Over the last 2 years or so… holy crap, it’s really been two years… it’s sad that it’s taken that long. Anyway, I re-did my kitchen amongst other little jobs like tiling most of the house. It all started by pulling out an offending wall, building some cabinets, re-tiling, a bit of wiring and plumbing and pouring concrete counter-tops. That sequence of jobs is complete now, at least to the degree any job is every truly done. As I look around and wonder what to do with all this free time I thought it might be nice to do a short retrospective, with before/after images, and what I might think of doing differently.
It all started with the removal of the wall; I’m not sure I’d do anything different here. Even with the post and not vaulting the kitchen ceiling, the removal of the ‘boxes’ and opening the sight lines front to back was worth the effort. And am very happy with the new tile. Happy enough that the tile ended up being continuous through the whole house, or at least the hallway and two bedrooms. The front bedroom (converted to a library, if I may be permitted a somewhat grandiose term) I already redid in marble and the master bedroom in cherry plank years ago. While it was hard on the knees to lay ~1500 sq foot of tile, it was worth it. No really, my knees got bruised laying tile.
As to wiring – I added switch legs and extended/moved some outlet circuits into the island. Also added a couple of switch legs to end up with better positioning of light switches near the entrance to the kitchen with the new layout as well as some new outlet positioning. Adding the backsplash gave me plenty of room to run circuits where I ‘needed’ them. So not much I would change with the wiring – maybe add a new circuit to the panel, but… Anyway, it is nice to know what’s behind the walls!
For plumbing, since I decided not to put a sink into the island, there wasn’t really much to be done. Replace the sink valves, swap some of the drain plumbing around to accommodate the single basin sink and new garbage disposal as well as run a dedicated PEX line in the wall to the refrigerator ice maker. Was thinking about a pot filler over the stove in the early stages; glad I resisted that urge.
Cabinet build – Cases were out of maple plywood, all face frames and panels out of soft maple. I put self closing drawers in all the cabinets, not just for the drawers. Built the drawers out of 1/2 red oak with dovetails joinery. I might consider building base separately rather than integral toe-kick. That would make positioning and leveling a bit easier, but probably not. Overall pretty happy with how they turned out, though should have been more careful with the stain mixing to avoid color variation.
Counter tops – overall happy with them. What I would do differently – bite the bullet and get a true diamond wheel grinder and refine the surface rather then relying on pour, leveling and finish to give the final product. Since I was doing this (slowly) in a working kitchen, needed to keep things functional, sandwiches must be made after all, it would have been a pain in the ass, AKA a Steve Smith, to generate all that dust that a proper grind would yield. (I will confess to being perhaps overly proud of the mobile sink stand I built for the old sink so I could quick disconnect the plumbing and roll it out of the kitchen so I could work, and rolling in back in the evening, making post sandwich clean-up a breeze.) But, as to the counter pours, no matter how careful the pour was or how level it was when I was done, as the concrete set up, it settled unevenly. This results in some minor cracks, but I actually like those. Properly stained/finished, you can make it look very natural stone like. However, that uneven settling also led to ripples in the concrete that I should have ground out. There are places you can’t really (stably) put a cutting board because of the ripples.
Island – might have made it smaller. I wanted electric in the island (see wiring above), so without trenching the slab, the natural way was to run through the column, necessitating that the island extend out to the post. To get it close enough to the fridge and stove (and it’s still a bit farther than optimal), it turned into a very big island. Which while good from a cabinet space perspective, sucks from the concrete setup described up above. The island is the worst offender in the waviness arena. Additional, needing the meet the post meant having minimal space for countertop overhang on the outside of island so it’s not the best place for seating; doing it again, I would try figure out a way to make larger overhangs on the outward sides to make bar stools a bit more comfortable seating around the island, and would potentially bit the bullet and trench in some conduit in the slab.
That’s pretty much it – here’s a sort of global overview of the space.
Where’s the hidden gun storage?
If he showed you where it was, it wouldn’t be hidden anymore.
Not on the internet by definition
Nice try, Fed.
Front page has gone to the dogs today.
I almost wish I was that ambitious.
At one point I was seriously thinking about doing a cast concrete sink, but then I started to wonder how many glasses I would break in it.
The kitchen is easily the most difficult room in the house.
What makes it so difficult is that it is where you will do most of your work, need easy access to counter space and all of the tools and appliances.
It needs to be small enough for easy access without too much walking yet large enough to have enough room to work.
On top of that it needs to be aesthetically pleasing. Designing one is technical with a big aspect of art to it.
That looks like an excellent job Putrid.
That is an amazing job! I don’t even remotely have the skills to do any of that but it’s cool to see how people do DIY projects around their house.
We moved into our house 20 years ago.
I did all the interior paint and put down about 2,800 square feet of pergo.
So far, we have not had any compulsion to change the house.
It needs new paint (after 20 years), but the layout has been great.
Random thought
Two employees at the nearest Walmart-mart have told me that the store has spent a fortune on locked cabinets, cameras and so on for security. They are still losing a ton of stock to theft. As one put it “Everything in this store grows legs the instant you stop looking at it.”
They said if it gets any worse they will close the store.
The Fed-ex delivery guy yesterday treated me like a cop treats a suspect. I wonder what kinds of experiences those delivery people get these days to cause that.
This country has a retail model that only works here. The vast majority of the rest of the world does not have the kind of customer/business trust that we have here. Self-checkout? Unthinkable in most places. I suspect that if things keep going the way they are that business model will disappear. I fully blame the political left for this. They have sewn distrust, division, disregard for laws, rules and mores to the point where I hardly recognize my own country.
The left is transforming America from a high trust society to a low trust society. Pretty sure it’s by design.
So easy to go from high trust to low trust, almost impossible to go the other direction.
Easier to break things than to fix them. Sometimes things are unfixable in which case you throw it away and get a new one.
It’s all by design. It’s easier to rule a society that is less trusting than a society that trusts each other but are also willing to help each other sans government force.
My liberal friend has a fiery passion of hatred towards the Progressives in Chicago because they’ve advocated for a lack of standards in education and crime which leads to a severe economic and societal downturn.
By ‘liberal friend’ I assume you mean ordinary citizen person. How do they vote? Pro-democrat or anti-republican?
By ‘progressives in Chicago’ I assume. you mean elected officials?
I am asking because I want to know where the hatred for the high-trust civil society is coming from. Just the scumbag power mongers or does it start at the base.
The only people I have talked to that support mainstream democrat policies are middle aged, college educated white women. Exactly two of them. They were both some of the dimmest bulbs I have met in my life. I mean seriously dumb to the point that their opinion on ANYTHING is a reliable metric for ‘completely backwards’.
Yeah, I don’t think it comes from the base. The base are more-or-less locked into voting for Democrats, though. Out of culture or sheer inertia. Small numbers might peel away but I’m not seeing any losses for Democrats in already blue areas.
Don’t underestimate the importing of millions of people from low-trust societies as a factor. Plop them in a high-trust society, and it’s their happy hunting grounds. Perhaps the biggest example of this is the industrial level fraud by Somalis in Minnesota, but it’s true even at the micro/retail level.
And it’s the old saying – put a spoonful of ice cream in a bucket of shit, and you still have a bucket of shit. Put a spoonful of shit in a bucket of ice cream, and now all you have is a bucket of shit.
Walz is too busy running for Prez he can’t be bothered (and apparently no one else is either) about a missing 250M
They’re pulling out self checkout lanes at some of the stores in the area. The usual suspects are blaming racism.
I recently spent a month in NYC (from small-town upstate NY) and the difference is remarkable. In Manhattan drugstores, probably 90% of the merchandise is locked up. I had to ask for assistance four times during just one visit (among several).
It’s all part of the left’s “equity” nonsense. Too many of the “wrong” people were getting arrested for things like petty theft so now nobody does.
