Cabinetry Hackery

This weekend we took the plunge. We have talked about adding a dishwasher for quite a while, but knew that there was no way we could do it with such low water pressure. The well is in now and the pressure is much much better than before. The drillers estimated 17 gpm (as opposed to our previous 1.9 gpm). I already removed the floorboard heater that was in the way (hadn't been used in years). Now all that stands between us and freedom a dishwasher is the cabinets....


The logical location was next the the sink. Unfortunately, in 1964, the didn't have modular kitchen cabinets, or at least not in this house. We knew what we had to do - modularize them. The theory was simple enough. Split the 36", 2 door unit off of the rest and push it ~24" to the left. Then we would have to replace some wood, match the stain, and put a new side wall in. Still, it seemed daunting. We called a professional cabinet shop here in town and had them come out for an estimate. $600-800. US. He was guessing that it would be about 8-10 hours of work @ $80 per hour. Suddenly, doing it myself seemed much more doable. The cabinet guy even recommended it.


Enough was enough. We consulted with Emily's Uncle Mike Lantz who knows a thing or two about finish carpentry, and he said we should be able to pull it off. That was all I needed. I bought a $12 backsaw to use for the fine, flush cuts, as well as some supplies to build the new pieces. I cut and cut and cut. 2 hours worth of cutting. There was no turning back once I cut the face of the cabinets.

Monday was all the cutting. We made a last minute change of plans to cut on the sink side of the cabinet. This would leave the 36" unit totally intact (surely easier to move), we wouldn't have to horse around with the cabinet shelf (finish nailed to the sidewall that would have been staying next to the sink), and the remaining cabinet would not suffer for the weight of the sink as the counter would still be supported by the traveling cabinet.

My handy backsaw for fine, flush cuts (blade is 0.5 mm thick)

Coming through the toe-kick.

A little help from an old friend.

Flashlight stand. West Lafayette style.

Tuesday after work, I unscrewed the countertop, removed the quarter round at the bottom for the linoleum, and moved the cabinet. Left over from Emily's sewing table, I had about 26" of countertop with a jagged edge. After trimming a half inch off it was a perfect fit. A perfect temporary fit. It won't be there forever. Anyways, we'll not only gain a dishwasher, but also 24" of counter space!

FREEDOM!

In it's new home.

The ghetto countertop extension.

Now it's down to finishing out the new pieces for the right side of the opening, electrical, and plumbing which will come from under the sink and not be nearly as difficult as it was sweating the valves on. Not so big on local water shut-offs in 1964 either. That was Saturday. Getting solder to flow up, not so easy. No leaks though!