Kitchen Redo...for now Part II



Kitchen Before



Kitchen Before

So when I left off, all the pieces were coming together figuratively at least. We needed to hang the cabinets, and install the appliances. While I consider myself quite handy and have learned a lot about DIY and hojme repair, I also know my limitations. I also know that even if I did figure out how to do those tasks, the time lost would be greater than paying someone who knows what they are doing not to mention the quality would not be as good.


Enter the Handy Man. From a referral from a friend, I contacted Mr Handyman and he was willing to come over and take a look. What I really liked from the beginning was, as we went over each task, he talked to me as if I could do it myself. "What you do is cut a small hole and insert a stud," or "you drill a couple of holes and use finishing nails".

Before Cabinet and Wine Rack

When it came time to talk about price he said that it works out best if we either come up with a full days worth of work, or just enough things so that they could take on a second job the same day. If we go over 6 hours, it's a full day rate anyway. Not a problem, as the wheels in my head started to spin.

Remember ABT and their expensive installation service? Mr Handyman knew how to do most of that as well. So when I bought the appliances, I decided that ABT could install the stove and the microhood, Mr Handyman and his crew could do the refrigerator and the dishwasher. My reasoning was that if worse came to worse, I could certainly figure out the dishwasher and the fridge on my own, or at least live a few days cleaning dishes manually and not having ice in the freezer.

After Cabinet and Wine Rack

The timing worked out beautifuly as the appliances arrived just as they finished the cabinets. The developer who put my condo together apparently placed the applainces first and then built the granite around it. The stove was wedged in and we worried we were gonna lose some tiles when ABT removed the old stove.

Luckily, the guys from ABT were not last in their class at Appliance Installation School They knew what they were doing and were able to remove the stove without breaking any tiles -- however ,they determined that they would have to remove some for the new microwave to open properly. Did i mention how lucky it was to have Mr Handyman right there!

So we had Mr Handyman:

• Hang a Cabinet and wine rack
• reinforce our curtain rod
• connect the butcher block top to the island
• cut and install the kickflap to the island
• connect the dishwasher
• connect the refrigerator
• hang a pot rack
• attempt to fix our accordion closet doors that won't stay shut

All for $390, materials included.  It would have cost me $250 to have ABT install the fridge and dishwasher so for another buck fifty, I got so much more.

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Kitchen Redo complete...for now

I mentioned a few posts ago about our plan to update our kitchen to increase and optimize the storage space. After over a month of having cabinets and pot racks cluttering up our dinning room, this project is finally done. It took a lot of coordination for all the moving pieces to come together, but in the end, it was worth it.

Originally we were going to build our own island using base cabinets and find a cheap piece of discontinued or slightly damaged granite for the top. Instead we found an already built island and butcher block top at HOBO for much less (~$400) than we could build. 

While at HOBO we found that we could buy a cabinet for the unused space for about $100.  But the question was, how to best optimize the space, server our current needs and possibly help our resale value at some future point.  The answer of course was wine rack!

If we wanted a bigger cabinet it would cost more money and we were trying to keep this project at a reasonable cost.  As luck would have it, HOBO had some stock cabinet and wine racks that came very close to matching my current kitchen. 

 

Next came the appliances.  My old appliances are at least 10 years old.  They might last another 10 years or they may fail one by one over the next decade, requiring replacing.  We decided that updating them served several purposes.  First, we have new, pretty looking stainless steel appliances that potential buyers desire.  Second, we have more updated appliances that are better functioning than their decade old counterparts.  Finally, we rationalized that if we are gonna be stuck here for a long time, we might as well make the best of it.

After researching appliances and costs, I learned that the Big Box stores all delivered for free and most did the free hall away too because they do this.  But they all charged a premium for installation.  For instance, the cost to install the microhood is about the cost of the microhood.  Of course once I saw what was involved with installing a microhood I realized why it cost so much and is worth every penny.   

