There is nothing like having had a vision for more than six months and seeing it come to life. The new counter is far, far from done, but the steps I took today have brought Miranda much closer to realising her full potential as a solo full-timer’s home.

Today, I completed most of the ‘rough in’ for the new counter. It will need a lot of finish work, but I am not sure yet what material I will be using, so I am holding off for a bit. Croft left me something that could be perfect, but I have another option to explore first. Another thing that I need to do is install a door in the front that I will close when I drive so my dishwasher won’t go flying. As it is, I’ve installed it over skidproof material, which will go a long way to ensuring it stays put. Finally, I need to put a shelf over the drawer to hold a garbage can. Recognize that drawer? It’s going to be much more useful now!

So far, the project has cost me nothing other than the bottle of wood glue I’ll need to replace. I got the counter supports from Croft’s wondrous scrap bin and all the angle brackets and screws came from the dismantled dinette back. Under the dishwasher, I put the other dinette bench’s thin plywood covering and then a few spacers to raise the dishwasher up a few more inches. I’m running a test load right now and if I find drainage wasn’t adequate I can move the dishwasher up another two to three inches.

The only thing that hasn’t gone according to plan is that the hoses are much too long and inflexible to be poked through an opening and coiled away. Moreover, they tend to hold a lot of water, so leakage could be an issue. I therefore need to rethink how I’m going to store them neatly when the dishwasher isn’t in use.

Injury count for today was just one. No matter how many safety precautions you can take, power tools can be unpredictable. I managed to get hit in the right wrist by a piece of plywood flying at high velocity and the result was some pretty impressive cuts and bruises. Now that I have been properly injured while working on a reno project in Miranda she is officially home. 😀

Even though the project isn’t done yet, I can already see that it does not look too out of place. Using existing materials and components has kept certain proportions and enabled me to greatly improve the kitchen’s efficiency without compromising Miranda’s balanced layout.

Another thing I need to do is get some stools so that I can sit at the counter and work on the laptop or eat! It’s not obvious from the pictures, but I did build this like a proper sit-at counter, with the counter being wider than the base so there is space for my legs.

Wait till you see what I have in mind for the other dinette bench. But that won’t come for some time yet as I want to get this project buttoned up first.

Before making a hole in the paneling to feed the hoses and cord through, I wanted to make sure that there was nothing hidden within the two layers. So, I removed one side of the paneling and got an added benefit. The dishwasher has a bit of a bump in the back, which fits nicely between the supports, meaning I that I won’t have a huge gap between the back of the cabinet and the dishwasher.

making sure the door opens free and clear

I’ve done a lot of recycling and rearranging of Miranda’s components. The former dinette drawer is going to get a lot more use here.

I’ve only had that extra 2′ of counterspace for an hour now and I already have no idea how I lived without it. I have a place to put a mixing bowl or to cut vegetables or to rest a hot platter!

Next project is to put a shelf above the drawer for a garbage can. This is how I’m going to ‘deal’ with the cupholder holes in the counter; I can just drop garbage down them into the can. Shame about the holes, but I think that I’ve come up with the best possible solution to deal with them.

The dishwasher’s rack had oddly placed pegs, so I took a closer look at it and discovered that the previous owner had wedged in a Rubbermaid wire shelf, presumably to prevent smaller items from falling through.

As it turns out, that exact tray was on my (extensive) ‘to buy’ list and enabled me to convert one of my cabinets from ‘neat, but piled on top of one another’ to this:

Now that I’ve got that cupboard under control, I’m motivated to do the same to the cavernous one next to it and just realised that it won’t be as hard as I thought it would be. I’ve been treating the cabinet like a corner model, but it’s not really, and I’ll be able to put a shelf across the back as though it was a regular cabinet.

Putting in a shelf above the big bowls in the back would enable me to bring down the bakeware that’s above, freeing the deep, but skinny, upper shelf for baking sheets and cutting boards.

(I really should be in bed, but when I get into one of these organizing moods I think it’s best not to stop myself. 😀 )

From the minute I began planning the front room renos I had a very strong image in my head of just how I was going to install a countertop dishwasher. After doing research, looking at other people’s installations, and actually squeezing a dishwasher in here, I am very surprised to discover that my exact original idea will work.

