What are we gonna do-hoo with you, you don’t make it easy on me…*

*Lyrics from Jenny Lewis’ song Godspeed from her album Acid Tongue. I’m always impressed when people sound even better live than in their studio album. Good stuff.

Client kitchen – days 16 & 17 (start of week 4)

Cabinets. Oh, boy, cabinets. The week started out rocky-ish, and not in the Sylvester Stalone way. (Well, maybe, but I’ve never seen Rocky, so I can’t say for sure. Stop throwing stuff at me!) Suffice it to say that the cabinet install wasn’t the simple, straightforward, mythically easy process that IKEA claimed. Still, for a budget as tight as Mr and Mrs K had, it was a practical choice, and one that Team Carpentry was determined to make work.

The cabinet system is what’s known (in this country at least) as a European style cabinet, which means it has no nailing plates (for crown moulding) and no light rails (for hiding undercabinet lighting) built-in and thus must be added. However, due to a slim, low-profile system, the Euro-style cabinet often offers what’s called a full-overlay, which means that the cabinet doors cover the box almost completely, leaving no real gaps between doors. This is gives a nice, clean, streamlined look, and makes the cabinets more efficient on storage (since less of the box is obstructed by trim). Pros and cons can be found for both standard and Euro-style cabinets – all in all I think the look they’re getting is classic, clean, and practical, just what a kitchen should be.

The team was expanded this week to include Dave’s father, David Sr (aka Pappy), whose expertise in the way of building custom solutions for standard challenges (problems sounds too harsh) was appreciated beyond measure. His skill, work ethic, well-trained eye and overall experience provided a nice addition to the dedication and skill that the dudes have, likely due to hanging around people like him. I was very happy to watch Pappy work, and occasionally help him, even if only to hand him a tool, or hold a piece of wood.

Some pictures from the first few days of cabinet install. A lot happened, and then some of it happened several times due to IKEA issues, but in the end, the strength and integrity of the cabinets is something that everyone can be proud of.

Enjoy! xoxo