I got a call from a contractor that I wanted to see the job. I have had a few bids. The guy I want to work with is not available for a month. After gutting the top of the island I am in trouble. I had to get the island fixed and fast. Tom is out of town. If I can get it all done before he gets back he will be thrilled with the results. The job is right on the border of my being able to do it myself, but with time being so critical I thought a contractor could get it done faster.
One contractor stopped by but said he wasn't available. He gave me the name and number of someone he thought might be available. Turns out this new guy was the original cabinet maker who installed the kitchen to begin with. He liked the tall cabinets and was not happy that I had ripped out his good work. That conversation did not end well. He said he was a master cabinet maker and wanted to charge me $40 an hour including the shopping for materials. He didn't want the job. We were definitely not on the same wave length. I offended him. My Thrift store maple counter just made him mad.
Time being critical, I called my girl friend back who helped me get into this mess. Her husband is a great DIYer. She offered up his services after he got home from work. When he arrived he rolled his eyes at what we had done to the kitchen. I have a vision. He didn't see it. But he was, out of the goodness of his heart going to take pity on me and help me out of this mess.
He spent an hour fussing with the stove, which I didn't even notice wasn't level. He is a perfectionist. He was checking out the way the island was put together and the options I have, and ended up fixing the level of the stove. After much eye rolling and commentary, he finally agreed to cut the table top down to size so it will fit. He didn't want me doing the cuts, so he said he would do them tomorrow. He left with the slab in his arms, his wife laughing at us both.
A problem is the corner gaps. The back of the now exposed cabinets is unfinished and open at points . Another problem is the cabinet base is still there, The base that the towers sat on. It is one long unit that goes under the existing cabinet that we are leaving in place. What do I do with the corner base? How do I hide the base? How do I hide the gaps in the cabinets? Do I make a false wall? or build shelves of less depth than the original cabinets, and have them end under the counter, not a foot above the counter.
The kitchen feels like it can breath now with the towers gone. I don't see this fix as a long term fix, but I can go a long time now without doing the big remodel, now that the island can function as a work station.
Everything gets recycled.The tower cabinets need to be reinforced before I can hang them up on the wall where I need to put them. I need them hung so I can put my china away again. Right now everything is on the dining room table waiting for a new home. Tomorrow I am off to the hardware store to get long wall screws and a ledger board.
The cool thing about this project is I am hoping to get it all done for much less than $100. My first bid was some where under $1000, for replacing the island, between $500 and $800. So far I have spent $25 on the counter top. It isn't perfect but the maple counter is pretty.
Shelves are a lot of work. My thought is to use cabinet doors or paneling and just cover the gaps for now. Cover the base with ply wood and put a pretty post that looks like a support post on the top, a little decorative detailing. I hope to find something really perfect at habitat for the humanities that works. The key will be finding the right sizes in the materials I need.
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