More Kitchen Progress

 

 

The tile went up without incident.  I decided to stop it just under the shelf.  It would be a huge problem (and lots of weird cuts) to run it all the way up to the ceiling and through the structural cables.  The top row ended at a very good place for the shelf, where the range hood chimney cover could end without any cutting or special fabrication. 

 

The shelf was something else.  I knew it would be tough because it needed to fit exactly between the two vertical slabs that are not very square to the wall. I also needed to provide support through the length. I did not want the supports to show, so I set steel pins into the studs and had to drill corresponding holes in the edge of the shelf.  Good luck with that, right?

 

I measured very carefully and did my best to drill level.  I still needed to drill the shelf holes oversize to get the pins to go in.  I do not have photos of me pounding on the shelf with a sledge hammer to get it to the wall.  But it did get there.

This part of the kitchen is basically done.  Now on to the island.

Kitchen Cabinets

Our basic design style for the new addition is organic modern.  The trim, shelf unit in the shop end gable wall, the kitchen shelves, island top, and kitchen cabinets will all be cherry.  Jan has a pair of secretary desk shelf units made of cherry that set the tone.  And, of course, we have all that great cherry from my friend Keith Hendee.

I am custom building all the cabinets using a technique I saw in an old carpentry textbook.  Instead of the modern way of putting a kitchen together as a bunch of boxes, I am building the cabinets in place.

 

 

In order to reinforce the modern style, the doors and drawer fronts will be flat panels with the grain running horizontally.  Also there will be no knobs or handles; the drawers and doors pop open with a bump.

 

 

I fabricated the Corian countertop with the help of the guys at FWS (http://www.f-w-s.net/).  The owner Al Kuczynski and I go way, way back.  In fact I did several projects with him in the earliest days of FWS.

Still need to design and build the island.  It will be in front of the range and most of the sink, pretty much covering the bottom left corner of the above photo and under those hanging pendant lights (they have very cool mod globes).  I do know it will be topped with live edge cherry and probably painted grey.

The wall tile should come in this week.  It is warm grey, 4"X16".  That should really add a lot to the look.  Then that very cool glass range hood and more live edge shelves finish off the wall.  Can't wait.

Appliances

It is always best to have the appliances (at least) chosen, (even better in hand), when doing the electric, gas, water, sewer, and ventilation rough in before the walls are closed in.  So I had been trying to pin these things down for quite a while.  The problem is, I couldn't make firm decisions early on.  I needed to be flexible on purchases to take advantage of the best prices.  I also didn't want to buy things way before I needed them; tying up money.  Most kitchen appliances are more or less standard in size, but connections can vary.  I found examples on line that I liked and set rough-ins to them, hoping the final pieces would match up.  We wanted good quality, quiet and efficient operation with stainless steel finish.

The one thing I knew could not be set as standard was the range hood.  I really wanted a special modern style one with a glass hood.  I wasn't positive I could find one at a good price, so my priority was to find one ASAP.  If I couldn't find one cheap enough, I would have to change my plan.

I had been watching Searsoutlet.com for a while.  This is a great place to get bargains.  Sears posts all it's clearance, closeouts, refurbished, returns, etc..  They have outlet centers all over the country, but also list things located in stores. There are 3 centers in the St. Louis area; close enough for us.  I had been looking there for this range hood for weeks.  There were several listed, but none cheap enough or close enough. Finally, just in time, one showed up in Paducah, Ky. (just 50 miles from here).  I jumped on it.

 

We have still been struggling with colors, so we took an excursion to Cape Girardeau, Mo. to look at furniture.  While there, we took a look at the appliances a the Sears store.  Jan saw an apartment sized refrigerator there that she liked.  It was nicely styled, not too small, and stainless steel finish.  We don't really need a big fridge and the saved space would be helpful.  I planned to go back with my truck in a couple of days to get it (while it was on sale).  Back at home, I took a look at Searsoutlet.com to check for better deals before we pulled the trigger.  There were several of the same fridge (new in the box) listed in Kansas City area at a big discount.  I needed to deliver some horse jumps to K.C. anyway, so why not just pick up a fridge while there?  A few days later, I saw even more of this model of fridge listed at the outlet center in Fairview Heights, IL (this side of St. Louis).  Apparently, they are closing out this model.  Great timing.  We hooked up the trailer and headed north. 

 

 

Since we were making the trip to the Sears Outlet Center for a refrigerator, we figured we would check for deals on a range and dishwasher as well.  We also wanted to be sure there wasn't some amazing deal on a full sized fridge.  There wasn't.

 

The range needed to be a gas slide-in with stainless finish.  I had researched them a bit and found that they are quite a bit more expensive than free standing ranges, but we really wanted the built-in look of the slide-in.  The outlet store had 2.  One of them was about half the retail price.  No noticeable scratches or dents;  must have been a return.  Sold.

 

 

The criteria for the dishwasher was stainless, good quality, and QUIET.  We did spend a bit more on this one than we had planned, but, again, our choice was a high end excellent quality and very quiet unit priced about half of the original price.  When I down-loaded the installation manual a couple of days later, I realized that the power cord was missing.  I called the outlet store and the manager told me to order the part I needed and he would credit my card for the cost.  Wow, that was the most painless complaint I have ever had!

 

 

 

 

 

 









Inside Work

 

Now that the outside is wrapped up, I'm concentrating on getting more done on the inside.  Most of the decisions have been made for some time, but, of course, specific placement of sockets and lights had to be done as I did the wiring.  We also had to make the final decision on whether we would have an electric range or gas.  We have had electric cooking surfaces for the last 6 years and certainly prefer gas.  So gas it is; even though the propane tank and all will cost us another $1000.  I put a pipe through the wall, but the tank and underground supply will have to wait. The final configuration for the island is still to be determined, but I did pull an electric wire through a conduit set under the concrete to provide power to the island.

