used to make the box. I then ran a 1/4" rabbet on the back of the 1/2" MDF panel and glued the panel into the groove. Each of the cabinets is attached on the top and bottom to two studs using some beefy (not drywall) screws. My fear is that the back of the groove is going to suddenly snap leaving the backs attached to the wall while allowing the rest of it to come crashing down.

If these things were sitting on the ground, I'd have no problem with it. Now I'm thinking I should have integrated at least a nailer into the top of the cabinet. The KCMA regs say their cabinets are loaded to 600 pounds to test for failure. The cabs and shelving are least 50-75 lbs each and then there's still the doors to add not to include all the dishes, etc.

What I'm thinking is that I will fit a 3" wide piece of 3/4" poplar into the upper part of the cabinet that will span the width of the cabinet. I'll drill out a space to fit over the two existing screws and then pocket screw the new board to the sides. Then that nailer will be screwed to the studs. I'll fill the pocket screws in and then paint the new board to match.

Paul

[atgcpaul]

Every time I see friends or family, they ask me "How's the kitchen?" All the uppers are done and all the lowers where shelves were being converted to pullouts have been converted except I still need to make and add the new fronts.

This corner has been taunting me for months. I sized and made the base unit wide enough for a future, larger fridge. That was pretty much the only design constraint-and to box out that return duct.



But then we took a trip to IKEA and my wife wanted me to incorporate hanging wire basket drawers for storing root veggies (I hate the Houzz website). Trust me, she doesn't cook with a whole lot of root veggies but there's no talking reason with her. Anyway, got the baskets and then realized making them work independently would be impossible. After a LONG time, I found a solution. The dog food and rice bins are stored down there now. I bought the drawer for the bin from the Habitat store years ago and it fit the application perfectly. So now that cabinet is waiting for new drawer fronts and doors.



All the bases will be topped off with IKEA butcher block tops. This cabinet is deeper than normal so I decided to go custom. I've had these short 6/4 cherry boards on a shelf for 5+ years--finally found a use.



Paul

[atgcpaul]

Holy cow, did I really start this remodel over 1 1/2 years ago?!!!

The uppers were done a long time ago and I got the doors on some time last fall, I think. All the door and drawer frames are poplar with an MDF field. Sprayed with primer and then 2 coats of Benjamin Moore Advance paint. The painting really slowed me down. I got some great recommendations on the Advance, but I guess I'm not advanced enough to work with it. I couldn't get it streak free with a brush and it took a lot of thinning to be able to spray with my Earlex sprayer. The cabinet doors have soft close hinges. If you ever use them, use only one per door. I bought all soft close and you have to throw the door shut to overcome the soft close. Luckily, you can deactivate the feature so I keep it on for just one hinge.




The drawer fronts were actually finished much earlier this year. I've just been so busy with everything else and I was also waiting for the weather to warm up enough for me to spray. I had an even harder time spraying the drawers. In the shop, I really didn't like the finish all too much, but in the kitchen, I think they look OK at arms length. You can see the new base cabinet on the left that still needs the face frame painted and a new laminate skin applied. That cabinet is also the only one with a new top drawer. I reused all the other top drawer boxes and didn't upgrade those epoxy slides to the full extension ball bearing with soft close--I may still do that. I converted all the lower shelves to pullout drawers--except for the corner cabinet to the left of the dishwasher.



There's also a new cabinet behind me that has 2 drawers on the top and a cabinet on the bottom with a pullout drawer for the dog food bin. That one needs drawer fronts and doors, too.

The sink cabinet also needs to be modified and new doors made. We're replacing the drop in sink with an undermount, apron farm sink. There's also the countertops to deal with. We're using IKEA wood countertops. I'm in a conundrum, though. As you can see, this has not been a speedy remodel. I guess I need to figure out how to template the top. My preference would be to have everything off and be able to make marks on the actual pieces, but that would probably mean we'd have no tops for a while.

[billwmeyer]

Great job! I have a kitchen remodel in my future. I hope it turns out as nice as yours.