herveus

I think it was two years ago in late summer or so that we demolished the pantry in the kitchen. It was a small closet with wire-rack shelves. It was dark and cramped and too deep for the width. Stuff would get in the back and disappear. The idea was to replace it with something more accessible.

Lee Valley offers a piece of pantry hardware that we went with. I finally ordered it this spring. Over the past two or three weeks, we have finally acted on this. I built a new carcase for it from some nice maple veneer plywood (finished with clear shellac only -- it looks nice). The instructions were not verbose. They had useful pictures, plus a couple of layout diagrams for the top and bottom with all dimensions in millimeters. Either I mis-measured something, or the diagram was a bit off, because when I installed the swinging rack, it wouldn't close all the way without forcing it. Moving the pivot point 1/4 inch did the trick. I still have to finish out the space above and make the doors. I have the cherry boards in my shop for this. It will be my second piece of raised panel work.

While we were at it, we also ripped up the kitchen floor. The original vinyl sheeting was coming up at the seams and looked kind of ratty.

Last night, my son and I got the new floor laid. It looks nice, and the cement didn't stink up the house badly. Today involves putting the shoe molding back down (after I get the second coat of shellac on it, soon). On the agenda is also minor things, like putting the stove back in place and making it work again. We've been without a range for most of this time.

The original placement of the island was a bit close to the sink/dishwasher. You could not open the cabinet doors and the dishwasher at the same time. Four to six inches would have made all the difference. We aim to place the island differently this time. Perhaps we will rotate it 180 degrees so the doors are away from the sink, or perhaps we will shift it enough.

We also got some wardrobe cabinets from IKEA to serve as storage in the kitchen for plates and the like. Normal kitchen cabinetry seems to come only in 12 inch and 24 inch depths. We wanted something in the middle.

There will be pictures later.