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The base molding used was initially taller than desired. We ripped it down an inch and a half. The ceiling is already low and with the base and crown molding, I didn’t want the walls to seem that much smaller.
We used inside and outside corner blocks and manufactured plinths for the door frames. Most went on with no problem.
The bedroom walls had a few issues. One wall it seems had to much of a gap from the flooring. To resolve this we put a shim behind the molding and curved from bottom to top to hide the gap. Another wall due to the 24 on center studs had a massive curve in it. To resolve this we installed an anchor in the wall and screwed that area to the wall. It pulled the wall out a little to even it out as well as closed the gap between the molding and the wall. All I need is a lot of wood filler and its all good.
All base molding on the main floor is now done.
We chose a similar profile as the kitchen crown. The problem is that there isn’t a dividing wall to start and stop the crown in the main area. We used a corner block to bridge the crown, looks good.
The crown came in 16 ft sections. This worked for all but one wall. We scarf joined the piece to make the length and once it was sanded and painted its not visible.
Seeing as the studs are far apart and the walls and ceiling are far from flat and level, we installed triangle blocks to mount the crown to. This made for easier placement and positioning.
With some wood filler, sand paper, and more paint the crown looks great.
I still intend on caulking the minor gaps to hide the shadows and make it look flush to the walls and ceiling.
We bought a 36 inch valance for above the kitchen window. There are 2 options, install in line with the cabinets or install against the wall. We installed against the wall in order to keep the existing overhead light and to break up the cabinet line. Breaking up the line helps keep the curving ceiling crown at a minimum. You can make a 2 foot piece look level alot better than a 6 foot piece.
The valance however was a few inches shy in width. So we fashioned 2 side pieces and cut the valance down slightly to provide a uniformed look. We used a dowel jig to attach the pieces and then sanded, stained, and cleared the valance. It looks great.
Included in the roof installation by Consumer Choice Home Improvements, worst company ever, was to install the front and back doors.
I found some good deals at home depot and bought the 2 doors. I chose for the front door an oval half light with nickel etching. It also came with nickel hinges, score. I picked a standard 9 light steel door for the back. Similar to what was already there, but steel and in much better condition. Later on I special ordered nickel hinges for the back door seeing as it came standard with brass.
The backdoor installation was fairly simple, although the roofers took liberties to half ass the job. They pulled splintering pieces of the back porch to use as shims. WTF? Shims are so cheap why don’t they have any. Now there is a gouge in my porch. Not that its in the best condition to begin with but come on. They also dented the newly installed flooring when hammering the bottom of the door frame into place. Nice big round dents, priceless.
The front door took more effort based on the ceiling height. they had to remove and trim the brickmold in order to get the door in place without cutting into the frame. They also dented the flooring doing this door too. Quality care, truly.
They also installed a storm door in the front. This is roughly correct. the hydraulic mechanism is backwards but it works. Whats annoying is that they don’t read instructions. The kit came with a bunch of screws, some were painted the beige color of the door. they just used which ever screw they wanted so a few areas have the steel screws visible. In this case I got what I paid for. Cheap labor, shoddy quality. As with the roof, they did a good job, but failed on the little things that make it a quality job or a referral in the future. They have yet to return my calls, I doubt they ever will. Don’t ever use Consumer Choice Home Improvements. They do half assed work and never complete the job.
I checked several sites and locations for a stainless or stainless looking backsplash. Tin seemed to be a popular choice. Tin however is prone to rust and easily dents. Several sites provided ideas on making them dent resistant by spreading latex behind the pattern before installation. I ordered some samples from a few companies of both tin and steel.
The steel looked better and came with a better rating on stains/dents/rust. It was much more expensive but in theory you get what you pay for. Choosing the pattern was just as difficult. I like the vine pattern best, but out of all the samples and in store demos the pattern is flawed on the press. No 2 squares looked the same. the press wasn’t precise enough apparently. In the end I chose the fans pattern. It was the same price and provided a more consistent pattern press. By using Armstrong Stainless Steel panels they came in 18 by 48 inch pieces. This allowed for minimal joining spots. We used a rotozip cutoff tool to cut the 18 down to 16 and to make the outlet holes. We installed 1/4 inch plywood to the walls to help with installation and possibly remove some of the curve the wall provided.
We didn’t use any nails to pin the backsplash in. We used liquid nail contruction adhesive on the back of the panels. We used clear caulk to seal the joining panels. We also used decorative stained wood instead of a J channel to hold the backsplash in place. We are also running a bead of clear caulk along the backsplash to join it to the granite top in order to seal and splashes from getting behind the cabinets.
I used grey decora outlets with chrome wallplates against the stainless backsplash.
We also ran 9 under cabinet lights throughout the kitchen. With a hidden transformer and the wiring stapled under the cabinets its a nice finished product. Reflects off the stainless backsplash nicely to add more light when preparing meals.
We installed the microwave with the upper cabinets pretty easily. We had moved the outlet placement around so the microwave plugged in inside the cabinet above it. We mounted it with a steel 2 by 4 to avoid any fire issues. It also helped to keep the steel look uniform within the kitchen.
Once we had the first lower cabinet in place we started to install the oven. We needed the oven installed before I could have the propane tanks delivered and installed. Ovens by default are configured for natural gas. Most of the time you need to purchase a conversion kit to use propane. This model came with the kit, luckily. We replaced the burners and set the toggle switch in the lower drawer and then set the burner flame heights.
