Dave the Cook's Kitchen Reno On the Cheap

[snowangel]

PLEASE share tips. I'm debating removing/putting the stuff on.

[Richard Kilgore]

Confession: After the above knife block discussion, I did empty my block, blast it with hot water spray, let it dry a day, and then froze it for several hours.

But it's still the best solution in my space.

[Dave the Cook]

OK. I didn't want people to have to put up with a lot of boring handyperson stuff if they weren't interested. But it will have to wait a while. I just got the adhesive down, I haven't cleaned up, and I'm typing one-handed (usually something I only do on certain other sites) because my hand is stuck to the mouse.

(this thread's just full of TMI, isn't it?)

[andiesenji]

Having been through several kitchen renovations over the years and having had some "interesting" experiences, I really enjoy reading the experiences of others.

When I was married to my last husband, he was a master plasterer and every time we had something done it was by a buddy in another trade and several times there was experimental work done in my house, using some new and as yet untried material.

I had one of the first "poured" floors in SoCalif. It was great stuff very resiliant and comfortable on which to stand but always looked wet. When it was being washed, it was slippery as wet ice but non-slip as soon as the soap was rinsed off and it never needed waxing. It had one drawback - it dimpled if someone walked on it with spike heels. The rule was, if you have to wear high heels, take them off or stay out of the kitchen.

They also did the floor of the garage only that was done with the colored pebbles and it also looked even more than the kitchen like it was under water all the time. My dogs refused to walk on it. My husband and his sons loved it. They were body builders and it was less noisy when they put the weights down. They were going to do the driveway but I put my foot down on that idea. We had beautiful Roman paving and no way were they going to "improve" on that.

[memesuze]

As I may never get my wish of having a sub-forum on kitchen renovations, would it be possible to get an index of such threads pinned to the top of the Cooking forum? There are so many great ideas in so many renovation threads that I don't want to miss one when I go back to reread them all for inspiration.

[nessa]

Wow!! such improvements!

We *just* finished our new kitchen floor. Since we are also on a budget, we did it ourselves. Our house was built in '54 and had a whole lotta flooring in the kitchen.

One day a couple months ago, the SO got a wild hare ( or is it hair?) up his {censored} and started ripping the carpet up. The fools we bought the house from did a rotten job of carpeting, and half the rooms didn't match. Who knew? We had gorgeous hard wood floors underneath. Well, not prezactly gorgeous, but they will be after refinishing. Thats set for later this year. Meanwhile, the kitchen had to be dealt with. We had layers. Layers upon layers. Subfloor, then Asbestos from the 50's, a couple of layers of vinyl, then a layer of plywood. They remodeled about that time so set the cabinets on top of the plywood. After the plywood came another couple of layers of linoleum. The last one didn't even have adhesive.........

Needless to say it took about a month to get that floor out. Had to saw that plywood out, then fine tune with a dremmel.... an absolute nightmare.

We had to work in 4 day spurts, since thats the SO's schedule. So, a month later we found tile we liked, ordered it. Waited. Waited. They said there was a glitch and we could pick it up in December..... Canceled that and found a new store. Much better, and they had great prices!! we got our tile for 99 cents a square foot. Its a neat tile, it has slightly irregular sides so the groutline is kinda rustic. It compliments the tile backsplash.

So, we had to lay the hardy backer board, then the tile.....

I'll spare the gory details, but I'd think long and hard before doing it ourself again.

Its a long, nasty, tedious process. I think the total bill came to under $400 for about 150 square feet of flooring.

I think it was worth it, however. The SO won't let me make any more renovations to the kitchen. We had another AC vent put in, and put in a new vent hood in. I'd like new counters, but I guess its not practical, since we don't plan on living in the house more than a couple more years.

Here's the corner of the kitchen where it meets the living room. You can see what a state the hardwood floors are in, they painted right before they put the carpet down.

As you can see, we still have not got the baseboard up yet.

We ended up choosing to lay the tile in a diamond pattern. SO thinks its green, I say its gray......

Anyway, keep up the good work, Dave! Your kitchen is gonna kick butt!!!

I'm envious that you get to play with it!

[Dave the Cook]

Floor leveler

First, don't believe the coverage guidelines. The minimum listed was 150 square feet. I'm not sure exactly how many feet I needed to cover, but the room is 12 x 12, before you subtract the cabinets. I had to scrape the container out with an offset frosting spreader to finish.