After comparing all the Big Box stores deals on appliances, I determined that the package deal at ABT was our best option.  I also figured they were likely to have a good President's Day Sale.  Of course when we went and saw the appliance packages, we realized that we wanted better.   So you could call it the ole bait and switch except no one forced us to upgrade our appliances and the sales person did not try to pressure us in any way.

He did put together a wonder quartet of refrigerators, dishwasher, stove and microhood that wasn't at the low end of quality (or price) but wasn't at the extreme high end either.  We got a solid dish washer, an awesome stove, a decent microwave and as an unexpected bonus, a french door refrigerator. 

to be continued....

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It Doesn't Pay to be Good

The following is a re-post from an old blog/column I wrote for another medium a long time ago. I've tweaked it a little to bring it up to date while hopefully keeping the content intact.

Lex Luther,  Anakin Skywalker, Michael Meyers and Elphaba Thropp have one thing in common. They started out as good people.

Spoiler alert: This column gives away plot points of Spider-Man and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.

Over the last couple of weekends, I managed to catch up on my movie watching for the summer, which included the above-mentioned films.  I liked all but the last two minutes of Spider-Man.  I enjoyed the special effects and was pleased with how true the movie adaptation was to the Marvel Comics storyline.   I even liked the casting choices for Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and the other characters.  I didn't like "Man Waiting for Bus" in scene 14 because his performance was so unbelievable, but I digress.

What I really didn't like was the ending in the graveyard where Mary Jane suddenly professes her love for Peter, a.k.a. Spider-Man.  Unfortunately our fine webbed friend has to turn down MJ’s sudden discovered love because being with her might be hazardous to her health.  Parker has been in love with Mary Jane since the day she walked into his life and now that he final has her, he is forced to give her up because of a higher calling: The Sequel.

Now take Star Wars: Episode II.  In it the young Anakin Skywalker - who will eventually become the evil and dastardly George W. Bush - gets married to the lovely Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman).  True he loses an arm, which is technically getting off easy with what weddings cost these days.  While we’re on the subject, is it just me or wouldn't you expect that if they have the technology to send a message across the galaxy, they'd know how to reattach a severed limb? Well, the former Queen decides to marry the guy anyway.  Why? Because chicks dig evil! 

What attracted Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side in "Episode II."

"In this film, you begin to see that he has a fear of losing things, a fear of losing his mother, and as a result, he wants to begin to control things, he wants to become powerful, and these are not Jedi traits," he said. "And part of these are because he was starting to be trained so late in life, that he'd already formed these attachments. And for a Jedi, attachment is forbidden."
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/07/ca.s02.george.lucas/

Let's look at television while we're at it.  In the television series Smallville, a young Clark Kent, who will later grow up to become Superman, also has to give up any hope of ever being with either Lana Lang or Lois Lane.  In episode after episode - and I am qualified to make this generalization because I've seen almost five complete shows - Kent has the opportunity to get in good with Lana, but has to pass it up because of some pesky obligation to save some helpless mortal caught under a overturned tractor. 

Sidebar:  Annette O'Toole played Lana Lang, the girl Clark Kent left behind in his youth, in the big-screen feature Superman III. Now she takes her new place in the Superman saga playing a teenage Clark Kent's mother, Martha, in the new action-adventure series Smallville. (Source:  http://www.thewb.com/Faces/CastBio/0,7930,81,00.html). 

Now I have to think of a TV example where a bad guy gets the girl.  The only one I can think of is Charmed.  In Charmed, a television show about three sisters who are also witches…or is it three witches who are also sisters?  Anyway, these are good witches who must fight the forces of evil.  Every week, they somehow manage to magically vanquish a demon or warlock without smearing any makeup or messing up their hair.  These witches are extremely hot looking and could have any guy they wanted.  Yet Phoebe, the youngest witch played by Alyssa Milano, chooses to marry Cole, an upper level demon working for The Source, played by Bill Gates. 

