IKWYDLS 2012

The big project this summer outside of work is the kitchen counter.  The old one is a crappy laminate that is very old.  I don’t know how old it is.  I do know that it has been there as long as we have lived here, which is at least 5 years longer than most people go without an improvement.

The improvement is to replace it with… a laminate counter top.  Well, there ought to be a good explanation for that, but there isn’t.  There is this:  It is “temporary” and enough of an improvement to be satisfied for several more years.  This is not a new cabinets, new stainless steel appliances, and new granite counter tops kitchen remodel.  This is quicker, simpler, and cheaper.  It’s the kind of improvement that when you go and throw it all out to do a proper kitchen remodel, you don’t feel like you are throwing away a lot of money spent a few years ago—like other people do.  We shake our heads at these home improvement shows (which we watch all the time) and people see kitchens that are less than 10 years old, scrunch up their face, and say, “It all has to go.”  Everything in that kitchen is newer and nicer than ours.  But, our whole house is old.  Remodeling our kitchen is complicated and out of date by definition.  Nothing in our house is “open concept.”  So, at what point do we throw away the authenticity to change that?  We are more of the restore type—just newer and cleaner.  ‘Cause, seriously, our cabinets and countertop (and with each passing day our appliances) are pretty gross.  The walls, ceiling, and floor used to be gross too, but I replaced those a few years ago.

This is the “before” picture:

Not that you really can see how bad it is in the picture.  For one thing, the laminate has two seams right in front of the sink which are separated and peeling off.

The scope of the project was to be the countertop and back-splash.  But…. The current area above the sink has this bizarre window.  In defense, the kitchen has no dishwasher (appliance, that is.)  Some people get nostalgic about standing at the sink washing dishes and looking out the window.  I can appreciate that.  But, this window is not the window to the outside.  THAT window is several feet further back.  In the space between are the basement steps and about 2 more feet to the wall.  But, technically, one could at least "see out a window…" kinda.  We never got into that.  The space between is more of a storage area for us, and the actual window is as old and gross as any in the house, so the view was never that attractive to us.  We (read “I”) hung a piece of can’t-see-through-it fabric on the back side of it for years.  When our daughter was taking sewing lessons she sewed a better one together and that has hung there since and shows in the photo.

The first step was to pull the sink out, install the new countertop, and put the sink back-- quickly, because nothing can be out of service for more than a few hours or be messy, either.  So, this is a photo with the sink out and the old countertop removed:

“But… wait,” you say… because the only thing that is gone is the laminate.  Yeah, see, that’s what is so “fun” about old houses.  The countertop was built one board at a time just like the cabinets.  So, the countertop didn’t come out in one large piece.  It was several boards.  Thus, I took out the drawers and put in plastic, because all of those cabinets are open under there and all the demolition debris is just one more thing I don’t want in those already gross cabinets with all of our pans and such.

And here is the new countertop with the sink back in place: