The Shoestring House: Still More Kitchen Progress

Because my uber-servant-hearted daddy was planning to come help us over Labor Day with our kitchen floor (that post soon) we decided to go ahead and install the upper cabinets earlier, planning to install the bases when the floor was done.

Cabinet installation is one of those odd concepts which you don't understand why it is how it is. The installation cost is usually equal to the cost of the cabinets. That leads one to think that it's ridiculously difficult to do. In fact, it's easier than many other DIY projects that people undertake more readily. It is time-consuming, but it's very possible to do it well yourself. And then it's free! (The cabinets, of course, still cost a pretty penny.) With the amazingality (yes, I made that up) of the internet, you can find tutorials of nearly anything. Jack found a really helpful video on youtube (or, as my cute grandma calls it, "facetube") which taught him some tricks for installation. It went very smoothly. The process jacks up the wall like crazy, but oh well; we expected that. I'll be touching up for a while when we're all done. :)

We got cabinet quotes from a number of different places. The lowest was from on online deal, but we couldn't see them first and the whole things seemed a little sketch, so in the interest of pairing prudence with frugality we went with the next lowest quote. Our friend Heather works at The Great Indoors, and we happened to get a quote from her during a great sale. Sears credit card also offers a year with no interest, which is helpful during the cash-flow crunch of doing everything at once. We waffled a bit on the details of glazes and extra trim, but were very happy with our choices in the end. If you're spending a big amount on something, sometimes it's worth it to add the small extras that make a big difference. It was fun to try to design our basic galley kitchen with some interesting features and architectural elements.

Boxen everywhere!