Second, you only need a really thin coat. Hold the trowel (smooth edge) at a low angle to the floor, and 45 degrees to the dominant pattern of the vinyl. Ideally, when you've finished with an area, you'll have nothing on the top level of the vinyl, and blue only in the depressions. This isn't actually possible, but it's what you need to keep in mind, or you'll run even shorter than I did -- and this stuff is expensive.

Third: the open time is not long at all. Pay attention to what the container says on this topic.

Fourth: They don't say so, but once it's dry, you can walk on it. This might sound like a dumb idea, but if you have no alternative kitchen set-up, it can be really handy to know. Just sweep it up before applying the adhesive. If you use a stiff-brush push broom, you can knock off the raised edges of the leveling compound (which are unavoidable, at least for amateurs like us) at the same time -- something you want to do anyway.

Fifth (and last, unless I think of something else): there is a volatile compound in the mixture, so you need decent ventilation. A fan and an open window is sufficient, but your kitchen will have that vague dirty-sock smell for a couple of hours.

I wouldn't be surprised if I've left out something important. Questions are welcome.

[snowangel]

I think I'll just rip up the vinyl. I've done it before, and can do it again. It's fast approaching winter here, and volitile chemicals and no open windows and little kids are not a good mix. I've ripped up a little portion of the vinyl in our "new" house (with harvest gold vinyl full of cigarete burns and nicks) and the "little corner" came up fairly easily.

So, just how bad did it stink?

[Dave the Cook]

So, just how bad did it stink?

Much less than I expected. When I read the label and saw a VOC listed, I was a little concerned. But the "vague" descriptor is appropriate -- it's like walking past the bedroom closet of a 17-year-old boy. This stuff reminded me a lot of sheetrock compound. For all I know, it's the same thing, with organic blue dye.

By the way, warm soapy water was perfectly adequate for clean-up -- luckily for the offset spatula.

The floor is 75% covered with tile, but that only means it's about 50% done, because I still have the border tiles to do. I'll give notes on this process, and upload pictures, tomorrow.

[Dave the Cook]

Dave, we had already done one bare-bones bottom-line somehow-achieve-minimal-functionality upgrade like you're undertaking . . .

Thanks for recounting your experience, Steve. I have to say that, among all the information, I found it most encouraging that you and Colleen own a disappointing mixer. Given your professional success and status, this heartens me, somehow.

Otherwise, what a ton of stuff to digest.

The Akurum cabinets are a real find. If I can swing a trip to an Ikea-equipped city, I might go this route. But I wonder what you did about the heights. These cabinets are 30-3/8 inches high. Even with a substantial countertop, they're short. Did you construct a base, and if you did, how?

I agree about the vent hood, but surprisingly, there's decent ventilation. It would be nice if it were quieter and a little more powerful, but for now, it will do. The cooktop is slow but hot, as someone upthread mentioned. The burners are a little small for a 12-inch pan, but I'll get used to that, and save my money. The dishwasher is excellent. Again, upthread, someone guessed that it might be a Hobart unit, and I think this is probably the case. The racks are deep, and I can slide half-sheet pans in it without complaint. If it can take a 16-quart stockpot, I'm home free.

I love the idea of the shelf with red vases. New laminate for the existing counters is not in the budget, but it's next, unless the range gives up. Again, the Ikea reference is helpful.

I agree that the rest of the money will best be spent in consolidating and fortifying the peninsula unit. Tucking the tool chest (if it turns out to be necessary) under a counter is an excellent idea.

Lighting: I've got the undercabinet lighting already, and I'll install it next weekend. i've located the proper fluorescent bulbs, and I'll replace them soon. What did you do for task lighting? Tracks? Monorail? Pendants? Good enough as was?

[Dave the Cook]

They also did the floor of the garage only that was done with the colored pebbles and it also looked even more than the kitchen like it was under water all the time.  My dogs refused to walk on it. 

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I thought this was cute when I first read it, but it turns out to be prescient. Since I laid the tile last night, the dog has refused to go into the kitchen. OK, that's not quite right. He refused to step on the tile, and tried to walk on the perimeter, where I haven't yet finished. One step into the adhesive (which stays open for several days) was all the discouragement he needed. Usually he follows me to the door when I leave for work, begging to go with me. This morning, he just sat on the dining room carpet and wagged his tail.