The oven is in place, looks great, but has yet to be used. The warming drawer is currently being used to store the extra oven racks and center griddle pieces.
We then installed the cabinets up to the dishwasher location. We drilled the holes and ran the hoses to hook the dishwasher into the plumbing. I bought the front seal kit along with the side mounting brackets seeing as I’m using a granite countertop. The seal kit basically just hides the edges of the dishwasher and the tiny gap on the sides as they touch the cabinets.
The first fridge seemed to be scratch, so I called it in and they said they would send a new one. The delivery guy showed up and gave me an attitude saying he wouldn’t swap it. At most he would replace the door that I “claim” was scratched. So I agreed to have him do that. Bad idea. He broke the hook up and then didn’t say anything. New door installed see ya later. When we went to install it and plug it in, nothing worked. the wires were just yanked out of the door hook up. he didn’t properly unplug/disconnect them when swapping the door. So now I did need a new fridge. As with my luck the fridge was backordered 2 weeks.
Now with the new fridge and no scratch we were able to level and install the fridge. We installed a stop strip of modified flooring in front of the fridge to ensure it won’t roll forward when you pull the doors open.
Now all the appliances are in. Countertop is coming. Backsplash is next.
I ran the numbers and the look/feel of different countertop materials. Formica obviously is the cheapest. The designs were nice but flat, no shine or definition. It is also dent and stain prone. Quartz is nice, but expensive. From the samples I saw in stores it also seemed flat in finish. I checked a few granite stores and found they looked the best. As with all purchases I went in looking for the advertised special and wound up with the higher end price/product. Prices ranged from $50/sqft – $90/sqft. I believe the one I chose was $75/sqft. Luckily with the amount of square feet I needed once calculating the backsplash lip was enough to get the sink included. Typically that’s a $250 charge. I went with the full bullnose edge and a rock called blues in the night. I bought the countertop from BNJ because it came with an add-on called permaseal. It in theory makes the countertop as sterile as quartz. It should never require additional sealing, which other countertops require yearly. It should also hold the color and shine longer than other countertops.
It looks great and the blue fleks seem to jump out of the countertop as you walk past it. I also had them provide a cutting board made of the same material. Its heavy but looks great. The installers came in and got the countertop installed in no time with no damage to the house. The only gripe I would have is that when they drilled the faucet holes the drill must have moved slightly. One of the holes is 1/8 off from the sink lip. Currently my faucet is independant parts so its not noticeable or an issue. But if I switch to a 3-hole 1 piece faucet it won’t fit properly.
A few weeks later I noticed a chip in the backsplash. Nothing crazy and only something I would ever know was there. I called anyway to see what could be done. They sent someone out to repair it. They showed up with a torch and a crayon. It was neat to see how something that simple could hide the chip. I can’t find it anymore, problem solved.
i bought my appliances from PC Richard and Son. They were running a sale on fridgidare and after rebates, the price was hard to beat. I got all stainless appliances. They all came with black sides, not a fan but it was a cost thing. The range has 5 burners with a griddle.
Just my luck, out of the box the microwave is damaged. They took it back no questions and luckily had another in stock that wasn’t damaged.
Now I need to get the cabinets in, because I can’t get my propane hooked up until the range is installed.
now that the appliances have been purchased and we have measurments we can start the other wall. Cut the filler strip, mounted the first cabinet. “Popped” out the 30by12 cabinet and then mounted the 15by30 next to it.
The microwave is stainless, with black sides. It will stick out a little past the top cabinet because of the vent. These 3 are done, now to work on the base cabinets under them.
Once we had the appliances in I was able to start the lower cabinet installation. The hallway is very narrow, so we wanted to install the oven before building the cabinets around it. The oven will be removeable if needed, but it won’t be fun or easy. This way it goes in properly with little to no damage.
The ceiling curves from end to end, roughly an inch and a half. Low at the ends, high in the middle. We tried using a filler strip and crown molding to hide the curve. In most areas it worked well. Above the fridge however, it didn’t. Its tough to say which would have been worse, no crown and a declining ceiling or the crown almost touching the cabinet door.
We also had to move the overhead light because the cabinet over the fridge would hit it when fully open. Luckily we didn’t have to move it far, so no new holes. Just had to sand the paint lip and touch up with new ceiling paint.
now that we gave up on american woodmark and their wine rack, we started the cabinet installation.
In a perfect world the walls and ceiling are straight and level. Not in my world apparently. We needed some trickery and luck.
We are using crown molding to hide the 3/4 inch difference in ceiling height and scribed filler pieces to flush the cabinets to the walls.
We are also “popping” the cabinets out in certain spots to break up the line. This will help detract from the ceiling line as well as add a custom element to the kitchen design.
 The wall with no appliances was first.
we cut to fit the shelf board and then mounted the way-upper cabinets.
now we started on scribing the right most top cabinet and mouting the filler strips to the cabinet top. the filler strip will rest against the crown molding. the crown will go up last.
We mounted the cabinet and move on to the 2nd cabinet, the dreaded wine rack. We attached the 30by15 to the wine rack and then “popped” them out the distance of 2 2×4′s. We used a filler panel to hide the gap/line in the cabinets. Then the third cabinet went in.
  
Next we went to work on the bottom/base cabinets. The same filler strip needed to be scribed. Then the cabinets needed to be leveled, made straight, and then attached to themselves and the wall.
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