2003--NOTES ON HOW TO REDO A WHOLE KITCHEN YOURSELF

This document also fell out as I looked in 2003. Background: late in 2002 we talked repeatedly about what we wanted to do to the kitchen. Each of us required things the other did not, and we compromised. The hardest compromise for me was having the hood over the stove at eye level, but to have it higher would have reduced the effectiveness of the fan. The compromise that gives me most trouble was the height of the double sink, for when we have a dinner party, with many more dishes than usual, my back aches half way through from bending over. This is not a daily problem in loading the dishwasher. I would have preferred a greater height for kneading dough on my marble slab, but I don't get backaches from 10 or 12 minutes of kneading. Sometimes we insisted. I said a 2nd disposal was required in the island sink, and now both are grateful for it. You hear of ferocious arguments over remodelling. We never spoke a harsh word during any of the negotiations or during the construction. That sounds unbelievable, but we were focused on the results we wanted and the best way of getting them. We lived for months with great boxes of appliances in the living room. We lived for months with an old laundry sink as our water source in the kitchen. But the sequence was such that we always had water and stove and lights. From the Internet came the butcher block for the island. From the Internet, in chat with woodmen in Northern California, came many cabinet doors in the same style as the ones we retained, and we made clear when little doors were vertical or horizonal, so the grain was right. I got the table saw working and made many drawers with it. All of them still work. I was able to work on the floor, and I kept two drills at hand, plugged in when possible, so that I could work with different sized screws. I did not use one nail. I used a 4 foot level as well as a 2 foot level. Using a Sawsall (Sawzall?) I made a daring vertical cut and I surprised someone with a kitchen bookcase as a welcome home from a rush trip to Southern California. I worried about the weight of the double sink and used more 2 x 4s than a professional would have done. The biggest point of contention was the location of the dishwasher. The only place it could go was next to the door to the dining room. That was where it had to go. As it turned out, it is inconspicuous, and (not that it is on during meals) almost silent. We bought a warranty--a good think because one element was plastic and died in a couple of months. We learned that this was a well known design flaw for which the appliance store took no responsibility. The electrician was a genius, and also a great mentor for his helpers, one of whom climbed up into the ceiling above the kitchen and poked holes through which he wiggled fingers and asked which way the ocean was. I plastered and sanded the hole he used so that you could not spot it now, never. However, like all men who really know their field, the electrician knew that I did not need the light I wanted directly over the sink. Of course I did  need it, and after a dinner party I remember why I am not lighted everywhere I want to be lighted.

Dan Doris was the city building inspector. We were legal. The kitchen is a triumph for both users, utterly workable. Could I do it all again? Am I any longer the rhumba king of Caucasian Wilmington? Is putting on socks an act of courage and endurance? Of course I could not do it now, but I still enjoy the benefits of having done it.