You Know What They Say About ALMOST

    Yep, they say it only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades but after struggles the past two days with what should have been fairly simple jobs I feel the need to show what's been done.  One of the struggles had to do with the venting for the microwave/exhaust fan above the stove.  I've already lamented about having to enlarge the hole in the granite which I thought would be a hassle but really went quite well!  The vent, now there's another story.

   
     The microwave has a 3 1/4" x 10" rectangular vent, centered near the rear of the unit.  This is pretty standard.  The problem was that the builder of the house has the vent located slightly off to one side and has forced it into an undersized hole making it oval.  Code says that vent pipe should be solid, not flexible ducting but after several attempts to create my own solid ductwork I gave in and used flex.  Even that was a hassle but now it's done.
     The last thing to give me fits was the dishwasher.  If you've ever installed one it's pretty straight forward, run your drain, run your water inlet, and then add electricity and you're done.  This unit has a new way of attaching the water inlet and it's not user friendly.  Add to that the Maniblock plumbing system that the developer of these homes used 16 years ago and the problems compound. Needed to get real creative with various adapters and fittings to get things hooked up.  Almost cross threaded the plastic inlet on the machine but managed to work my way past it -- that would have been a real nightmare!  But, know what?, it's just a memory now because we're in and running fine.

     It's somewhat hidden by the island but the stainless looks great.  Also decided that since the drawer fronts had to be removed for painting we'd hinge them and add trays to them to keep those icky sink related items like sponges, scouring pads, etc.  Added that to both items.
     There are only two things remaining left to be done for the kitchen makeover.  When the new double ovens are delivered I know I'll need to enlarge the cabinet to accommodate them but that's wood and I'm pretty adapt at working with that.  That should be sometime next week so in the meantime I'll probably add the glass tiles that will go above the splash to the bottom of the cabinets.  Here's a teaser picture of how it should come out:

Not a real clear shot of it but you can get the idea.  They'll really add a bit of sparkle to the project.
Have to admit, I'm ready to get back to the shop and work on strictly wood for a while.