Murphy Gets a New Kitchen

Yea , it has been a while since I posted any updates . Truth is I have had my hands full and other things were taking my time . Motivation was jut not there . But here is this summer's project .

This is Murphy... he got a new pine floor last fall

This year it was time to tear out the old kitchen as it was getting long in the tooth .

Demolition

Then two layers of linoleum flooring and Lauan underlayment had to come off .

The first one comes up .

Then the second one has been screwed with square drive screws that need to be pulled first .

Comes up slowly

Got the floor cleaned up .

Then the old window needs to be relocated .

New window framed in .

The new window hole covered with poly to keep out the rain .

After I got all the cabinets out and tore out all the drywall, the plumber and electrician did their bit to rough their stuff in . . .

. . . I insulated with rock wool , and got the new window installed .

And hung the drywall solo .

Then I spent a week taping the wallboard joints

More mud .

and more mud

Murphy was happy to have company during the day too .

After Murphy's owners did a bit of weekend painting I started moving the new cabinets in trying to sort out a giant jigsaw puzzle . . . .

. . . . and started hanging a few boxes .

It's all starting to take shape .

The fridge spacing took a bit of struggling to get right as the walls were not square or plumb .

The unit with the glass doors over the fridge space went up and down about eight times before I got it right.

Then the crown molding provided with the kit went up . . . only the customer was not so keen on the looks , so I removed the crown molding .

And we opted to go without it and just fill in the ceiling gap with the straight filler provided by the vendor .

Just getting that bit right took several days work and some creative language .

Murphy's owners went on an extended weekend so he came home with us instead of going to the kennel .

Picked the hottest day in July to do the shingling around the new window so I set up a temporary awning with some cardboard from the cabinet shipping boxes .

With the fan in the window blowing on me it was just manageable .

Looks almost like I knew what I was doing .

Dressed up the inside with a bit of fancy trim .

Then it was time to play with the island . These were three old shop cabinets that were built by the customer's father that they wanted to use as part of the new kitchen . They were different enough that we agreed a permanent installation was probably not the best solution . Having the unit removable provided some advantages should they eventually sell the house they could take it with them . So I bolted the three cabinets together and put the whole thing on casters .

Here is the general idea with the movable unit up to the fixed island . In the middle of it all the tile man need the space for a week to do his thing .

After the tile guy was done I had to figure out how to make a finished end on a cabinet that originally would have been buried per the vendor's specification . Had just enough of the flat panel to dress it all up .

So when the movable unit is removed it looks presentable .

Then the plumber showed up with the cast iron farmer's sink . So I had to do a bit of modifying to the cabinet to support it as unlike traditional sinks it is an undermount and you can't hang it from a stone counter , so I added some structure under it to carry the two hundred pound weight .

Then it was time to play with the butcher block counter tops for the island , These were some old  two by seven foot slabs of two inch thick workbench top also built by the customer's father . I found a shop that could run them through a big belt sander and remove forty years of grime . Then I had to cut them to length and re assemble them to fit our needs. They were held together with some glue and long threaded rods .

Bought a seventeen inch long drill bit to try and drill the twenty four inch wide boards and hope to meet in the middle .

Got lucky on one end but ended up having to break apart the weaker joints to allow me to drill through them all separately. It is amazing how far a long bit will wander of course over seventeen inches .

Re-glued and bolted the pieces together .

Sanded and oiled , here the smaller unit for the movable part of the island .

The bigger top for the fixed part of the island had some holes that must have held a bench vice at some point . So I plugged those with some birch dowels for contrast .

Sanded and oiled .

It just barely fit in my van. Finished weight on the 48 x 57 inch piece was also a couple hundred pounds .

After I got it to the job-site I installed a lag bolt in the wall and cut the head off. . .

. . .  and a corresponding hole on the side of the bench top to help support the cantilevered part of the bench top .

Finished product .

And the movable bench in its place .

The soapstone counters were installed .

Soapstone counter over the sink makes good contrast .

Dining room side of the island .

Job finished .