Cabinets

We put in the cabinet carcasses today. By the way, Ken is writing today, Sarah is packing for our trip this week, I'm already done. There does not seem to be much to cabinets, not a lot of supports or bracing, but when they go in, they always surprise me how sturdy the structure becomes! We used old cabinets we got from Uncle Henry's (see old posts) after we primed and painted them. We also added some bracing for the sink and new hidden feet.

(Sarah here - Ken was waiting for me to finish the pre-vacation work marathon so I could download pix, so I'm adding photos & captions to his blog).

These photos: The before, mockup. In case you were wondering what cabinets we're using, we got them for $100 through Uncle Henry's here in Maine. I think the folks who took them out just didn't want to pay to have them hauled! They were pretty ugly (and yes, the hardware will end up in next year's yard sale pile), but I knew that painted, they would give us the right look. By the way, in case we haven't mentioned, our kitchen budget is a shoestring, although we've got a few nice extras. Lucked out with free sink & fridge! We only needed a couple because we're going to do upper shelves. There's an antique cabinet (far right, picture 2) that we want to make into the focal point for cabinets, it will be painted the accent (green trim) color and gives the kitchen some class. I haggled the folks at one of my fave antique stores down to $60 from $100 for that, the hardware is worth it (patented 1873, cool eastlake cast iron bin pulls). Plus we got a Napanee Hoosier Helper (little white cabinet, on left in first pic) in rough shape, I also haggled it down to about $60 because it needs a good bit of work (and had horrendous hardware!) That will be painted either the cabinet cream or green, jury's still out on that one). We love the porcelain top, it's great next to the stove & has a pull out cutting board which is great when you've got a hot pan & no countertops yet!

Most of the work involves hiding the attachments and shims you use to level the cabinets. We planned fascia boards and kickplates to hide the myriad of shims used to take up the 1/2 inch of drift in the floor. Not bad for an 80 year old house. And the only corner we put cabintes in turned out to be naturally square!

(Sarah again: these photos show the painted cabinets & the installation. Obviously they'll look better with doors & drawers, but we're thrilled with them as compared to the old cabinets, and the way these looked before painting!) Look at that sunlight streaming in! Now that's a kitchen!

OK, that's all for now. We're out of town, Ken's doing some work and I'm getting a pedi (a rare treat, but it's been a long trip to finishing the dissertation) at one of my favorite spas, the Common Man in NH. Kicking off the vacation right, and maybe a paraffin dip will get all the rest of the floor adhesive & alkyd primer off my feet! Poor pedicurist, she doesn't know what she's in for.