That’s ‘K’ for kitchen, or should it be ‘C’ for cuisine? I’ve been readying myself for ‘the big one’ for the past couple of days or so, since I got the worktops home. In my last post I mentioned that I was very concerned about getting them safely off my car roof because of their weight. Well, I managed it on my own eventually, by sliding the top one backwards until it toppled over off the end of the bottom one so I could then lower it to the ground. I actually had to prop the end of the bottom one with a length of wood because it began to bend quite a large amount under the weight of the other one but everything went OK. Once they were standing on their ends, I found that I could just lift them alone, so long as I kept them vertical, and here they are eventually leaning up against my gutter. See what I mean about their size 😯
My next problem, though, was that I couldn’t leave them like that as some light rain was forecast, and as I didn’t have a hope of getting them indoors without help, I thought I’d just use the old cardboard packaging that I’ve been steadily collecting to cover them up. Here they are and I’m glad to say that it worked a treat 🙂
So what do I mean by ‘the big one’? Well, I can’t really do anything with the worktops, like cut them down to size, until all of the remainder of the base units are in, and to do that, not only do I have to take out the monstrosity of an old porcelain sink that is in the kitchen but I also have to modify the copper pipework for the position of the taps on the new sink unit and to connect the washing machine. To do that, I have to turn the water off and in view of the size of the job, it might mean having to lose the kitchen sink for more than a day. That’s not a problem as I can always use the hand basin in the bathroom, but I have to have everything ready so I can hit the ground running. So in the last couple of days, I’ve had to get together the copper tube and plumbing fittings that I need (in fact, I’ve still managed to leave myself short of a 14mm soldered elbow short, which I’ll have to get first thing tomorrow), take out the old wall-mounted gas water heater and get the remaining base units ready to install. I didn’t spend the whole day yesterday working, though, as I wanted to watch Wimbledon and like everyone else in Britain, I was on the edge of my seat watching and willing young Laura Robson to come through. And well she did, good girl!
But after today I’m now all ready for the big push tomorrow. Here’s a picture showing the dreadful old sink that I’ll have the pleasure of smashing out for the last time tomorrow 😀
It’s filthy, disgusting and unhygienic. Whoever fitted it in goodness knows when left it low on its left front corner, so you can never empty it and water always lies in both bowls. As you can see from the marks on the floor, the gas cylinders for the water heater (and my camping gas stove) were originally placed on the floor under it and a fabric curtain was hung across the front to hide them. It would have been a curtain-too-far if I’d retained it so the cylinders have always been visible, dirty and greasy as they come from the supermarket every time, in all their horrendous glory. I currently plan to put them in the cupboard under the new sink but I’m still mulling over the idea of switching from butane to propane, drilling a hole through the wall for the pipe and putting them under the shelter outside. The only down-side with that is that when a cylinder runs out and I have to switch over, I’ll have to go outside to do it, which won’t be much fun if it’s pouring down. However, I think it might be a small price to pay for keeping the new kitchen tidy and clean. The only problem with it will be how to drill or knock a hole through a wall that’s nearly three feet thick, but I’ve overcome worse problems, I think 😉