 





I also had to pay attention to where the sink drain and vent should go.  The water supply pipes would need to be installed after the foam insulation was sprayed so it would end up in the warm side.

 



 

 

I hired a local contractor to do this installation because they could do it right away.  They didn't do a great job.  The thickness of the foam varied widely; some places it was super thick, others barely enough.  So the worst places in the ceiling, I added fiberglass bats left over from other projects.

 

 

 

Tony Reynolds, the guy that hung the sheetrock in our apartment came in to install the walls and ceiling here.  He and his helper had it all hung in less than 5 hours.  Even if I was physically capable, it would have taken me forever.  

 

 

 

Now, it's up to me to do the taping and mudding.  Then, paint, cabinets, trim, countertop, island, lights, sockets, switches, etc., etc.,,,,,,,

 





Exterior Finish

I had some ideas of how the outside of the room should be finished, but (as usual) the final choices evolved over some time.  I knew that I wanted to stress the horizontal lines; complimented by the low pitch of the roof and the wide overhangs and big cantilever of the roof corner.  The foundation insulation actually extends a bit proud of the wall and is capped with a treated wooden sill.  This adds a nice firm visual base to the structure as well as another horizontal element. After the final parge coat of stucco, it will be painted green; relating it to the other green elements as well as adding to the horizontal emphasis. 

For the siding, I was open to using what ever made sense.  Vinyl is zero maintenance, which is nice.  But the problem is all the trim required to cover all the edges of the siding: J-channel around windows and at all inside and outside corners of the building.  I certainly did not want to see that!  Some kind of stucco might have been OK.  But I really liked the idea of the continuous horizontal lines wrapping around all the corners that Cedar lap siding would give me.  I had a small pile of siding that I had gotten some time in the past (yard sale or lumber yard auction), so that got me started.  Of course, that was just the beginning and I had to buy quite a lot more as I progressed.  When I travel, I usually check Craig's list for things on my wish list.  While in Northern Illinois working in June, I found some beautiful old (but un-used) clear cedar siding in Milwaukee.  Even though it was a bit of driving, it was superior quality material at a great price. 

 The windows are all very close to the same height and their tops set level to each other.  This seemed a natural place for a band of color.  This kind of thing is a traditional "Craftsman" detail.  The overall style of the place seems to naturally be evolving into a "Modern Craftsman".  I considered putting a band under the windows as well, but concluded that would be too much.  Besides, the window bottoms don't line up exactly and I would rather not make that obvious.

I attended the annual meeting of the Walter Burley Griffin Society in Madison, Wisconsin in June.  The afternoon was filled with house tours.  Many of the houses had several of the elements that I have used here like wide overhangs, cantilevers, lap siding with mitered corners, and banding.  This was great inspiration!

The next area I needed to address was the gable.  A traditional craftsman detail for the gable is shakes.  This appealed to me.  Also, using cedar (in a different form) added a bit of continuity to the wall surface.  I filled the small area over the door with shakes to see how it looked.  I liked it and decided that would be what I would use in the big gable area.  Then I remembered something I saw some time ago:

 

While the subject matter isn't appropriate I figured, "If I'm going to the trouble of shingling that whole space, why not add some fun."  If it looks too bad, I can rip it off and try something else.  I first came up with a design for a crescent "Man in the Moon" and star, but knew that was too much for a first try, so kept it very simple.

 

 

 

The shakes really took a lot of time, and I got much better as I went along.  I got within a few hours of finishing it all up when I got sick and ended up in emergency surgery.  My recovery looks like it will push me into winter, so this is where it sits until I feel good enough and the weather allows me to climb ladders again:

 

 

 

 

 



12/12/15  Addition:

This week I got my skeletal ass up the ladder and finished the shingles while we had unseasonably warm weather. 

 

 

 



 

Forward Progress (Said the Tortoise to the Hare)

In the weeks (months) since my last post, really quite a bit has happened, although, on this end it seems like it's been very slow.  I've been doing as much work on the addition by myself as I can.  That, of course, goes fairly slowly.  By May I had gotten most of the framing up.  At that point I realized I needed help. 

The few rafters over the cantilevered part of the roof were not something I could set myself.  The fascia boards will also help support the cantilever and I certainly couldn't get those up in place by myself.  So I hired some pros from Burkey Construction to help me for 2 days.  Chuck, Mike, Ron, and me got the roof framed, the walls sheathed, the roof sheathed, shingled, and the big window installed in 2 days.

The "box" hanging on the wall in the photo above is where the kitchen window will be.  As I was framing, Jan asked if we could have a deep sill on the window over the kitchen sink for plants.  Sure.
So that's what that bump-out is for.  The window isn't there yet because it is still in the old wall inside.  It was our biggest window looking out of our little apartment.  It will be removed to make the new opening between the old space and the new one.

After the guys left, I installed the other windows and sealed the roof/metal wall connection.  The corrugated metal wall presented a  big problem for me here.  I couldn't do a conventional flashing detail because of the corrugations and foam insulation on the inside.  So here's what I did, and so far it's working.  I filled the gaps between the new roof and wall with spray foam.  Then I trimmed all the bulging foam flush with the roof and brushed on a water proofing sealer.  The kit I bought came with a roll of fiber to embed into the sealer for strength.  Followed by another coat of the sealer.  I don't see this as a permanent fix, but if I keep it maintained, I think it will last.  I'll probably just have to re-coat periodically.  Maybe a better solution will come to me, but for now, it's keeping things nice and dry.

Addition Model

Jan said she was having trouble visualizing how all the elements of the addition would come together.  Could I build a model of it?  No problem.