It's the season when the "Bah Humbug" begins to rear it's ugly mug. Yep right around Thanksgiving. You know the holiday in which we thank the Native Americans for welcoming us to the new world, right before we stole all their land and forced them onto reservations. Kristin and I opted out of Thanksgiving this year. In all actuality it had nothing to do with some political view of Thanksgiving, nope, actually we love Thanksgiving (maybe a little too much for our own good). But, how often do you get a four-day weekend to work on the house. That's right we blew our whole holiday on the house. We still did the turkey breast in the oven, but wow, did we make hella-progress on the house.

This Thanksgiving:
1. We laid in bed almost the whole first day.
2. Installed the vent hood above the stove.
3. Rewired the wall behind the stove to fit the stove height.
4. Painted the remaining cabinet doors.
5. Installed said cabinet doors.
6. Installed the bathroom cabinets.
7. Mixed and readied our staining station for our interior doors.

Tags: Kitchen, Bathroom, Cabinets, Vent Hood, Electrical

Ok, so I could have used a fancy template for the knobs. But what fun is that? Now, for the bin pulls I AM going to use a template, yep, but a template that I made myself. But first my disclaimer: I'm not claiming to be an expert so following this how-to could leave you with some eff'd-up cabinets, so just know that this is how I DID IT.

The first step is taking measurements and the second step is taking those same measurements again (very important step). In these first two steps you are trying to find the center line (A). Then in the two halves of the drawer face you want to find their center lines, A.K.A. what I call the "quarter lines" (C). On these quarter lines place a piece of painters tape and mark the measurement on the tape (C). After that find the center line in the height of the drawer face, and measure the distance from the top of the drawer face to the center (D). Now, on to step three making the template.



(Forgive me for this step you may have to read it a couple of times, I know I have to and I've done this before) For this step I used a stiff piece of cardboard, much like the back cover of a spiral bound notebook. This will be your template so use something that you know to have a good straight edge on it (represented in figure E). On this template I used my trusty triangle, you could use anything with a good crisp 90º angle on it. Draw a line perpendicular to the straight edge of the cardboard, roundabout somewheres in the middle (We'll call this the Vertical Line). Then measure out the height that is equal to the height of half the drawer face (remember figure D?). Then draw a second line perpendicular to the first line on this measurement (We'll call this the Horizontal Line). MAKE SURE that line is perfectly parallel to the top edge of your template or your pulls will be crooked as hell. Ok, so now your template has a really nice "T" on it. Test it out. Line up the top edge of your template with your drawer face and then slide it over until the Vertical Line matches up with the mark you drew on the the painters tape (C)

My bin pulls had three holes in them (F). If yours do too then take a bin pull and lay it on your template and line up the center hole to the vertical line and the left and right holes on the horizontal line then mark their locations on the template (Now your template should look something like the red lines in figure E). "But your pulls won't be perfectly centered if you do that", it's ok because you are creating visual weight with the height placement. Now drill some holes with the correct sized bit into your template at the marked locations.

Alright we are ready to go. Line up your template to the top edge of the drawer and the center marks on the tape you drew earlier and drill the pilot holes careful not to drill all the way through. Then use a hand operated screwdriver to attach the hardware (A power drill can accidentally go too fast and strip the crew).

Something Different: My bottom drawer is deeper than my top drawers, so how did I deal with that (G)? I used the same template, basically it just creates more visual weight BUT it also keeps it consistent with the other drawers.

Now if you are as thoroughly confused as I am, have at it.

Tags: Cabinets, Bin Pulls, How-to, Kitchen

In this post I will attempt to unravel the mystery of where to drill for cabinet hardware. Fact of the matter is, there is no "right" way considering there are so many variables. Cabinet hardware comes in enough varieties and styles to make your head spin. Cabinet doors are equally diverse, further making the "single method" even more elusive. Mix in a little "personal preference" with that and all of a sudden you have the same dumbfounded look on your face as I did when I began this project.

During my research, I came across a guide that told me to measure up (or down if on a lower cabinet) 2.5" and over 1.5" and drill the hole for the knob. Had I done that I would be purchasing new cabinet doors, or filling a bunch of ugly holes in the face of my cabinets. This method would have worked fine if I had flat faced cabinets, but most of us have recessed panels making it a little more difficult. The point of this is that everyone's cabinets are different and following this guide could leave you in a situation similar to what I just described. There is just no substitution for good ol' fashioned thinkin'.

That being said, let's start with a simple cabinet knob. I took a ruler (a tape measure is a little too bulky and inaccurate for this job) and measured the width of the door's stile and divided that in half to find the center line (A) then I moved the knob around on this line until I found the location height-wise that I liked which happened to be on the same line as the top of the rail (B). You might be inclined to make the height the same as your horizontal measurement, but I wouldn't recommend this unless it is a square door. In art-school we learned about an artistic principle called "visual weight" which by varying the height you can create visual weight and interest. That is the reason most cabinet makers install knobs this way, weather they know of this principle or just think it looks pretty, just know that there is a reason. Take our cabinet door design for example (C) it is a typical craftsman design, having longer panels at the bottom creates visual weight, therefore I want to mirror the effect by placing the knob so that it's placement accentuates the visual weight of the door. For the lower cabinets I just moved the same measurements to the top of the door (D).