[andiesenji]

Basenjis are very peculiar, they are wary of things on the ground that are black or dark and often will jump over a perfectly flat item, apparently thinking it is either a declivity or water. (They don't like water either - picture a basenji, having to walk on wet grass, shaking each foot as it lifts it or tying to get all 4 feet off the ground at the same time.) Not fun to show in the early morning or on rainy days.

In my house in reseda, the tile floors had a dark brown border about 6 inches wide to set off the "rooms" from each other. The basenjis always jumped across these, even the puppies. The very tiny puppies would plop their behinds down on one side and cry, rather can walk across the "hole" in the floor.

In another house, my kitchen had the ceramic tile floors with octagon-shaped tiles with smaller square tiles between, similar to the floors in old-fashioned ice-cream parlors.

They were set so close together that it looked like a continuous floor and each tile was set individually. The tile man, an elderly Italian, was one of the most obsessive artisan I ever met.

After he finished a section at one door way, he was not satisfied with the way it looked. To me it looked fine (and I wanted access to the kitchen again) but he had to chisel up a 2' x 4' section and do it over. He said the "run" was off about 1/8 th of an inch when he got to the center of the doorway.

I was sorry to leave that kitchen as it had a lot of neat built-ins. However after the fires (at the same time as the Bel Air fire) in the hills above the house, the following spring we had a mud slide come down the hill with 3 feet of mud invading my house. Even after it was cleaned, and the walls replastered, I could still smell mildew, especially in the kitchen. So we sold it and moved. That was my last hillside house - I had had enough of the fire and water danger. Nice view of the Valley out my kitchen windown but not attractive enough to keep me there.

[Daddy-A]

The Akurum cabinets are a real find. If I can swing a trip to an Ikea-equipped city, I might go this route. But I wonder what you did about the heights. These cabinets are 30-3/8 inches high. Even with a substantial countertop, they're short. Did you construct a base, and if you did, how?

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What you need to do is build what is refered to as a "ladder box." Rip some 3/4" plywood to 4" (or however high you need to raise the cabinets). Cut some of the 4" material to the depth you need the kick space (typically the cabinet depth less 2"). You'll need one of these "cross rails" to start, and then one for every 18". Now, using the some of the longer material you ripped for the front and back, construct a box:

Make sure the ladder box is level before securing it. Now just place the cabinets on top of the ladder box, and everything will be at the correct height.

A.

[Steve Klc]

But I wonder what you did about the heights. These cabinets are 30-3/8 inches high

Legs, you have two choices--the stainless steel "Capita" legs which are adjustable and quite nice--they come in 3 different sizes, you screw them into the bottom of the akurum--we used the shortest, which I think is 4-5 inches, in our kitchen since everything is stainless in there. 4 Capita legs would not be enough for a substantial island. We did not put a front piece of wood over them--I'm forgetting the technical term for that, plinth maybe?--we wanted to see them not hide them, hiding them would be heavy-seeming in a small space (and not give our cats some private crawl space should they want to hide out. One of cats loves the little space in the back of the dishwasher.) But what I'd also recommend for a heavy say 39" by 60" island is you try to find some of the old-style "Numerar" leg sets--they've been discontinued but you can still find them at some stores on clearance sale for 9.99 a set. They are aluminum, have round, squat, adjustable aluminum legs, and they go together differently than the Capita--they sit on a rectangular or square frame of aluminum with visible side rails--and kind of snap into place. They were designed to be modular--so you could mix and match different cabinet widths as you saw fit--so say two 30" base cabinets or four 15" base cabinets.

I found mine at the College Park IKEA and once I found out they were discontinued, and the new version was complete crap, (it's square) I bought several sets in different lengths, they were maybe $50 to $70+ per set and on sale for $9.99 But what I discovered was since they were all aluminum, I didn't have to live with the fixed lengths and widths--I could custom cut my own with a nice hacksaw. Which we did, so the two akurum kitchen cabinet/red abstrakt door/gray numerar laminate countertop units we built (for the tv, stereo and storage) which were completely custom--are also on custom legs and frames. We liked the aluminum of the numerar better here than the capita--it matched the numerar gray countertops beautifully. Both would be sturdy enough for your island, the Capita would give you the most flexibility when it came to height. (We don't consider either of these two custom units "work" units so the Numerar isn't a problem height-wise.)

