This is the weekend when the pope comes to Philly, and I’ve made plans to get out of Dodge. But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening to my house. The Irishman has the opposite plan: he’s not leaving South Philly, and he’ll be keeping busy by doing (the top half of) my kitchen! I put together a few last minute sketches to discuss exactly how the cabinets will meet the walls. He asked for a little more detail than I provided in the crude sketch I made before. And then when I remembered that we had this stamp at work, I COULD NOT RESIST.
Will this come together without a hitch? Well… have a look!
But I have another problem. I can’t afford appliances. The stove was in rough shape to begin with so I didn’t bother protecting it when I tore the kitchen ceilings down and now it’s really bad.
But my friend Eugene came to the rescue. He lives about 3 blocks away in a house very much like mine, though it’s bigger. And he just got a loan for a total gut remodel that’s set to begin in October. So here you’re looking at my new kitchen! Sorta. I’m now taking his countertops, sink, faucet, and garbage disposal. Pretty exciting! So these countertops will definitely go in my Phase 1 kitchen. The appliances likely will, too, but I have other options. It comes down to which stove is worse.
For the appliances, I was just gonna let them all be white until I saw that he just has a normal range hood. So no matter what I use, the black over-the-range microwave that came with my house is going in. His stove is a little better than mine but it’s not great. I have a black dishwasher and a stainless steel fridge available to me if I want them… and I don’t have a lot of time to choose as both sets are coming out of places that are being gutted.
As for the counter tops, remember that granite that’s still sitting on my parents’ driveway? The one that caused us to put a dent into my parents’ car? Now all that was for nothing because I decided it’s not even worth the trouble of cutting up to reuse. It’s going on Craigslist once I know for sure. And it gets a little worse. My dad sealed the driveway, and the granite was too heavy to move so he just painted around it. So when the slab disappears there will be a very obvious mark there. At the very least, it makes me smile that I’ve turned my nose up at granite and taken beat up powder blue Formica.
Chad's Crooked House 