More done in the kitchen

I had a bit of a delayed start to the morning’s work because I had to write an email to the fridge supplier. I received a reply during the day which I’m considering so I’ll leave it there.

After that I got straight on to lowering the height of the dishwasher stop-valve. It took a few minutes to carefully measure the amount to cut down the tube by so I could use the screw hole to secure the wall connector that was being used for a pipe clip, followed by 10 seconds to cut the pipe and another minute to make the connection.

Here’s the result which I’m very pleased with and hopefully it will be leak-proof when the water is turned on and it’s connected to the dishwasher.

Here’s the bit that was left over showing the amount I reduced the height by.

As the access hole that I’d previously cut in the back panel of the cabinet was now in totally the wrong place it was then time to make a replacement. I purchased a suitable sheet of white faced hardboard yesterday from Leroy Merlin and it was in the living room ready to be used.

Apart from measuring and cutting it accurately it wasn’t a difficult job to do and using the old panel as a template it was much easier than before to get the cut-outs in exactly the right places. Here’s the result, which is much tidier than the original.

And now with the storage unit frame in position showing how well it now works.

I can’t now do much more with this cabinet until the dishwasher is available. It’s actually waiting for me to pick it up at Conforama in Boulazac but as I was expecting quite a few deliveries over the days prior, including today, I made an appointment to do so for Saturday morning as I knew then I’d be free. I wish now that I’d made it for tomorrow.

As it was I could now move on to the next cabinet which is the one over which the sink will be positioned and which therefore has the services for it at its rear. Although the cabinet can’t yet be fitted I could go on to make the necessary cut-outs in its back panel. Despite being complicated by the presence of the much over-specified (by the plumber) ball valve that only controls the rear outside tap, it came out OK.

By this time my mind was already moving on to think about the worktop. It will comprise four pieces, two of which will be glue-joined on an angle. For this to work the cuts have to be clean and totally accurate. I did the same when I installed my friend Val’s Ikea kitchen in the Languedoc so I know it can be done using hand tools.

In her case I only had one shot at it. This time I’ve got a few centimetres to spare on each piece so as long as I use a good, sharp, fine blade on my circular saw, which I have to buy a replacement for as it’s currently ripping both of the worktop surfaces, top and bottom, I should be able to make any necessary adjustments to get the join just right.

I managed to single-handedly get a length of worktop up onto trestles and my work bench to cut the two lengths which will eventually be cut to size and joined. Here’s the shorter piece in position in the left-hand corner of the kitchen.

I’ve roughly drawn the angle line on it along which it will be cut. It’s only as a rough guide for now and I’ll be measuring, marking and cutting the worktop much more accurately when the time comes.

When I actually do the cuts it will be essential for the cut edges of both of the pieces to be joined to be totally vertical in order to get a good, strong joint.

That’s as far as I got today. I need some more plumbing materials to plan for and eventually connect the sink, which arrived today together with the extractor hood. If it wasn’t for the fridge I’d now have everything for the kitchen to hand, except that the dishwasher is waiting to be picked up. I’ll do a rough cut on the second piece of worktop tomorrow and then go out to get what I need.

Things are moving more slowly than usual with this installation. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a bit ‘bitty’ or just that I’m now that much older (it was ten years ago when I did Val’s kitchen). I know for sure that I’m feeling more tired at the end of the day these days, so perhaps it is just old age creeping on 🙁