So it seems that if you chose evil, you get the girl.  Do the right thing, and you're spinning web fluid alone, if you know what I mean.  Can anyone tell me where to sign up with the Dark side of the Force?

Wounded Knee: Cleared to run...kinda

So it has been approximately a month since my knee surgery.  Calling it surgery is a grand misnomer; it was more like a procedure.  I got my knee scoped.  While the doctor was looking around, he clipped my meniscus that was flapping around and getting caught in my knee cap.  So now I can kneel at the pews in church without grimmacing in pain.  When I go to church that is.

Unlike two of my friends who also had similar procedures, I was able to walk out of the operating room without crutches.  Sure there was swelling and stitches but I got out of it a lot better than most, at least in the short term.  The long term forecast is a little more uncertain.  A knee replacement isn't out of the question for my future.

My knee is like a car engine with over 100K miles.  If I just use it to get to the El station a mile away and run some errands on the weekend, I won't need to replace it any time soon.  If I make a few trips to the suburbs, as I do for Easter, Thanskgiving Day and Xmas, it might need a replacement sooner than later.  But if I try to visit my friends in St Louis twice a year for the next couple of years, the replacement knee will come sooner.

The doctor said that if he were the guardian of my knee, he'd say no more running, instead spending more time biking, swimming, spin class and/or elyptical. But we both know giving up running isn't an option.  A marathon this year is out of the question anyway since planning a wedding will likely consume all my free time.  And it's really nice not being tethered to a training schedule.  But I will be back out there running as much as my knee will allow.

I might have to redesign my island

So I'm hoping to undertake a personal project this year with respect to our condo. The practical goal is to increase storage space and functionality in the kitchen while also increasing my handyman cred.

First, I want to install an additional cabinet above the island that separates the kitchen from the dining room. For some reason, this was left empty and I can think of a few reasons for this. It's possible the developers ran out of time and wanted to save some money so they didn't bother. Or perhaps they wanted to give the owner options. Instead of installing a simple cabinet, it could be possible to install a longer cabinet (called a High Island Cabinet) parallel to the island. Or another possibility, which is also my biggest fear, is that it isn't possible to install a cabinet in this space because they cheated on the wall studs.

The other project is to build an additional floating island for the kitchen. At the moment we are using this old breakfast table that I bought from Venture before it went out of business. It's functional but doesn't provide enough storage. I'd like to build something using lower cabinet modules and maybe attach or build a dish rack onto the end of it.

We can slap a butcher's block or cheaper top (instead of expensive marble or granite) and either take it with us or leave it behind when we finally move in the Forever House.

The problem is I'm having trouble finding specs for cabinets so I can gauge what I have to work with and what I will need to improvise. Most of the stores don't really want to help you buy/build one cabinet item --they make their money installing a new kitchen for you. A guy at HOBO helped me out a bit yesterday but even then I felt like he was trying to convince me to upgrade to a better quality of stuff.

It has given me some things to think about though. Based on what he told me about standard cabinet sizes, if I want to do this for the least amount of money, I might have to redesign my island.

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Forever House: With each of us owning a condo that is either underwater or at least wading in it, we are limited to what we can do. We would much rather have a SFH. But that isn't in the stars for us at the moment. First, there isn't anything decent out there at the moment.

This is what my dream home looked like two years ago:

Besides the obvious: good neighborhood, low/no crime, proximity to expressways and good restaurants. I do realize that to get the majority of a wish list it might be necessary to sacrifice one or two items.


Prerequisites: I want a house, not a condo or a townhome, but a bona fide house, I’m partial to 4-squares but am warming up to bungalows. Also, the more recent things like the roof, the windows, and the mechanics have been updated the better.

