kitchen post 30 - hanging the uppers

dad came up on tuesday the 19th to take me to lunch and he helped me cut some pieces to fill a small gap smack dab in the middle of my kitchen floor where the laminate keeps sliding open. its been bugging me for a couple years. we pulled up the door threshold between the kitchen and the turtle/computer room, scooted the two lengths of laminate back up where they were supposed to be, then cut and fit in two tiny pieces of laminate between the threshold mounting piece and the existing laminate to hold them there. we're talking like 1/4" to 1/8" (half a centimeter) pieces. then we put the doorway threshold back down in place. it looks great now, no more gap. but i forgot to take any pictures.

then we talked about how to deal with the over-the-window/sink cabinet that is too tall and wont fit above the window. we discussed how to deal with still having a light fixture in over the sink. i use that light as a nightlight for when the roommate comes home or leaves when i'm sleeping. that way he can have a decently lighted path to get to the basement door in the dining room. the living room light switch is only by the front door so even if he turned that light on, he'd have to turn it back off and walk thru the living room to the dining room. it does no good and would wake me up. so having a light in the kitchen works best for both of us.

dad was able to use the pry bar to knock a couple staples loose from the joists up in the ceiling, that were holding the conduit tight in place. so now we have more wiggle room on how high we want to hang the light without having to cut the thru the metal conduit that was hanging a foot down due to the height of the soffits we removed. dad thinks we should get all the other upper cabinets in place and then we can cut pieces for however we want to do that light.

i finished painting the night before


next we measured and cut the railings to hang the upper cabinets and got the 30" cabinet in the corner up.


with not having that over-the-window/sink cabinet there, all the cabinets can move over two inches closer to the window. so there can be a filler piece between the 30" cabinet and the corner wall. and on the other side i can switch out a 15" cabinet for an 18" cabinet. we got the 24" cabinet hung, and then had to wait for me to run to ikea.



today i went to ikea and returned a bunch of stuff. ikea didnt even blink that the two cabinets were assembled (though the doors and shelves were all still unopened). so that was good. they said they have no problem taking back assembled cabinets. and i had the two boxes of remaining parts and the manuals. they said they just put them in their 'as is' area and people snap them up. so i returned:
- 36x15x15" over the window/sink cabinet (and two doors)
- 15x15x40" cabinet (and door, and four shelves)
- four 'low' drawers 30" wide from the two base cabinets
- two 'hidden' drawer fronts for those drawers

then i went upstairs to their kitchen department and bought more of the longer/wider handles and placed an order.
- one 24" long handle 2-packs
- two 18" long handle 2-packs
- three 15" long handle 2 packs
- 18x15x40" cabinet (and door, and four shelves)
- two 'medium' drawers 30" wide (their drawer heights come in low, medium, and high)
- two 5x18" drawer fronts
- two 5x24" drawer fronts

i also picked up some drawer organizers and these half-hoop utrusta partition things that screw to the bottom of the cupboard above my fridge so i can store sheet pans and muffin tins vertically instead of stacked.

i picked the right day to go. after yesterdays snowstorm hardly anyone was there at the returns counter. one person being helped, and then me. didnt have to wait long at all. it was a challenge, loading all that stuff into my little car to haul to ikea. then unloading it and hauling it inside to return. then hauling the new purchases out and loading into the car, and then hauling everything from the car into the house. hard work.

i wanted to fix the drawers right away. i decided i HATE those stupid hidden drawers and they had to go. but i still wanted two drawers up top, i just wanted them to each have their own exterior drawer front and handle. that meant ordering the new 5" tall drawer fronts. separating the existing 10" tall outer drawer front from the drawer, and the exiting 3" tall hidden drawer front from its drawer. then removing hardware that attaches the front to the drawer from the old and putting them onto the new drawer fronts. then attaching the 5" tall new drawer fronts onto the existing drawers. then i had to take the drawer slides off the cabinet for those top/hidden drawers and move them one screw hole farther out like all the other drawers. it was a bit fussy but i got it done. and i'm so happy with it.

the 'hidden' drawer, you can see the open space below where the other drawer with the tall drawer front fits


the tall upper drawer in place, hiding the hidden drawer


the two lower cabinets on the left are the ones i'm changing the upper drawers on


the new drawer setup where each of the two upper drawers now has its own proper drawer front and handle. no hidden drawer. i'm liking it MUCH better. and the new wider handles in place, which i'm loving as well.


and i discovered its MUCH easier to put the handles on the not-yet-assembled drawer fronts (and doors) while they're laying flat on a table before attached to the drawer, rather than once its already in place in/on the cabinets/drawers.

i want to get the new 18" wide upper cabinet assembled and get it up on the wall, but i dont think i can hoist it without help so theres no rush.