I had an experience with an Amazon driver recently. I pulled out of the driveway on the side of my house, went around the corner in front of my house and there was a truck pulled over and I don’t see anyone in it. I slow down and look, maybe they broke down or may need some help, when the driver appears from the back with an attitude. “Why are you looking in my truck?”
I’m taken aback, this is a rural area, nearby city boasts about 15K people and I’m in a small neighborhood out in the sticks. I said, “I thought maybe you needed help.”
“I saw you looking in my truck, you fixing to try and rob me?”
I’m taken back even further, like wtf, is this real? “No, man. I didn’t see you and thought you may be broke down or were lost. For fuck’s sake, I live right here” waving my arm
He calmed down a bit and said he was good. I drove off shaking my head.
Perhaps you look seedy?
That is exactly the sort of thing I mean.
Perhaps you look seedy?
/contemplates a moment… points to Sean’s avatar/
Really nice work. I can do basic stuff, but that is a bit beyond my skillset.
a bit beyond my skillset
Honestly, I thought so too. Until I just started breaking stuff and had no option except to integrate it into my skill set. When he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships. As a result, his men were well motivated.
I had forgotten that.
Hah, yeah, I have experience with trying to do a project, breaking shit, and then having no choice but to figure it out. Which is why I would be reluctant to start a project like your kitchen re-do.
Destroying our future
Last week’s House bill effectively renders moot many of the law’s incentives. Advocacy groups decried the potential impact that could have on the industry after the multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package passed.
“The House’s plan coupled with the administration’s focus on stomping out clean energy and returning us to a country powered by coal and gas guzzlers is causing businesses to cancel plans, delay their plans and take their money and jobs to other countries instead,” E2 executive director Bob Keefe said.
They’re turning the clock back to 1960.
If “clean energy” was cheap and efficient, people would flock to it and spend money on it. But this is not the case. Relying on the government to keep some initiative or business afloat is an indicator that most consumers don’t want whatever you’re selling.
It’s so laughably obvious but the left just keeps spinning and spinning.
It’s almost like they have friends to pay off.
Hey, doesn’t anyone remember how the government had to subsidize gas stations to support internal combustion engines!?
I was wondering – does anyone know much about grow tents? I was thinking of using one to improve the environmental control and ventillation for my resin printer. My thinking was A: they’re already UV isolated as they’re designed to keep as much light in and on the plants as possible B: they’re rigged for electricity and ventillation as is, and 4-inch plastic ducting is a standard diameter to move that air wherever I want to dispose of it. C: they should be able to maintain a temperature range.
C is the one I’m uncertain on. My last couple of resin print failures happened when I couldn’t keep the temperature in the preferred range – the nearby window used to vent the area also let all the heat out.
No, Fed.
LOL
I work for the State, not the Feds.
Amazon has some fr Vevor that are just what you need. I could grow weed or condition beer in it, 100$
So the problem is keeping it hot enough? Just verifying.
That is my hypothesis. But there seemed to be a number of upsides to enclosing it.
You could start a project to use Peltier chips to add or subtract heat as needed. If you look around you can get a bunch cheaply.
https://global.kyocera.com/prdct/ecd/peltier/index.html
From my experience playing video games, you can build all that stuff on the roof of your house quite easily.
From the dedthred:
“Say what Mr. Dean? Biden was running way behind until South Carolina and the Democrats were seriously in contention for outdoing the Republican primary season of 2016.”
That primary was in February of 2020. The run-up to clearing the field was in December, January, February. Trump was looking very hard to beat at that point. COVID didn’t really hit until the process of anointing Biden as the sacrificial candidate was well underway, if not irreversible. By mid-February, there were only a small handful of cases in the US, and Fauci(!) was saying the risk was minimal in the US. It didn’t really blow up until early March, thereabouts, after the die was set for Biden. They were stuck with him at that point, and probably quickly realized a puppet Biden was actually something they could work with very well indeed.
