BedStuy Reno
« Here Comes the Kitchen! Kitchen Chronicles, Part 3 »
April 9, 2008
Kitchen Chronicles, Part 2
On continue!
The first round of installations took care of the wall, minus one wall cabinet that was mysteriously missing from our order . . . we were able to fill in that blank thanks to P's brother, R, who went to the Stoughton, MA Ikea before coming for a visit to Brooklyn one weekend. He bought and brought us the missing wall cab, doors for said cabinet, and some Behandla, Ikea's proprietary oil for their wooden countertops (which we bought, incidentally). "Behandla" was said about a thousand times that weekend. It's a funny word.
So, the second round, or weekend, basically, of installations netted us our island. This was a little more complicated since the cabinets wouldn't be attached to the wall. We had to locate and mark carefully the island boundaries on the floor and then arrange the cabinets accordingly. Each cabinet did connect to its neighbor, so that gave the whole assembly some strength and rigidity as an object. We also had bought what are basically finishing panels to cover the exposed sides of cabinets, which we cut to size and then attached by screwing through the cabinet walls into the finish panel. At the island, where we have back-to-back cabs, this is especially important for hiding seams. In the pictures, the finish panels are the ones with blue tape around the edges. We put that on to protect the edges while cutting the pieces.
The island came together quickly, so we kept going, following up with . . . the countertop! Unbelievable, to get to this moment. These things were just giant boxes for so long, it was crazy to open them up. The wood countertops are really nice, they are solid strips of wood laminated together in a butcher-block style. Super solid, and super heavy, by the way. Cutting these to size was nerve wracking, since we didn't want to screw up. We didn't have a lot of room for error. Cuts involved cutting two giant boards to size to cover the countertop, and creating the cutout for the sink. (The sink is Ikea's version of what people call a "farmhouse" sink. It's large. It looks cool, but what's strange is for its size, the basins are kind of shallow. Oh well.)
Cutting the countertops was hard, we used a circular saw, when clearly a table saw would have been ideal. But we don't have one, so, circular saw it was. We did ok. Seams are not perfect where the two pieces butt together. Decent, but not perfect. G told me not to stress it, so I didn't, and I don't. We screwed the countertop pieces into place and then lifted the heavy ass sink into place, and caulked like crazy around the edges where it meets the countertop cutout. Not bad for a weekend's work.
Comments
I know this post about your kitchen, but I had a question about the hexagon pattern on your bathroom floor.
Did your contractor make that pattern or did the tile come that way? Did your contractor make the pattern as he was laying the tile down?
Posted by: guest at April 9, 2008 9:15 PM
I love hearing about how you are doing this yourself. Even if things aren't 100 percent perfect (i.e. seams butting together), it looks like it is coming together really nicely - the butcher clock especially. In a world of bought things, it must be so much more rewarding to know that you did the work yourself and that your sweat equity created your new kitchen.
Any info on the durability of the butcher block? Can you cut on it? Any idea of the price per sq ft?
Thanks
Posted by: Green Roof Guy at April 9, 2008 10:54 PM
Things are coming together really nicely. I like how you'll have some storage as well as seating at your island. Will it be open shelving or will that have doors as well?
The sink looks great!
Just be really careful with the Ikea countertop. Its a great deal but you really have to maintain it with the mineral oil and prevent it from getting wet because it will warp. I know this from personal experience - in another house, I had a totally ruined countertop because of a careless tenant. Once its warped, the mineral oil or sanding won't help. It also stains but thats less of a big deal if you don't mind some "patina".
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at April 10, 2008 8:41 AM
Things are coming together really nicely. I like how you'll have some storage as well as seating at your island. Will it be open shelving or will that have doors as well?
The sink looks great!
Just be really careful with the Ikea countertop. Its a great deal but you really have to maintain it with the mineral oil and prevent it from getting wet because it will warp. I know this from personal experience - in another house, I had a totally ruined countertop because of a careless tenant. Once its warped, the mineral oil or sanding won't help. It also stains but thats less of a big deal if you don't mind some "patina".
