Kitchen Remodel – Week 5 – One room challenge

I know… I missed a few weeks of the One Room Challenge. It’s not because I don’t have anything to report, believe me. To tell you the truth, this has been kicking my butt! Taking on a complete kitchen remodel in six weeks is no joke. Working on it at the new house (which is one hour away from where we are currently) would be so much easier if we actually were there full time. As would posting about it, because I would be able to take pictures whenever I wanted, instead of trying to remember them as we got work done.. Ugh. I know, blogger problems. But for real, this has been insane. 

When I last left you, we had gotten the floors installed, and sorted the Ikea kitchen boxes into nice little piles. Yeah, a lot has happened since then. Here’s what we’ve been doing for the past few weeks.

First thing – I went to Ikea the day after we sorted all this out to pick up a few pieces and get a few of the incorrect pieces replaced. While I was there, I ran into one of the installers that work for Ikea installing kitchens. We got to talking, and decided to have them install our kitchen. There was no way, that in the time we had to get it done, we’d be able to do it correctly and without killing each other. They showed up at 8:30 a.m. and had the entire kitchen built and installed by 6 p.m. 

I still can’t believe they were able to get the entire thing assembled and installed in one day.

Pay no mind to the cabinets hanging on the wall by the window. They’ve been removed and used somewhere else 🙂

After that, we waiting a few more days to have the floor guys come back to finish installing the wood floors in the last areas, and we got the electric worked out for the new fridge and microwave, and the plumbing moved around to fit with the new sinks.

Not very exciting stuff to report on, but that took some time. And made quite a mess.

Then, I thought we found quite a deal when we bought a fridge and a gas cooktop off craigslist priced at $3000, with the assurance that they were in excellent condition, and the stove could be converted to liquid propane with a simple kit. I had been trying to find a set for months, but kept missing out on the deals. So, I was sooo psyched to find these.  We arranged for a professional moving company to pick them up and deliver them (to the tune of $400!). 

Yeah. All those promises were bologna.

Both items were much older than advertised, and the stovetop was unable to be converted to LP because they stopped making the conversion kits for that model – a LONG time ago.

And the fridge… well, it never got below 76 degrees in either the fridge or the freezer. 

The sellers did send a repairman out to the house, who confirmed the stovetop could not be converted, and said that the fridge was supposed to be scrapped long ago because it no longer held freon, and could not be repaired. Ever.

The sellers basically said we were stuck with the stovetop – “that’s their problem” – and they would refund only 2/3’s of the money we paid for both items – even though the stovetop was maybe worth $250. It’s quite a bummer. I think I’ll stay away from Craigslist for fridges from now on.

Of course, all this drama with the fridge happened after the counters were already cut to accommodate the stovetop. Awesome.

Since we couldn’t use that cooktop, we were going to use the amazing induction cooktop I bought at a crazy sale price from Lowes. Unfortunately, the electricity behind the stove was set up to be a gas stovetop, with a 110v plug for the ignitor, so changing it to a 220v was going to be messy and expensive due to all the insulation in the ceiling.  They would have to tear up the ceiling, which I’m not willing to do. Now I have to figure out what to do for a stovetop.

Our counters were installed, and they are amazing.

This week, I’m working on installing our new cabinet hardware from D. Lawless.

Also, trying to tile the backsplash myself, but I’ve run into an issue with the first two walls I’ve done and I might have to call in reinforcements. The tile cutter I bought is chipping the tiles, and I messed up the bottom row. Uh, tiling is no joke. I’m headed back to the house today to see if I can get the backsplash fixed without having to pull off all the tiles.

So, that’s where we are right now… wish me luck getting everything done!

Check out where the other guest participants are in their rooms this week here!

Have a great weekend!

Eliesa