On Christmas Eve, the oven broke. For a long time, we had wanted to replace our old built-in oven and microwave, but we knew new ones would not fit the cabinets, because wall oven sizes have changed since our house was built over 20 years ago.
The new appliances were installed Thursday. They are wonderful. The wall, however, was a total eyesore, with a big gap below the oven and scorched varnish from some long-ago mishap now revealed between the two units. That area will only be partially covered by the microwave trim kit and the lip on the oven.
We went to the hardware store Thursday night and purchased supplies to fix the cabinets, including a stain that matched very nicely to a drawer we took along, plus polyurethane and a piece of oak.
We spent hours on the project Saturday. We went back to the store for a different piece of wood because we decided we wanted the oven to overlap the wood at the bottom. We got the second piece cut at the store. They actually ripped a half inch off the whole length of the second oak board and cut the length (slightly big, deliberately) for us for free. We didn't want to try to rip an oak board with just a circular saw!
We had to sand the scorched area down to bare wood, and working together, we used up most of John's old sandpaper supplies on the hard, old varnish. We had to restock that, as well. The wood to fill in the space below the oven was cut slightly large on purpuse at the end (1/8") and John sanded that with an electric sander until it was just small enough to fit in snugly. Frustratingly, it took many sandings to remove 1/8" red oak, even with coarse sandpaper and an electric sander. But, now that's done and snugly, beautifully fitted.
The bottom board needs two more coats of polyurethane. I enjoyed staining and varnishing the beautiful oak. Putting everything back will be a snap; the oven is just out a few inches and the microwave goes in with a couple screws.
Blogger won't let me upload photos this morning, so I'll try and post some before and after photos up later.
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Nice new appliances! Did that myself a cople of years ago, still nice to look at! This seems to be the year of my appliances needing repair. My dishwasher door spring broke, boy those doors are heavy, then it leaked, THEN the motherboard needed replacement. The first cold day of the winter season and no heat, heater running but cold. Another repair but minor. My coffee maker decided to die, not old either about a year, so off to buy another, both Keurigs (love them). Had to buy a new lawn mower and finally, one of my electronic knitting machines died! Motherboard went. Purchased a replacement but, it was damaged during shipping.
ReplyDeleteThis was all in 2012, so, hoping I shook it all away with the NewYear.
Enjoy your new "stuff" and start cooking!
We've been in this mode since the house hit that certain age. We have replaced both furnace/AC units now, and are working our way through the appliances. Picking out my favorite each time is resulting in assorted different brand names in the kitchen. I don't know if that matters for resale.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things people don't budget for is all the mechanical failures in a typical house.
John and I didn't want stainless steel with these oak cabinets. The house had black and cream appliances, which looks better than it sounds, and we're continuing with that. That also might be less appealing to a buyer.
I have home insurance which covers all of thew appliances, central A/C (that was last years replacement), water heater, central heater, microwave, washer, dryer you name it. There is a small charge should you need a repair, $75 and that's it. You can call them or ask for service online. My dishwasher took three service calls and the motherboard being ordered from the manufacturer total cost to me just $75.
DeleteWhen the central air went in 2011, the unit was toast, they actually "bought out" the bad one and replaced it with an expensive unit only cost me $500 vs. a few thousand and they took the bad unit away.
I no longer purchase extended warranties when buying something new with this insurance.
Re: uploading photos to your blog .... There is currently a known problem with blogspot.co.uk. However, there is a workaround; if you upload via the HTML tab (in your compose screen).
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem, but the workaround works and it's not as complicated at it sounds.
Best wishes
Val
I tried a bunch of things and finally installed Google chrome, their version of a browser. I like Chrome okay anyhow. It worked fine.
ReplyDeleteThis always worked, I think, until I got IE9.
Diana what a professional job you two have made of this! You need to pat pat yourself on the back! I just received the quote for a new kitchen today. They start on 28th January, so I can't see a lot of knitting time in the next few weeks. We have decided to strip out the old kitchen ourselves to keep costs down. I see your oven is a Bosch and that's what I've picked for the new appliances, as they do seem to outlive any other brand. I'm happy to have got to the point where all the decisions have been made now as it seemed to be a never ending list of choices. We just finished refitting a bathroom before Christmas. My husband retires in four years and we are working on what I call "Pension proofing the house". Trying to do all the major spending on the house before we have to budget on a pension. Wishing you many happy hours backing with the new appliances. Keep the instruction books somewhere handy :)
ReplyDelete