What I learned, Part 2

As Sarah mentioned in her last entry, we got new appliances! First of all, let me say this: They’re awesome!

The delivery guys showed up on Monday around 8:15. I spent the time disconnecting the dishwasher and stove. We also packed up the fridge the night before. As they carried the old appliances out, I would vacuum up the area before they brought the new ones in. First to arrive was the stove. I was going to use the same old cord, but they put a new one on for me. Glad I didn’t buy one at Lowes! Next to arrive was the dishwasher. Oddly enough, they left it in the living room. They lugged out old beast of a fridge out and brought in the new stainless bottom mount. It’s a thing of beauty I tell you. Shelves that aren’t cracked. A door that closes. An ice maker. Lap of luxury I tell ya…Then they carried in the new over the range microwave. I asked them about the dishwasher installation and they said to call Lowes to set it up. No problem. I tipped them $30 and gave them each a bottle of water and they were done by 9:15.

Lowes was running a promo where any dishwasher over $397 came with a free installation. I figured the delivery guys wouldn’t install it, so I called to inquire. Well, even though we bought a $600 dishwasher, our “discount” brought it under the $397 mark. So it would be $169 to install it. After easily disconnecting the old dishwasher, I said “No gracias. Neely and I will do it.”

All the existing plumbing was there, I just needed to hook it up, riiiiiight? Not in this house! Ok, it wasn’t that bad. My first mistake was I left a piece I needed on the old dishwasher. It was a 90 degree elbow that attached the dishwasher to the copper tubing. So I went to Lowes to pick it up, along with a socket kit (stay tuned…). With the new elbow in hand I taped it up and attached it to the dishwasher. I hooked up all the electrical, and the drain. It took a little finagling to get the dishwasher moved into its new home, but I nestled (forced) it in. Now I just needed to connect the old copper tubing to the new elbow. I only had about 5 inches to work with. I tried to get it started by hand but it was too tight (that’s what she said?). So I am trying to crank it by hand. I could only crank about 1/16th a revolution each time and it would probably take 50 or so full revolutions to crank it down. Just when I would think I was making process the entire fitting would pop off and I’d have to start over. The old tubing was not working. I check the connection under the sink and headed down to the local hardware store (closer than Lowes). I bought a dishwasher kit to get the 60” flex tubing I needed. It also came with the elbow I previously bought. Oh well. I taped up the fittings again and attached the tubing. Easy as pie! Turned the power and water back on and ran a test to see if it leaked, and drumroll…..OF COURSE IT DID!

Over the course of the express cycle a tiny bit leaked from the hot water line into a Tupperware container. I backed it off, re-taped it, tightened it up and ran it again. Second try was a dry success.

Stove, done. Fridge, Done, Dishwasher, done!

On to the microwave. This thing is a beast. I had every intention of installing it myself. After calling Nick with a few questions, he suggesting I wait for him to come over before hanging it. So I prepped it as best I could. I installed a socket in the cabinet above. We tore out the tiles on the backsplash to make room. Nick measured for the 4 holes we needed to drill and I drilled them. We hung the bracket, then mounted the microwave to it. Two lags in the wall and two lags in the top cabinet and it was done!

So I learned how to install a dishwasher and over the range microwave. No to mention a socket and some plumbing tricks. All things considered it was a very productive day off work.

Here are our new appliances in our old kitchen!

So Grown Up

In the midst of 'Hurricane Upstairs' we've been working hard on miscellaneous list items downstairs.

We're almost done painting the trim a semi-gloss white, although the big challenge is figuring out how to paint the bay window that the cats love to sit on. We decided that we'll paint it when it's dark out, as the cats only seem to stare out the window during the day time. Let's hope that works, and we don't come home to find white paw prints all over our furniture and carpet. Although I do love a nice animal print...

As Tony mentioned briefly, we also bought ourselves all new kitchen appliances. I know, HUGE, right? Totally huge. Buying appliances sounds so adult too. We're such grown ups. We weren't exactly planning on taking the plunge this soon, especially with all this other work going on, not to mention the little economic FREAK OUT our country is facing... not sure if you've heard about it.

But one of Tony's many connections presented us with an opportunity we couldn't pass up. And we had to make a decision within a matter of days. Without naming names or going into too much detail (and no, they did not "fall off a truck"), we ended up paying just over $2k for these beauties, saving about $1300 including all rebates:

Stove:


Microwave (which will go above the stove, saving on precious counter space):


Dishwasher:


Fridge:


Okay, so the excitement doesn't quite translate to stock photos, but believe me... They are pretty. At least I hope so. They're to be delivered next Monday. EEE!! That's my excited sound.

Now that things are happening in the kitchen, that project may be pushed to #2 on the list up from #3. We were planning on tackling the downstairs bathroom after the current project is complete. But seeing those beautiful appliances up against the oak cabinets, laminate floor, and PINK countertops may just give us the nudge to move forward with some serious kitchen plans.

Fingers crossed we can get to it by 2010.