It’s Like Christmas

Except that I am my own Santa Claus.  All these new fancy boxes are presents for me and me alone.  The oven came first this morning via Urban Express.  Then my cabinetmaker made his delivery while I was at work, coming home to more surprises.  So far I’m loving it, as I peek into the doors and drawers.  I’m particularly smitten with my corner carousel, practical and so accessible.  I’m excited as I lay my arms on the top of the counter height cabinet, checking the ergonomics, pretending to cook.

I thought that I’d be living in a cabinet canyon until installation, but there’s an okay amount of room to move.  Certain passageways are narrow (to the right of the table), and some access is completely blocked (the pantry/bookshelves), but it’s not as invasive as I thought it would be.  There is more to come - the bookcases, the un-broom closet, the peninsula - but that won’t fit in the apartment until the rudimentary kitchen work is done.  Whenever that will be.

A Plan of Action

Nothing’s been done since my electrical epiphany, but I am on a course of improvement.  The book case is only attached to the wall by way of two screws on the top shelf, not difficult, certainly not as hard as the paper towel holder.  It was only a matter of moving all the books and  unscrewing it.  I couldn’t move it because it is so massive, but I am relieved to know that it won’t fall apart like my Ikea Expedit when I tried to move it.

I’ve decided to get the Ikea oven after all.  For $1300 more, I couldn’t really justify DeLonghi being that much better of a brand, a company that specializes in toaster ovens and espresso makers.  And I actually think the Ikea is cuter.  AM Royal was disappointed in my cancellation, but were nice enough to try to find me an alternative, only a GE and a Frigidaire, and they were both unfortunate looking.  

In true Ikea ill-logic, I could order the oven over the phone and it would be delivered in 2-3 weeks; or I can trek to the store, order it there, and have it in 2-3 days.  It all has to do with the delivery warehouse centers.  One would think that it would come from the closest warehouse to delivery point - but that would make too much sense and not waste enough of one’s time.  I know what I’m doing this weekend.

The cabinets are ready, but the kitchen is not.  A majority of the work is supposed to be done today - rewiring and tiling - so installation next week is very possible.  I’ll believe it when I see it. 

I Can Dream…

I spent three hours this weekend rearranging my furniture in preparation for the imminent raping, I mean, rewiring of my apartment.  The table moved to the window for a change, the bookshelf/pantry is now in the living room, and a the small lazy susan table that I’ve been using as a desk serves as an intermediary kitchen counter.  It almost makes the kitchen area spacious.  This configuration would allow for a full size fridge, or at least the supermodel of fridges, the Liebherr CS1350 -no ice maker.  The kitchen could afford more room, if the pantry was outside.  And a possible island/counter where the wall is.  I’ve seen other units in my building, on my line, that have renovated as such - 1) the kitchen was extended into the living area along the wall, but the apartment was extended as well, into a combo with the apartment next door, turning my apartment into a kitchen/dining room/office; 2) an island separated the hall from the kitchen, and 3) the coat closet next to the kitchen was knocked out to make it bigger.  Those who know me, know that 3) is not an option.  I may have The Littlest Kitchen, but I also have The Largest Wardrobe.

 

This dream bubble popped when I expressed this idea to a friend who said, “Ugh, you wouldn’t want your fridge in the middle of your apartment”.  He’s right, and I have a plan, a good plan to follow.

The Electric Problem

Maybe not so much of a problem a my own ignorance.  I did not realize that in order to add a new line of electricity that they will have to cut open the wall to lay the lines to the fuse box.  All the way to the fuse box.  The problem is that my fuse box is behind a fixed bookcase.  So fixed, that in order to get to the fuse box, there was a cut out in back, should I need to access it.  Now the whole thing needs to come out, hopefully without being destroyed.  It breaks my heart.

I guess I thought that the electric fairy would magically be able to connect the new circuits.  Not so.  But in order to have enough juice in the kitchen, not one but two lines need to be laid down, especially since my oven needs to be electric, not gas.  I have to be 200% safe with this, and if it means more time effort and money, so be it.

When I got news of this, it was right before I was heading out to see Cai Guo-Qiang at the Guggenheim.  An oddly appropriate exhibit to see in my state of mind, the gunpowder “paintings” and installations eased my pain a bit.  Prevailing in the work was the idea of in destruction there is creation.  Cai’s elaborate pieces whose laborious preparations take enormous time and effort, is gone in seconds, leaving behind a whole new being.  Granted that my kitchen can’t be compared to art, but seeing transformation on such a grand scale, gives me new hope.

This Week’s Progress

Running at a good clip, the cement has been laid down and cracks filled, the shelves have been taken down and filled, and a new line has been put in. All improvements, but I’m still not ready for installation next week. The tiles haven’t been put down, the electricity isn’t done, I don’t even have an oven yet, and my beloved cabinet could use some more TLC. I’m not bothered. I’d rather have it done right and slowly, than shoddily and on time.

I have managed to get that pesky screw out of the cabinet, all it took was the right tool, a heavy duty plier/pincher thing. It came out in seconds.

