Last weekend Frugaldad finished all the wood trim on corners of the island and the trim on the edges of the tile.
Look at all the layers in the island! We started with a 2x3 wall.
It looked like this at the beginning.
Then it got some drywall around the dishwasher bays and a cabinet in the middle.
Add some more cherry wood, the countertops and the sink. All that was left was the top of the wall.
We always knew we wanted a substantial piece of wood to be the top of the back wall of the island, kind of like a mini-bar to belly up to. Frugaldad found a nice piece of 8/4 cherry at his hardwood supply place and spent several hours jointing and ripping and chopping and routing and hand-planing. And now we have this. (excuse the plugs that have not been trimmed off yet)
Quite a transformation, wouldn't you say?
In addition to finishing the island woodwork, he also finished all the electrical in the new kitchen. He ran a 220v wire for the stove and connected all the wires for the previously-run outlets and the dishwashers/disposal down at the panel in the basement. Look how neatly he has wired the panel.
We finally decided not to buy a new garbage disposal for the new sink. The one we have works fine and we hardly ever use it. I don't put anything down the sink intentionally. All the food scraps and peelings go to compost or chickens. Only small crumbs and bits of food go down the drain and I only run the disposal when the drain starts getting a little slow. It takes about 3 seconds and things run fine again. I did put my foot down and demand a new rubber drain gasket thingy. (you know, the thing in the drain hole?) The one we had was dried out and yucky looking and for only a few dollars we replaced it. From the top, the disposal looks new. For a few dollars in pipes we re-plumbed the current sink without the disposal. When we start using the new kitchen and move the dishwasher over (and add the second one as well), we will just have to replace one tailpipe for another and both dishwashers will have a place to drain.
What's next? We still haven't ordered the pot-filler faucet fixture for over the stove. When it comes, we'll install it and then finish the tile backsplash on the wall. Then the kitchen will be fully functional (we'll have to move the stove, dishwasher, and fridge from the old space) except for the lack of doors on the cabinets.