The South Carolina primary was the fourth event of ’20 and Biden had run poorly in Iowa and New Hampshire, 4th or so IIRC and Nevada (he was 2nd). It was the rest of the southern states (VA, NC, AL, TN and TX) on Super Tuesday that followed SC, while Sanders was winning CA that day. The significant one who dropped out in December was, ta da – Kamala Harris, but 10 had plowed on into the primaries. It was every bit as ridiculous as the Republicans in ’16 – except the billionaire (Bloomberg) didn’t vanquish all of the pretenders.
It was Southern Democrats who swung the primaries for Biden.
Here’s one for you RC
This man had a heart attack while traveling. He owed almost $78,000.
https://archive.fo/x4GaE
What is the WP not saying? It would seem receiving some portion of $78k it would be worth sending some forms to FL Medicaid. Here they wrote they wrote it off. Naturally, only after the WP reaches out. You’d think you’d get a better return on your money than sending this to collections and you most certainly look like less of an ass from a PR perspective.
Very nice, Mr P.
While I built my house, it’s all pretty basic. Though after 33 years there are some things I’d have done differently. At this point, however, we’re used to those wishes being horses.
I’m glad we chose this area, while I have no idea about retail theft it is a rare occasion when someone commits a local property crime. The LEOs know exactly who/where to check when such occasions arise.
On occasion someone will back up to my garage and go in for a couple minutes and come out with some tools, same as when they return the borrowed equipment. I have done the same thing if my friends aren’t home.
OTOH, everyone has a gun and there are few in the age group that are most likely to engage in errant behavior.
lol Same here.
Was just reading about the rare burglary a block or so over downtown, and was completely unsurprised that the cops found another suspect across the street in a new building that the progs thought would be a good idea to stuff with junkie drug dealers.
Outside of the largest metro areas, I suspect the LEOs always have a pretty good idea who the muppets are.
If we ever build or (more unlikely) replace our cabinets, one thing I will do is have the new cabinets sit an inch or so higher than they do now. The standard cabinet height is just a hair low for optimal ergonomics for us – we had cabinets that sat, I think, an inch and a half higher than standard, and it worked much better.
custom job
that’s gonna cost ya man
Not as much as you might think. Just requires the toe-kick to be a little higher. The cabinets themselves can be the same.
The cabinets themselves can be the same.
If you take that approach, just build the carcass as a box and build a ‘stand’ to whatever height you need. That base becomes the toe kick. Also can make leveling easier since you level the base with full access prior to installing the (hopefully) perfectly square cabinet box. Depending on the custom builder, they might already take that approach in general so you’d just be paying for a slightly taller base.
But it will be custom I think, most (all?) prebuilt cabinets have an integral toe kick and are standard size, so your probably already paying a small premium and changing the height will probably not be too terribly much more.
I had my house built three years ago and we upped all the cabinets 4 inches throughout. My wife and I are both tall. The cabinet guy was a joy to work with, he gave us great advice about placement of different items, dishwasher, fridge, corner cabinet layout, etc.
Mrs F is short, I am tall. The sign in the kitchen says “Mrs F’s Kitchen”. It’s standard height but she carries a stool and can ask me for the stuff on the top shelf.
Mr. Meat, where’s your meat? I respectfully request a picture of a huge steak and firearms.
Running power to the island, good choice.
I remember what I was going to ask: did you add a new fuse in the breaker box for the island, or just extend the line?
missed that the first time.
https://x.com/ShadowofEzra/status/1928152427858968636
Fuck Hawaii.
Tax the Tourists
Brilliant!
So an entrance fee for a state.
I am going to send a bill to Hawaii. They draw tourists so they are ultimately responsible for the global warming I am suffering from. That will work, right?
Is every state going to set up toll booths at entrance points?
Here is the very definition of why we have the interstate commerce clause, its intended purpose. I wonder if the feds will actually do their fucking job?
“I know what we can do to raise revenue under the guise of helping the environment! Tax the tourists who gives a steady source of revenue. That’s the ticket!”
