In the last year, we have nearly doubled the amount of storage space we have in our kitchen. It was a very basic kitchen when the house was bought, what is called an "in-law suite". It had cabinets only over the counter top. And I found myself filling them all up within a couple years.
One of the walls had space for alot more storage units. So I found myself some that would nearly completely fill the wall. It just left a little space between the top cabinet and the two bottom ones.
I went to my local hardware store and picked up seven more cabinets. Some of them were the same size and others were one offs.
My friend @ibt helped me with this project, I made him a cup of buttered coffee to help him out.
He got to attaching the smaller cabinets together, making install easier. Nebula was curious the whole time and would smell all the new cabinets.
He would pre-drill and then drive in GRK screws, the head would sink in making it look much nicer.
Adding framing to the wall where the cabinets will attach. Since we have a few levels we need the framing at different heights.
Lining up the cabinets perfectly before running in the screws is important. And he did a great job of making sure everything looked flush.
With the cabinets tied together we placed them against the wall. The kitties moved as we had some big cabinets moving around.
We test the second level of cabinets and it looks like it all fits on the framing.
A closer look at the cabinets against the wall, we will drive screws in through the back of the cabinets into these frames.
He also adds framing to the side so these cabinets are very secure.
Adding the upper cabinet was more tricky, had to make sure it was not too far up pressing against the drop ceiling. We decided to place it all the way to the corner to cover up a old TV cable line hole that is no longer used.
Loved @ibt's vest, he bought a tactical vest and uses them to hang his tools on. Quite smart, and love his magnetic screw holder on his chest.
Once we figured out exactly where we wanted the upper cabinet I held it up while he drove in the first screws. And then I could stand back and watch him finish installing this upper cabinet.
There we go, all installed.. Just need to do a little cleanup.
He has a cordless vacuum and sucks up all the drill dust and anything left behind in the cabinets.
After spending about half the day building this we just hungout. @ibt is a good friend of mine. I met him shortly after moving to Georgia at a local Muay Thai gym. Since then we have gone camping and taken some fun road trips. Nebula really likes him and laid next to him awhile we just relaxed for a bit.
After he left, I got to staining the cabinets. Wanting them to match my others I added about four coats of boiled linseed oil.
Each coat was wiped off and I kept an eye on the rags as they are known to combust. Left the bag by my smoke alarm but luckily nothing bad happened with them.
Though near the end on the second day the bag got quite hot and I had to take it outside and add water and then throw them away. Be careful using these oils as they are quite unstable in the air.
Day two of staining they already had two coats, and were looking close to the other cabinets.
I added two more on day two, wiped off the excess and then left them out to dry overnight.
Learning how important it is to wipe off the excess oil otherwise it leaves a sticky film behind. The above has yet to be wiped off so it looks quite shiny.
I took off all the hinges so make staining easier, they are quite simple to reinstall so its no problem.
Day three everything goes back together, the stain is looking nice and pretty close to the other cabinets. Its hard to get an exact match and I am fine with that.
A magnetic cup for screws is a valuable tool. Keep the screws from going anywhere.
It took me about an hour to reinstall the cabinets, but once all done it looks great! I am glad to have help from my skilled friend @ibt. He was well paid for this job but at the same time it was great hanging out with him and doing another project together.
One day I hope he can build me a cabin, I asked him if he could take a month off from his full time job at some point and when I have land we can build a structure. Looking forward to that, but for the moment its good to do smaller projects.