Taking apart the dinette will entail a lot of work, especially the bench near the stove. I would have to relocate heating ducts and the propane detector, cut through a steel frame, and find a new and not-so-optimum location for items stored in the bench. More than once I had the thought that the bench frame has exactly the right dimensions for the project I had in mind. Why not leave that bench intact, rest the dishwasher on it, add on supports for the countertop, and create a new hinged door in front to get at the stored items previously accessible from the top?

Another issue was how was I going to get water and power to the dishwasher? By having it face the kitchen, I would have to route the hoses around the unit and possibly create a draining nightmare. The obvious solution was to face the dishwasher towards the lounge then cut a hole in the paneling at the rear through which I could fit the hoses and power cord. Not ideal but not a big deal. Another issue that was brought up while discussing the dishwasher with someone was how low it could be installed before drainage became a problem. There cannot be more than 3′ difference between the bottom of the unit and the tap.

So, you can imagine that I thought that getting the dishwasher into its permanent position was going to be a huge hassle.

Behold the dishwasher in its permanent, albeit naked, position:

Right now, it’s just resting on a very thin piece of plywood. I’m sure it’s strong enough to support the weight since it’s meant to hold the weight of an adult, but I do plan to use some plywood scraps to make a stronger base just in case. A drill and jigsaw combo will make short work of making a neat hole in the paneling at the base of the dishwasher for putting the hoses and cord through.

The icing on the cake is that the hoses and cord are long enough to reach the sink and plug and the height difference is less than 2′!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a drawer that I will be installing next to the dishwasher and over that will be space for a garbage can.

As for my new counter top, you can see it in the above picture. *gives her readers time to go back up and stare at the picture for a second then nods* My dinette table just happens to be made of the same material as the kitchen counter top and even has the same oak trim. It’s exactly the right width for the project and only a tad short, but I’ve already figured out how I’m going to compensate for that.

Hopefully, it’ll stop storming tomorrow (been going strong for 30 hours now) and I can get into the workshop to get to work on my new counter!

Needless to say, the carpet at the bottom of that unit is staying and I’ll be laying the new flooring around it. Much less complicated!

The rest of the details of this project shall remain shrouded in mystery until I get this project done. 😀

In a shocking turn of events, my dishwasher seller was correct and the Home Depot guy was completely ignorant!

Yup, the missing part for the dishwasher is common and readily available. The part cost me 8.90$ with the tax. Add the 70$ for the dishwasher and the 15$ for gas, and subtract 25$ for the plywood and my dishwasher cost me 69$. What a bargain!

Plywood you say?

I rolled into Home Depot this morning and saw a big sign saying ‘FREE WOOD.’ It looked like a bunch of pallets that would make good kindling, but I took a closer look. Lying on top was a 4’x4′ sheet of  1/2″ plywood with a smooth top in impeccable condition. This high quality stuff is worth at least 25$. Needless to say, I’ll find a use for it! So, I’m glad that the clerk was wrong the other night since it made me go back to Home Depot where I was able to snag this great bonus!

My dishes are being washed as I post. *joy*

Post edited an hour later to add:

The dishwasher’s performance exceeds my expectations! In order to test it, I purposely left out a few dishes without rinsing them (gross, I know, but the things I do in the name of science!). Even though the stuff in the bowls was pretty crusty (remember, science!) by the time I ran them through the Danby they came out clean!!! Glasses and cutlery sparkle. I am very impressed!!! The next challenge will be to find a permanent home for the unit. My idea of building it into the new countertop could theoretically work provided I can find some longer hoses, so that will be the next project. 🙂

My only quibble with the unit is that the manual sucks. The previous owner threw his out since he found it to be useless, but did provide an online link where I could download it. Nowhere in the manual does it say how to operate the unit, such as when to turn on the tap water (before you do anything else) or what the various settings do. Thankfully, the dishwasher is pretty much idiot proof to run. My only question is whether I should be sending hot or cold water to it. I’ve been sending cold and the dishwasher has been heating it up, but I’m not sure if that water is in fact hot enough. Something to research.