You have to give it to the Left; they’ll tax your farts if there was a way to do so.
Methane (CH4) is a powerful greenhouse gas, and is the second-largest contributor to climate warming after carbon dioxide (CO2). A molecule of methane traps more heat than a molecule of CO2, but methane has a relatively short lifespan of 7 to 12 years in the atmosphere, while CO2 can persist for hundreds of years or more.
NASA no less. Naturally.
This is why we need to stop eating beef. Cause cow farts are heating up the planet.
This is not a joke. This has been stated in public by top men in the past.
Farmer speaks out against forcing cows to wear diapers to contain methane emissions: ‘Gone to loony town’
I am curious how a diaper on a cow would contain methane?
Plant material rots and emits a fixed amount of methane per unit of measure. It doesnt really matter if it rots in the ground, in the water or in a cow’s digestive tract. The vast majority of methane by a very wide margin is produced on the seabed from organic detritus rotting.
*rotting is another word for digesting
I’m sure that’ll pull in more tourists.
How such taxes pass muster under the (dormant) Commerce Clause, I have no idea. They seem no different than an interstate tariff, which is clearly verboten.
0.75% tax on visitors staying in hotels and short-term rentals
Every resort area does this today
They just put paper mache and paint over the raw greed.
Fantastic job. I am late to the party but I enjoyed it!
Another random thought
Antifa, BLM, invader caravans, Hezbollah, Hamas, Houtis…etc. The disrupters, agitators and thuggish, murderious groups dont exist in spite of the powers that be but because of the powers that be. The agents responsible for all of that are easily discoverable yet no one ever seems interested in doing so.
Cop friend of mine did undercover drug work. Catch street dealer, put him under the lights. He gives up his supplier. Put supplier under lights….etc etc. He said they could go right to the top in a matter of weeks and shut the whole thing down but about three rungs up the ladder and the chief of detectives would come in and take all of their files.
The reason all of this shit goes on and no one is discovered is because the people in charge of things dont want it to be discovered or shut down. They dont want that because they are the ones doing it.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/29/blocked-trump-tariffs-trade-court-appeal.html
A federal appeals court granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a lower-court ruling that struck down most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Trump administration had told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that it might seek “emergency relief” from the Supreme Court
that didn’t take long
Oh what a tangled web we weave…..
Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution vests the power to lay and collect tariffs with Congress.
…over time, particularly after the Great Depression, there was a shift towards delegating some authority to the executive branch. This began with the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, allowing the President to negotiate trade agreements without separate congressional approval each time.
Later acts, such as the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the Trade Act of 1974, further evolved this delegated authority. These allowed the President to act on national security concerns through tariffs or respond to unfair foreign trade practices. However, this delegation is not unchecked. For instance, Section 232 of the 1962 Act enables the President to impose tariffs if imports threaten national security, but this is bounded by specific findings and processes.
The Supreme Court has emphasized that any delegation of power must include an “intelligible principle” to direct and limit the President’s use of this authority. While the President can negotiate and respond to immediate threats, the imposition of generalized tariffs still requires congressional approval, reinforcing the separation of powers fundamental to our constitutional republic.
The Supreme Court’s insistence on the “intelligible principle” doctrine remained a cornerstone, mandating that any delegation of authority must come with clear guidelines to avoid unfettered presidential power.
That is from USConstitution.net
Tariffs are not the only area where this is a problem. We have strayed far from our founding. The blob, the organism, the deep state, whatever you want to call it is eyeballs deep in international gamesmanship and empire. As a result their interests have become counter to the interests of the people of this country. They see us as an impediment even as an enemy and simultaneously as cattle. Maybe they are right to.
I have said it many times and will again. The government are really just the fucking hired help. They have lost sight of their place. The servant thinks he owns the manor.
I think some of the brighter bulbs in the judiciary realize they are getting perilously close to instituting piecemeal the non-delegation doctrine with all these injunctions.
They will do a 180 on a dime as soon as the uniparty gets their man back in the Oval Office.