But whether you go this "leg" route or not, or pursue something more permanent i.e. resting on a platform secured to the floor, will depend on whether your island will butt up against that carport wall and whether you can secure it to that wall--and I'm not sure if your design and space will allow this. Laminate has more flexibility than solid surface, say, Corian, Corian has to be on something completely solid. perfectly level and square and never ever move or flex. With laminate, you could secure all the Akurum to each other, then secure that back side of the Akurum to that carport wall, attach the laminate to the Akurum, use the Capita legs, and be all set. Your work zone will be standing at the island facing that wall, any motion or force you'd have would be into that wall.

I found it most encouraging that you and Colleen own a disappointing mixer

We won it at a pastry competition and it was that new model K-aid released. It's in storage, we use two K5A workhorses that are older, better, back when K-aid meant something, when it meant your mixer lasted a lifetime.

New IKEA Numerar laminate for your entire kitchen, the island and your small sink-side counter, would cost you, maybe, $160. And you'd likely live with it for years and not want to replace it with more premium/luxury stuff. Especially if you liked the red. (oooh, red.)

I've got the undercabinet lighting already, and I'll install it next weekend. i've located the proper fluorescent bulbs, and I'll replace them soon. What did you do for task lighting?

Nothing. Our space in the kitchen is only 10' by 8', so we upgraded the single ceiling fixture and we put maybe 8 undercabinet lights in that space to illuminate all our white Corian out the wazoo. (We put the freestanding airy modern IKEA bedroom storage system called Stolmen (aluminum adjustable posts and white shelves) in our kitchen and you can put lighting under that as well. I'm blanking on the undercabinet halogen units I picked but they were 20W per strip, nice Italian-made, I think called Halyosa from IKEA:

http://www.ikea-usa.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...productId=18698

On the pro kitchen design sites halogen gets a bad rap, but we love these units, they all linked together easily, we don't have anything in the bottom-most shelves that might potentially get too warm--we have things like bowls, plates, glasses, espresso cups, our digital scale, on those bottom shelves so they're easily accessible to and from the work counters and the dishwasher. Since we shopped IKEA As-is, over time, I accumulated all 8 for maybe an average price of $10 each. We didn't put track, pendant or task lighting in this go round--why? Because this second renovation phase was not our ultimate renovation--we couldn't afford our ultimate renovation for a while longer--the third phase will involve construction, keeping everything from Phase 2 but knocking down the 10" foot length of wall, or some portion thereof, to "open" up the kitchen a bit, we'll add an "L" island aspect to the now-suddenly-exposed straight run of Corian on that side, we'll have to do some serious electrical work since that wall has electrical lines and outlets in it, and then we'll put up some sort of sliding, modular glass wall system. Real good task lighting will happen then, since that whole space will change once it gets opened up. And hopefully I'll learn much more about it by then as well. As I did my research I really didn't process any of that advanced lighting info because I knew it had to wait until Phase 3.

[Daddy-A]

What you need to do is build what is refered to as a "ladder box." ...

Legs

... or you could buy some legs.

A.

Edited October 26, 2004 by Daddy-A (log)

[winesonoma]

What you need to do is build what is refered to as a "ladder box." ...

Legs

... or you could buy some legs.

A.

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And then clean under cabinets that are 3-4" off the ground. If you build a ladder box run the intermediate pieces long ways and keep them 3/4"off the ground that way you only trim the perimeter to make it level. That's the way us professionals do it.

[Daddy-A]

And then clean under cabinets that are 3-4" off the ground. If you build a ladder box run the intermediate pieces long ways and keep them 3/4"off the ground that way you only trim the perimeter to make it level. That's the way us professionals do it.

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I knew there was a carpenter on this board somewhere!! Those legs have a tendency to snap off when handled by less-than-carefull installers.

Did I mention I love ladder boxes? Recessed kicks wherever you want them, cabinets all perfectly level. sigh

A.

[Dave the Cook]

And then clean under cabinets that are 3-4" off the ground. If you build a ladder box run the intermediate pieces long ways and keep them 3/4"off the ground that way you only trim the perimeter to make it level. That's the way us professionals do it.

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Huh? Say it again, slowly, please.

[Daddy-A]

And then clean under cabinets that are 3-4" off the ground. If you build a ladder box run the intermediate pieces long ways and keep them 3/4"off the ground that way you only trim the perimeter to make it level. That's the way us professionals do it.

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Huh? Say it again, slowly, please.

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Using legs means that dust & crap can get underneath your cabinets ... getting a broom in there can be a pain.

