Category: Family

I had planned a kitchen remodel for "the future." Mentally, to me, that meant 2016. I figured by then I would have recovered from all our other projects and expenses enough to tackle a DIY kitchen remodel. Then our fridge died. It joined the dead dishwasher. And the dead exhaust fan. And the stove with one dead eye. The time had come, and after a bit of deliberation, we replaced the kitchen appliances. A stainless steel French door refrigerator, dishwasher, electric range, and over the stove microwave appeared in the house. A blackhole appeared in my bank account.

The dishwasher installation required me to replace an electrical run from the kitchen to the breaker box. That was time consuming and not without a few swear words and some blood. After that ordeal, the dishwasher slid easily and nicely into place. But I forgot to cut the discharge hose free so I pulled the dishwasher out. With the hose now neatly run to the disposal, I slid the dishwasher back into place with similar ease. But it wouldn’t level. There was too much of a drop between the flooring and the space under the cabinet. I pulled the dishwasher out and added some wood to the under the cabinet space. But now the dishwasher wouldn’t slide in. I checked the wood. I tape things down. I checked the water line and the electrical line. In the end, the adjusting foot in the back was still extended and snagged then tore the vinyl floor. I can patch it. That installation took all day.

The only piece remaining is the microwave. But we didn’t replace the cabinets. Lingering over the stove is a 42 inch cabinet that once fit perfectly over a 1960s gargantuan electric range suitable for Mrs. Cleaver. Our modern range is 30 inches. We debated centering the range under the existing cabinet then filling the gap between the counter and the range with some handmade shelving for cookie sheets etc. Debated just leaving the range butted up against the counter and hanging the microwave offset instead of centered under the cabinet but that left the question of how to handle the duct work. Plus that would leave the microwave hanging too low to the range. We debated hand making an entire new kitchen’s worth of cabinets but didn’t want to wait 5 years to use our kitchen again. Besides, if I’m going to make my own counters, I’m going to lay down a new tile floor first. In dismay, I pulled up Home Depot’s website. To my surprise, a 30x12x12 wall bridge cabinet in unfinished oak was a mere $48.45 and in stock! This is a no-brainer. I couldn’t build one of that. At $49, it is basically disposable so we can hang it, and when the time comes to remodel, we can replace it.

That said, now I have to debate whether to risk doing this construction over the stove, or moving it and possibly not having a stove for several days while the installation happens.