Progress!!

This weekend was a great weekend for kitchen progress!  We were able to get a new cabinet in under the old countertop without breaking the old counter top!

I can't tell you how happy I am that this worked out so well! After pricing out counter tops at Lowe's and Home Depot on Friday, saving the existing counter top became a priority. 

Before we go any further, let me state that we have a laminate counter top over particle board, which gave the counter some "play" - or an ability to bend without breaking. This never would have worked with a solid surface counter. Even with this thought in mind, we were prepared for the whole counter to break while doing this. 

Husband began the day by measuring out the holes for the pipes, and cutting out the corresponding holes in the bottom of the cabinet. He measured out the interior height under the countertop and then cut the base of the cabinet until it was the correct height. (Power tools are crucial with these steps.)

You remember the mantra measure twice, cut once?  Husband measured 5 or 6 times before he cut anything.  Thankfully, we had no cases of  "cutter's regret!"

He then removed all of the screws holding the counter top to the cabinets, so that there would be some play with the counter - and the ability to lift it up, if need be - while trying to slide the cabinet in.  This is where he got very creative.  He used a car jack on either side of the opening - and a very large board - to push up the front edge of the counter while pushing the cabinet under.  This is the part we weren't certain would actually work!  We were expecting things to break here, so he cranked it up just enough to give him the under counter space he needed.

The jack and board combination.

Here, you can see the very scary bowing of the counter.

Slow & steady, he slid the cabinet in under the sink. The water under the sink has been turned off since we discovered the leak, but the hoses still have water in them, so he hung the hoses out of the kitchen window while sliding the cabinet through, and then he put a plastic trash bag in the bottom of the cabinet & put the hoses inside of a bucket, on top of the trash bag, just in case if there is any water that wants to sneak out. 

Hey presto - one very tense hour later, and the cabinet is in place!  

 Pushing the cabinet in just a little more....

That's all he got done this weekend. Next weekend he's going to install the sink, and then we'll call in the plumber to attach everything in here AND the plumbing in the shower in the hallway bathroom!!  Two birds with one stone!  Can you believe it?  We might actually have a working shower in the hallway bathroom by the end of the summer!!!!

Okay, one teensy problem, that backsplash along the back wall ended up coming loose.  Husband is going to pull it off and reattach it to the wall.  He's waiting for everything to settle down, and he wants the weight of the sink in the counter before he does it, though.

Hey, Property Brothers!  Take a look at what we just did!  We managed to save the kitchen counter and remaining cabinets and cut down on kitchen waste!  Only one cabinet was toasted - the rest is still working, and everything is level now.  BLISS!

So, Johnathan and Drew, the 2 not so young, not so photogenic homeowners could still use a little help with that hallway bathroom.  And then there's the matter of the master bathroom which became an official problem over the weekend..... 

This week didn't involve any expenditure of money - just expenditure of physical labor.

As of right now, we're still under our max budget of $1500.  We've spent $396 to date.

Next up?  Purchasing a sink and a faucet.

Other articles in this series:
Progress of One Kind and Another
It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back