Re: the ladder-box - If you look back at the picture I posted, imagine the shorter cross pieces are sitting 3/4" off the ground but still flush at the top (i.e. the pieces around the perimeter are 3/4" longer). This is done to allow for scribe - shaving of part of the bottom edge of the outer frame in this case, which will allow you to make the ladder box nice & level. You'd shave off the bottom edge of the ladder box in places where it sits high on the floor.

This is definitely a time when a picture would be worth 100 words, and a carpenter would be worth a picture or two!

A.

[winesonoma]

And then clean under cabinets that are 3-4" off the ground. If you build a ladder box run the intermediate pieces long ways and keep them 3/4"off the ground that way you only trim the perimeter to make it level. That's the way us professionals do it.

←

Huh? Say it again, slowly, please.

←

Using legs means that dust & crap can get underneath your cabinets ... getting a broom in there can be a pain.

Re: the ladder-box - If you look back at the picture I posted, imagine the shorter cross pieces are sitting 3/4" off the ground but still flush at the top (i.e. the pieces around the perimeter are 3/4" longer). This is done to allow for scribe - shaving of part of the bottom edge of the outer frame in this case, which will allow you to make the ladder box nice & level. You'd shave off the bottom edge of the ladder box in places where it sits high on the floor.

This is definitely a time when a picture would be worth 100 words, and a carpenter would be worth a picture or two!

A.

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You level the base and then put the cabinets on top. Commercial cabinets are made in 2 pieces. The base that gets leveled and the cabinets that go on top. Otherwise you go crazy with 26 foot runs of cabinets. Questions can be PM, e mail or posted. Bruce

Edited October 27, 2004 by winesonoma (log)

[Steve Klc]

First off, man, Arne, you do some nice work with a lot of little value-added touches. It's a privilege and honor. Bruce, no less a hearty welcome to you.

You level the base and then put the cabinets on top. Commercial cabinets are made in 2 pieces. The base that gets leveled and the cabinets that go on top. Otherwise you go crazy with 26 foot runs of cabinets

I wish I had an option of a 26' run of cabinets to deal with. Would that I be so lucky, but probably the first thing I'd do with 26' is compartmentalize it and segment it, because I'm difficult that way. There's also no doubt the legs I'm talking about work better in certain situations--like in my small kitchen. I wouldn't trust adjustable legs like the IKEA or Blum on a freestanding island. Second, now might be the time to 1) get a bit into the differences between framed and frameless cabinets--Dave has framed cabs, in this country by far the most popular and the kind I've seen Home Depot and Lowes sell and install--and 2) explore some of the differences between complete DIY'ers and renovations done with at least some "professional" help, either in the design stage or in the implementation stage. Ladderboxes, shims, shaving and scribing will be beyond many DIY'ers and likely to add to the frustration quotient. (Don't come down on me too hard Bruce, I mean no disrespect.)

If you read around the web you'll find that many pros in the contracting trades disparage IKEA kitchen cabs, they doubt their quality or durability at that price, and more than a few, I suspect, have no direct hands-on experience with this style of cab or with the adaptability of IKEA and the value it represents, nor have they read the very positive Consumer Reports recent assessment of IKEA kitchens. The IKEA cabs are frameless, a more European-styled approach to kitchens. What does this mean? Upper cabs are "hung" on one long suspension rail, it's quite easy to hang and plumb a run of uppers with this system, especially if you're working alone, as I was.

Framelss base cabs don't come in two parts with a single base that gets levelled like what you'd buy at a Home Depot. There are also differences between framed and framless cabs pertaining to functionality, efficiency and usable space--in frameless cabs like IKEA the doors are the exact width of the cab, hinge internally, and drawers extend right to the sides of the cabs, rather than have their widths restricted by a framed front piece, which tends to knock off a few inches on either side--in short I think that translates into wider, more efficient pullouts with frameless cabs, but I don't have enough experience to go into much further detail. (Arne, from your gallery it seems you also put in frameless cabs in some spots, not just framed--no?)

This isn't as cut and dried as I'm making it sound--pros and DIY'ers can weigh in here pro and con--but you usually lose an inch or two in the rear of frameless cabs with pullout drawers--and I'd rather lose it there if I had to lose it somewhere--than pullout a bunch of way-too-narrow drawers. I think it's a personal choice and up to everyone to figure out where they want their space, their reach and efficiency, and where they're willing to lose some--and also, as usual, there's the question of how much you're willing to spend. I think this is also where the real pros earn their money.

