Step Seven: Hardware & Hinges
Finishing touches and all that fun stuff... not so much.
I picked out about five different options for hardware. I tested them on the existing island and hated them all. Everything fancy and awesome I picked out was too big or just didn't look right mounted in the original holes already drilled in our cabinets. I had no intention of trying to refill those holes since everything was already all painted and ready to go.
Back to the drawing board, I had to chose some smaller door pulls.
There really were only three choices that worked with our cabinets and existing holes.
We decided to go with the pull on the right. Yeah!!!
Hinges were another story. I bought the same hinges we had, but in brushed nickle. Unfortunately, they were a disaster. When we tried the set I purchased on one of our freshly painted doors, the door wouldn't close all the way. My frustrated Handy Man started prying and bending the hinges to retro-fit the door to get it to close all the way.
Slightly scratching the hinges, I told Handy Man that this was not going to work. I mean honestly, what a pain in the hind end if we had to manhandle every single hinge for 20+ doors. Not to mention, each time he manhandled one of the hinges it looked like he was on the verge of stripping the screws from the wood as he cranked on the hinges in frustration. Come on Buddy I just spent weeks painting those doors!!!
We decided that we might have to consider hidden hinges in order for this to all work.
Hidden hinges involve using a 35mm drill bit with a drill press to cut out the depressions for each of the cups of the hinges. We would have to drill to the depth recommended by the hinge manufacturer in each door. Each perfectly painted door.... Most importantly, we had to make sure not to drill all the way through the cabinet door.
Drill through one door... we are toast! Dead in the water! All that work for nothing!!!
Since we knew we were getting rid of the kitchen island, I suggested that Handy Man experiment on the little door for bake ware cabinet. If he messed it up, we knew the hidden hinges weren't going to work. I am not really sure what our plan C was going to be then...
He got to drilling.
The dry run was a success. We had a new plan for our hinges and Handy Man was soooooo excited that my DIY job was suddenly becoming his DIY job! hahahaha
I went and laid down some more $$$ and bought a gaggle of hidden hinges.
Fingers crossed.
Drink in hand.
High blood pressure meds on order... we started to drill a finished door!!!
The moment of truth....
No turning back now!
Two very large holes stared up at me from the garage floor.
The hardware nested in each hole perfectly. Please let this work!
A couple more screws retrofitted to the cabinet boxes...
And ta-da!!!
Hidden hinges were our answer! And the hardware we picked was also a winner!
Oh my goodness I was soooooo excited! It's all coming together!
Handy Man now had a lot of drilling to do. The next night after Handy Man got home from work, the family got busy on our manufacturing line. Handy Man was our driller (better he mess something up and not me!)
Our Brown Eyed Girl was the saw dust vacuum queen!
She's pretty handy with a shop vac!
Mr Blue Eyes and I were in charge of wiping down all the doors after they were vacuumed. I also got the awesome job of removing these white, molly like, plastic fittings from every screw. They were greasy and annoying.
Handy Man and his little brown eyed helper also worked on pre-drilling the hinge screws. He ran the drill and she worked her vacuuming skills some more.
Can I tell you how much my heart sings watching Daddy and Daughter build stuff together?
We took a break for dinner and I think Handy Man lost his marbles. The first door he went back to pre-drill ended up as a major casualty... My loving husband forgot what he was doing and drill All. The. Way. Through. The. Cabinet. Door.
Not once...
Three times before he realized he had made a huge mistake.
For some reason, I can not find the photo of evidence. But I assure you, it happened! Considering all things, we really only had one casualty and I was successfully able to putty, patch and repaint the door.
I started installing the rest of the hardware as the doors were mounted. I came across another bump in our road. Each pull comes with two lengths or mounting screws for you to choose from. A shorter screw length for the doors and a longer length for the drawers. The lengths are standard in every package.
Huston we have a problem...
The drawer length screws were too long for my drawers.
Ohhh Handy Man???
Handy Man was even MORE excited that my DIY job just gave him an additional DIY job which involved custom grinding each drawer screw down in order to fit perfectly.
I sure do love and appreciate that Handy Man of mine! xoxo
We installed the final cabinet door that needed three band-aids.
And...
We were done!
What a difference!
Painted cabinets was a success!
I love how bright my now looks. I love the gray wall color even more. It really pops!
This DIY project isn't really over quite yet. We have a few other plans in the works before our DIY remodel is completed:
1. Remove dated kitchen island and replace.
2. Add a kitchen pantry and desk area so that my laptop and files are not always sprawled out all over the kitchen island.
3. Replace existing counter-tops with granite - I will just be observing this portion of the project.
4. Install some back splash
5. refinish the hardwood floors and add carpet to the living area in our great room.
Geesh, I better get busy!
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