Man, the week went fast. Fast and fun. Here’s the last of the cabinets. Since there’s no shut-off at the sink, I need to turn off the water throughout the house, which means no shower. Or even washing my hands after handling the sink drain gunk. :/ So, I finally got the nerve to shut everything down. Unhooked the water supplies, undid the drain, unscrewed the teensy sink clips that hold the sink to the countertop. This means squeezing myself into the space under that cabinet — made more challenging by the fact that there’s a vertical post in the middle of the opening — and lying on my back, in the twilight that reigns under most sinks, find and unscrew the pesky little things. There were about a dozen. One fell on my forehead and left a mark.
Presto. Sink comes out. Formica counter comes out. She-man breaks it in half (with my foot) and drags it out to the garage. Countertops are weak where the sink is cut out. Besides, they’re made out of cardboard and glue. Don’t give my foot more credit than it deserves.
Here’s the way the floor looks under the cabinets.
If only there wasn’t asbestos under those layers of vinyl, I would rescue that hardwood floor.
Yike.Well, now that the water is off and I’m all gunky, I’m committed to the kitchen sink project. I bought this incredible invention at the hardware store.
I literally stuck these things on the tops of the hot and cold copper water supplies coming from the basement. Then trotted downstairs and turned on the water. CHARGED back upstairs to save the kitchen from flooding. But to my surprise there was nary a drop. I mean not even damp.
AND, with the water turned on I was now able to shower and wash my hands. Both of which I needed badly.
I went to the lumber yard and bought a 4×8 sheet of underlayment (quarter-inch plywood) and since it wouldn’t fit in my car at that size, a nice young man cut it into 17″ pieces. I laid this down over the hardwood butted up against the vinyl. Is it level with the vinyl? No, that would be a miracle. But this part of the floor will be under the new cabinets. Trust me. This will work.
Now I can finally get to priming and painting the little section of floor where the sink and stove will be. But first I needed to prime and paint the wall behind them.
Wall is primed and painted, baseboard installed and floor painted.
Baseboard is just 1×6 pine. Whoops! I forgot to factor in that wall to the left. So, I’ll need to grab another board for that.
Next I need to cut a hole in the workbench top for the sink. This is a mighty task as the workbench is made out of some hard wood. Hardwood. I suspect maple. And my little jigsaw doesn’t really like hardwood.