The Oven Situation

Up until now, I did not know the difference between a wall oven and an undercounter oven, I pretty much thought that they were one in the same. That is until I called Euro Chef, the American distributor of DeLonghi appliances. A friend had told me that she wanted to have the same set up as I was doing, but couldn’t due to code. In my query, I found out that the DeLonghi was not meant to be an undercounter and that in order for it to comlpy to the national gas code, it has to be 22″ off the floor. Freak out - I already purchased the oven, now I can’t use it? The purchase can be undone, it hasn’t even been shipped to me, but it’s finally time to do homework.

1) Is it really that bad?
Trawling through the internet, I come to find that Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy has the same combo as I do, set in the way that I want to. Now, if this guru of renovation has this, how bad can it be? I e-mailed him and have yet to find out. On one website, a similar question was posed, and the response was that probably nothing would happen, but it would void the warranty and should something happen, it would probably void one’s insurance. That would be bad.

2) The alternatives
Making sure that I’ve checked the “technical details”, that the oven is “undercounter installable”, I think I looked at every wall oven on the web. Most are completely out of my price range, or downright ugly, and not much comes in 24″. So it came down to three:
-Fisher & Paykel - the top of my price limit, but a reputable brand
-Fagor - never heard of the brand, could be hard to get
-Ikea - do I dare?
I gave the choices to my architect and he whole heartedly chose the Ikea. He thought it was the best looking of the three and pointed out that it was made by Whirlpool. Having seen it this weekend, it was neither flimsy or sad.

More recon on the web revealed that all Whirlpool ovens are not perfect. One door shattered, one door got stuck while in use, one control panel melted. Is this better than the inappropriate DeLonghi?

It occurred to me that DeLonghi also makes an electric range - for almost twice as much money - could this work for me? The instruction manual shows undercounter installation, but can I put the cooktop above it? I’ll have to talk to a real person…

Renewed Cabinet Interest

I had completely lost interest in the “vintage” cabinet for over a month. I had pretty much written it off as my painter’s problem, whenever that time comes. Besides, I weekends were for having fun with my friends. But as two of my friends left for the long haul to LA, it was back to me and my cabinet.

Without the old cabinets in the way, I was able to get a new perspective and position on the gunky undersides. The corner cat was able to sand off some of the edges and flat areas well, but I still needed Rock Miracle for the corners. I used up what little that I had left, realizing that I also need a sharper scraper since my plastic scrapers has been dulled down and mucked up.

The big accomplishment was removing the offending towel holder. With a hammer, two screwdrivers, scissors, pliers and the mantra, “lefty loosey, righty tighty”, I was able to take out the body and one of the screws. Unfortunately, one screw is way stuck in there. I may need the many strength of the opposite sex to get it out, or leave it there.

Post-Demo

What looks like a disaster is on a slow road to progress. The small notch in the wood floor adjacent to the kitchen has been skimmed off so that the edge is smooth. The BX cable for the extra electrical line is being run to the column where the column has been knocked out to house the line. Assuredly, the box for this separate line has been added. What feels like two steps back is really two steps forward.

There is so much more to be done before the cabinets get installed the week of May 6 - finish the rewiring, patch the holes from the rewiring, seal and cement the floors, tile the floors. My cabinet maker and I decided that the best time to paint would be after his installation and before the marble, since there is no point in painting the walls where the cabinets cover it up.

I think about how much time that I frittered away on the old cabinet, when I should have given more thought to the rewiring. The enormity and necessity of the task didn’t really hit me until the old cabinets went away and I saw what really needed to be done. So much work for so little space!

Planning the Pantry

I have been procrastinating for over a month, maybe two, in figuring out my pantry/bookshelves. In accordance to the plan and continuation to the rest of the apartment that has been done, there will be a bookcase in the hall that is like the ones that are already there. Same height and construction, but the height of the shelves will be shorter to accommodate shorter books, and shallower for just a tad more space. Basically, I want it to function like the crappy old bookcase that is have there now. So the new bookcases should have similar heights to the elder, and not match the newer side opposite of it.

This will be back to back with the pantry shelves, which are inside the kitchen. The pantry shelves have always been conceived to be like those orderly kitchen shelves aplenty in the Porn-kea catalog - matching jars and bottles, exotic packaged of foodstuff, and repetitive cans - an art director’s dream. These shelves are even more shallow than the bookshelves, wide enough to hold a mason jar, or a box of cereal in a single row. Again, I think the heights can be similar to the crap bookcase, if not a wee shorter if need be when the other variables are taken into account - the outlet, the intercom, the intersecting microwave cabinet. An ideal plan, which hopefully works with my reality.

Kitchenless

I fully admit that I am a creature of habit. In the morning, I get up, make coffee in the French press, and read the newspaper. Without a kitchen my whole coffee routine is thrown off and I actually have to think about it. Can’t boil water, I heat two mugs of water in the microwave. Each time I want water, I have to walk to the bathroom. After I stir the coffee grounds in the press, I have to walk over to the bathroom to rinse and deposit the spatula that I use to stir my coffee. The dirty dishes sit in the drainer in the tub. When it’s time to take my shower after the newspaper, I have to move the drainer back into the main room. What a pain.

I’ve been dreading washing the dishes in the bathroom. There’s something about food in the bathroom that grosses me out. Maybe it’s literally the expression, “Don’t shit where you eat”. I digress. It wasn’t bad, just a dinky sink and a non-pivoting faucet. Not that I look forward to doing this for a month.