But, one of the reasons IKEA kitchens have been so successful for the somewhat handy complete DIY'ers, why after going through the process I now worship at their church, begins with their choice of frameless cabs, and the fact that homeowners don't have to go the professional contractor/installer route and don't have to deal with ladder boxes and bases--unless they choose to. In my case, I didn't have any choice anyway--they may have 900 different styles of stained and painted wood, but try walking into a Home Depot and asking to see their selection of cabinet doors and drawer fronts in stainless or aluminum or glass or red acrylic or...

Using legs means that dust & crap can get underneath your cabinets ... getting a broom in there can be a pain.

True, but legs would help in wet and/or damp environments, in fully-tiled kitchens of serious cooks who planned to wetmop anyway, they help prevent mildew, they allow moisture from your dishwasher to disperse more readily rather than collect and seep into walls, substrates, etc. The snap on toekicks are pretty easy to pop off and then back on if you went that route (we didn't.) In big kitchens that newfangled Swiffer wet jet can be wielded amazingly well and in our case of a very small galley kitchen, no one is ever in a position to see under them except our cats. Because of our tight quarters, and my well-honed ability to attract and retain cooking related "crap," we tried to extract from our space as much extra/hidden/overlooked storage space as possible for this crap--without compromising visual aesthetics. It's another reason why we liked IKEA base cabs with Capita legs: that quickly and easily created a space (roughly 5" H x 46" W x 26" D) for hotel pans and the really-more-than-we-actually-would-ever-need number of sheetpans we own, slid underneath, out of the way. They had to go somewhere in our condo, might as well have been in this "found" space.

That worked for us, but what about the peninsula that is going to become your culinary center, your statement of harmonic form and function? Fact is you have those now white framed HD/Lowes-style cabs in the rest of your kitchen, you have those framed bases everywhere, aesthetically you may have to continue in that vein. But with Akurum, 4-6 Capita legs and say a $100 IKEA countertop, you could get away very cheaply--just a collection of open cabinets secured to themselves, with shelves, all facing out, no drawers or doors. And if you went that route, you do have an alternative to a full ladderbox that is more sturdy than just legs alone, though likely less ideal than a ladderbox with recessed toekicks anchored to the floor.

Secure your base cabs to the wall resting on a rear support ledger--a neat procedure I picked up from perusing the website of a general contractor who specializes in installing and customizing IKEA kitchens: it's a strip of wood which you level and attach to the back wall, at just the right working height for your connected island cabs, which in turn supports and levels them, no way your island base cabs or outer legs would shift as you shifted weight around inside them or as you dropped a heavy countertop on them, and if you upgraded to solid surface countertop later you'd already know you could drop it down and it wouldn't crack from being slightly out of square. But you have to be able to drill into that back wall (you might prefer to drill into the wall rather than your kitchen floor) and you have to like the "look" with legs pressed up against that wall/window or add toekicks with clips. (Seeing the legs works in our space because we had stainless elsewhere and a kind of industrial contemporary aesthetic going on overall anyway.) I used that rear ledger technique with front legs in our space--rather than legs alone--for a 70" straight run of Corian with a seamless sink because I wanted to make extra-special sure our warranty was honored and our base cabinet support stayed level and square over time. I can't imagine an easier installation. The clock is ticking, I like it so far, it wasn't the least bit frustrating or difficult to do myself and eventually I'll find out whether we should have gone with a ladder box instead.

[Marlene]

All right Dave. We've all been waiting patiently for pictures of the new floor and task lighting.

Did we say you could have a life till you got that done?

come on, give up the pictures.

[snowangel]

All right Dave.  We've all been waiting patiently for pictures of the new floor and task lighting. 

Did we say you could have a life till you got that done?

come on, give up the pictures.

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We are no longer waiting patiently. PHOTOS (please? pretty please?)

[FL Heat]

I'm not Dave, but after reading the great suggestions for small spaces, especially pegboard, I wanted to share what you all are responsible for creating. . .

The "baking/mixing/barbecue implements" station:

And the "prep" station (the stove is immediately on the right, you can chop, turn, half step, be at the stove):

Stupid toaster. It doesn't belong there. The backsplash will be the same tile as the countertop, with a few red pieces for accent.

[Dave the Cook]

I will be cleaning and waxing this weekend, so photos are forthcoming. I promise.

In the meantime, the oven broke, to the tune of $400. We have a warranty with a $45 deductible, but of course, they're reluctant to pay.

(Awesome, Diana!)