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Kitchen Remodel - Phase 1: DIY Dilemma

jlhelms92
Nov 10, 2017
3 min read

Phase 1: Building 3 upper wall cabinets and a fridge cabinet

This blog post, in ways, was hard to write. Even with a busy year winding down, I dreaded spending the time to write this. All of my DIY projects to this point, while small, have been a success. Phase 1 of my kitchen remodel has not necessarily been a complete failure, but more of a humbling learning experience. Going into this remodel, I knew Phase 1 would be difficult. Between our lack of carpentry skills, tools, and work schedules, it was going to be an uphill battle, but I couldn’t fathom how difficult it would be for us. I know some of you out there have the skills to do these things easily, but this was a huge undertaking for us newbies. I’m not going to do a step by step like I usually do but I will give you the gist of it.

Nate and I started building the first cabinet in February. In the dead of winter with help from our close friend we used his tools (and skills) to help cut down the larger sheets of plywood. All the pieces cut, cabinet walls, dividers, and trim, Nate and I began to assemble the cabinet. Believe it or not it went relatively smooth. Nate used the power tools to secure each piece (and impressed me). With my math and his hands we created…a solid plywood box!

After we pre-built the structure of the cabinet, we put it into place. This was when things started going wrong. I should have known from all the other DIY blogs I read that walls are not straight and I should have known that my house would not be the exception. We placed the plywood box above the preexisting cabinet and could not get it to sit flush against the side wall. This caused the box to overhang by a quarter of an inch or less on the opposite side. Stupidly, and as my best attempt to remedy the problem, I tried sanding down the DIY cabinet’s wall. Yea, it didn't really work.

I just decided to deal with it being slightly off another time and we began getting the cabinet ready for the face framing trim. We didn’t own a nail gun but luckily one of Nate’s friends offered to help us out. He and Nate planned on putting up all the trim on their own. The bottom piece fit with no problem. We decided to put the vertical trim pieces including the divider trim in place, followed by the large top piece. This is when we ran into our biggest problem. The vertical pieces were too large and instead of measuring each piece individually or installing the large top piece first, we cut down the pieces the same amount. You know they say measure twice, cut once for a reason…and of course we didn’t do that. So we ended up with trim too small for the space..gah!!! It really only kept going downhill from there. We didn’t have the tools to keep cutting down wood, we were wasting wood, and the large trim wasn’t going to easily go in place either. Everything we tried went wrong.

It was rough after starting off so positive and strong. Nate was over it, I was and wasn’t at the same time. We really just felt defeated. Phase 1, cabinet #1 sat idle for months. During that time Nate was busy with overtime and we were planning our wedding. We just didn’t have the time or dedication that we once thought we had. If anyone knows me, they know I’m a perfectionist and don’t take failure well. The half-built cabinet was a constant reminder.

Over dinner with my close friend one night I was discussing how Phase 1 of the kitchen remodel was going nowhere. I had really wanted to impress him by taking on an ambitious project like this and told him I felt more embarrassed than anything. He made my night by offering to finish Phase 1 for us. He would use my plans and follow my vision to help get us over this first, but major hurdle. It was honestly one of the kindest gestures I’ve ever received. I was still going to get my dream kitchen and the work done would be perfect and better than anything I could have wished to accomplish.