Here is a good tip: Put a piece of painter's tape on the door and mark the location on the tape. This serves two purposes, first it allows you to mark a measurement on a door that may be painted or stained too dark to otherwise see your mark. Second it keeps the drill bit from slipping when you drill the hole.

After that I double-checked my measurements (a VERY important step) then drilled the holes. When drilling remember not to "force" the drill, doing so may result in splintering on the backside of the door, just let the drill do the work.

Then I screwed in the hardware and that was it.

Check back for the next post on how to install Bin Pulls.

Tags: Cabinets, Cabinet Knobs, How-to, Kitchen

Last night was our wine party the we've been preparing for over the last couple of weeks. Our tour this month was Zinfandels, none of which came in a box. We sampled 5 different Zins and two blends. Along with that we served up some Penguin Ed's ribs with my homemade BBQ sauce, and I grilled up some of my famous stuffed jalapeños. We also served up three varieties of really stinky cheese from the Brick House Kitchen. But, the most important part was that we got to show off our house to our friends, who anxiously ask us when're they going to get to see it. There was lots of praise on a job well done as well as disbelief that either my wife or I could do what we've done. "You mean YOU tiled THAT floor?"
Unfortunately, we didn't have time to finish everything that we wanted to, such as painting the cabinet doors and installing the backsplash. But, that was ok because no one even noticed.

Tags: Kitchen, Wine, Stinky Cheese

For the past two nights, getting to bed before midnight has been impossible. Painting kitchen cabinets is a slow, tedious process. I mean, it is possible to slap some paint up and move on but to get the perfect finish it takes patience and...well, time. We put two coats of primer with a lot of sanding in between followed by 2 coats of oil based gloss, and now we have the base cabinets double coated. But the doors have taken even longer, we only have one coat on those. The drawers... we are just going to have to paint the insides after the Wine Party. As I'm sure most party guests won't go snooping in the drawers, I hope.



Here is a todo list of things that we have to do before Sunday at 2:00.

• Finish painting cabinets
• Install cabinethardware
• Install tile backsplash
• Install some sort of kitchen window covering
• Install kitchen stove
• install vent hood
• clean I mean REALLY clean

And that is just the Kitchen list!

Tags: Kitchen, Cabinets

We are getting closer to finishing for our Wine Party deadline. Since most of these parties center around the kitchen, we've decided it is there that we will concentrate our efforts. Yesterday I finished up the under-cabinet lights. A job that our electrician should have done for us, but our frustration with him has forced us to cut our losses. So we paid the husband of one of Kristin's coworkers to come and consult and help out. Working together we managed to install the lights in a couple hours. Note in the photo is the most important tool for dealing with electricians, the all-important glass of Scotch.

Tags: Cabinets, Kitchen

I was beginning to think our cabinets were going to share the fate of my first car and remain primer color forever (Just joking, no really). After about 3 months or so of living with primer colored cabinets we finally broke down and started painting the cabinets.

So far they have 2 coats of primer sanded between coats and will be finished with 2 to 3 coats of Alkyd based Gloss in the Sherwin Williams color "Ryegrass", also sanded between coats.

The main time-consumer on this project has been letting the paint dry between sandings. With any latex based paint you can let them dry in a matter of hours, before sanding. the alkyd paint is taking upwards of a day and a half to dry, at least so the paint doesn't "gum" up on the sanding block. But I keep thinking of how everyone tells me that it'll be worth it.
Also above is a picture of the hardware I ordered from Vandykes for the drawers. There was a matching knob that we ordered as well. Basically we ordered the brushed nickel hardware for the stained wood side of the kitchen and the antique bronze for the green cabinet side of the kitchen. I think it will really bring the whole eclectic look together. We'll see...

Tags: Kitchen, Cabinets

The countertops are going in as I type this. Thought I'd blog a little while I'm waiting for the installers to finish, and as much as they seem to be goofing off right in front of me this could take a while. We chose 3mm Quartz in "Mystic Black", being installed by New Century Countertops.

We didn't actually purchase them from New Century even though we had them quote the job originally. Nope, we used one of those fancy Lowe's 10% off moving coupons. New Century is the local installer for Lowe's and with our 10% off coupon they were cheaper than what New Century Originally quoted us. Funny how that works. Even so they were still cheaper than the other quotes we got. Someone once told me that there are 2 things you shouldn't buy from Lowe's, Kitchen Cabinets and Screws. Apparently those two items have the highest markup in the whole store and is apparently, "Where they make all their money." I don't know the validity of that statement but it definitely excludes kitchen countertops, especially with a moving coupon.

Tags: Kitchen, Cabinets, Countertops