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at April 10, 2008 8:43 AM
P-We have been using the exact same counter top for all of our rentals and we know your pain regarding cutting the darn thing. We bought the oil too but didn't use it as we felt we needed something more heavy duty for the rental apartments which may be taking some abuse. So we used poly. Basically sanded it down real good, polyed, sanded, polyed, sanded, polyed, sanded polyed, sanded polyed. We put 4 to 5 coats on and so far---its really working out. It looks great -there is no staining, warping or even scratching--might be something to consider...
We will be posting our own adventures with Ikea soon....
Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at April 10, 2008 9:03 AM
Clamp a straight edge to the piece of counter that you need to cut and then run your circular saw along that edge for a straighter cut
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at April 10, 2008 9:41 AM
To the first commentor - the tiles we did ourselves! check the posts - G designed the pattern and layed them out herself in the room next to the bathroom, then we put down our thinset and transfered the tiles section by section to the floor.
She created the pattern by taking standard 1' square sheets of black and white unglazed hex, and popping out tiles from the mesh backing, and then placing in loose black or white pieces where they had been. It is labor intensive, but the tile patterning is really the kind of thing G is into, and happens to be awesome at.
- Peter (from Bed Stuy reno)
Posted by: guest at April 10, 2008 4:09 PM
We used pure tung oil on our Ikea butcher block counters--about 3 or four applications, allowing to dry completely in between and then sanding/tack clothing. 2.5 years and counting they still look great. It may be time to redo in the most used areas (i.e. around sink) but overall it's been very little maintenance and no warping or cracking. We love them!
Posted by: guest at April 10, 2008 8:22 PM
hey, that's great to hear. I have a feeling that these things will get marked up over time, i.e., if we do cut on them, staining, etc.
To the person who asked about the cost of the countertops, I don't remember exactly, but it's certainly an inexpensive option. The pieces come in standard sizes, and you cut them to what you need - each sheet is somewhere around $100 - $200 bucks if I remember correctly.
- Peter (from Bed Stuy Reno)
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 10:22 AM
hey - good going on the work so far. But, I must ask - why no undermount sink? So much easier to maintain, and looks so much better too.
Please post photos of the island (front and back) when you get done.
Posted by: guest at April 11, 2008 11:55 AM
to 11:55, we were at Ikea, ordering the rest of the kitchen, and we just really liked the look of this sink. It was pretty much, wow, cool sink. Do you like it? Yeah, me too. Under 200 bucks? Ok, let's get it.
Mrs. L, yes, on the island we will have doors on that storage. We were inspired by G's sister's kitchen island, also Ikea, which also has storage on both sides of the island. But we also wanted to get space for a couple stools, so guests can hang out while we cook, etc.
- Peter (from Bed Stuy Reno)
Posted by: guest at April 12, 2008 9:01 AM
Thank you so much for documenting the process of your kitchen reno. I just met with a designer yesterday to begin the process, and I have already learned so much from reading these blogs.
We will probably choose some engineered stone for the long counter with our sink, but I would love a wood countertop on the opposite wall. (I am also smitten with the farm sink- specifically a concrete, cayenne sink from Zoli. I'll get it if I win the lottery!)
I appreciate everyone's thoughts on the durability of wood, and the requirements to keep it looking nice.
The options seem to be:
1) Ikea's special oil
2) tung oil
3) poly
Anyone else want to weigh in on the best way to keep the butcher block looking good??
Posted by: Rev at April 12, 2008 2:18 PM
Thank you so much for documenting the process of your kitchen reno. I just met with a designer yesterday to begin the process, and I have already learned so much from reading these blogs.
We will probably choose some engineered stone for the long counter with our sink, but I would love a wood countertop on the opposite wall. (I am also smitten with the farm sink- specifically a concrete, cayenne sink from Zoli. I'll get it if I win the lottery!)
I appreciate everyone's thoughts on the durability of wood, and the requirements to keep it looking nice.
The options seem to be:
1) Ikea's special oil
2) tung oil
3) poly
Anyone else want to weigh in on the best way to keep the butcher block looking good??
Posted by: Rev at April 12, 2008 2:29 PM
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