• Proximity to the Blue Line. I don't like to drive and would prefer to be able to walk to a Blue Line station, preferably within less than a mile. Bonus if there is a Metra Station nearby.
• Basement: It needs to be tall enough for a 6' 2" fellow to stand upright in it. As long as it provides good storage and can also double as a workshop and workout room, I'm happy. Bonus if it is finished or partially finished or could be finished and turned into a ManCave or entertainment room.
• Attic: Bonus if it's finished but again, one that has potential to be expanded is ideal. I saw a place that had the water pipes run up to the attic already so that creating a dream master bedroom with bathroom, whirlpool and separate shower was a possibility later down the line. My understandings running the pipes up is a big part of the cost so having this already done is a must.
• Fireplace or at least a spot to put in a fumeless one.
• Garage 2 car or more. Carport might be okay but would prefer a place to safely park my car, a future wife's car and our bicycles.
• Kitchen: updated. I do not want to renovate a kitchen or any other room really.

So really I'm looking for a place that is ready to move in and doesn't need any mandatory renovations, only if I suddenly decide I have too much money in the bank (ha!) and decide I want to drop a wall to increase the size of a room or something.

So my  outlook has changed a little bit.  I'm not afraid to renovate a kitchen, bathroom or bedroom, but I do want a two-car (or more) garage.  I'm also more open to being further from the Blue Line if that's what it takes to get what we want.

However, this year is also about being happy about what I have, and not dwelling on what I want, so it may have to be a long time before I get this and by then we may not want the hassle that comes with a house.

Trying to get off to a good start

Friday was of course NYE, a dubious holiday. What was once the celebration of new beginnings, new outlooks and new hope has now become the holiday of the couple. I guess that beats the holiday of the hookup, which Halloween has gladly become.

We went to SHB's party. We skipped last year because SigOther had to work late and I didn't feel like going through hoops to make it to a party just to see a bunch of people who blew ours off.  It was a small group which is perfectly fine. Everyone kept asking about our wedding planning and my knee. Even when I tried to change the subject, we ended up back on one of the two when someone new arrived.

On Saturday we went to another FOM (Friend of Mine) gathering to watch some college football. While in the North shore, we went to a few stores then came home and watched TV and re-adjusted our time clocks from the previous night. 

Sunday we went to church for the first time this year...and the first time in a long time. While I enjoy mass, I'm finding that I don't quite get the same experience out of it as I did when I first started going, or during the darker times in my life.   It probably didn't help that behind us sat this couple with two little girls who were making a lot of noise.  I believe the homily and the gospel were related to children but I don't recall because I couldn't hear it over their voices. I refrained from turning around because the parents don't need me doing that - they realize how loud the fruits of their loins were.  And hopefully that buys us some karma down the road when its our rugrats making the noise.

Sunday afternoon we went to a runner friend's place to watch the Bears-Packers game.  The idea was for me to bond with her husband but he was gone on an errand and didn't make it back until the game began.  At that point SigOther and the girls had come back so our manfest was nullified.

After that, as I expected, we ended up going over to SigOther's sister's place for dinner, although we were stuffed, so we mostly just had some wine.  I was glad we went over there because it gave me a chance to ask if  I could borrow a tool -- however Future Inlaw either didn't have it or couldn't find it so there is another trip to Sears in my future.

Crowd Sourcing Fail

People mean well, but they often execute poorly: So I posted on FB the other day "Any ideas/recommendations for banquet halls or restaurants for a reception in or near the city?"

Let's just say I got the results I expected. Not expected as in several recommendations for places in or near the city -- I did get some of those -- but expected as in people stretching the definition of near the city and listing places that are not banquet halls, restaurants or even venues that could hold a reception if you tried.

Someone PM'd me, saying something along the lines of "if you have a favorite restaurant, you should ask them if they could do it."

Thanks Lieutenant Logic, because when I asked for restro recommendations, it never occurred to me to consider one of our favorite places.  Another person suggested two places but didn't know the names, only a vague location. I'll get right on that one.

I use to get more irritated when friends would do that but I've learned that it's not only the nature of Facebook but it's also the nature of people.  Most really do want to help but they just have a different view of what that help should be.