Sink or Swim!

I thought I'd let you suffer through the stress and anxiety of wondering what happened to the sink project... Did the new sink leak? Did the gaskets burst, spewing water sky high? Did the worst things that could happen happen?!?!?
NO! It all went swimmingly and we've been enjoying our new cabinets and sink for almost a week now. I've just been remiss (and busy!!) and haven't gotten around to finishing this epic.
So to pick up where we left off, Joe and Bob installed the freshly painted cabinets- ones repurposed from a couple of friend's kitchen re-do.And as you can see, with the exception of a couple of places that needed repainting after the cabinets were fitted, it already looks cleaner and brighter.
This part of the process looks simple enough but my hats off to Bob and Joe for figuring out how to fit all the jigsaw puzzle like pieces back together and then still have to do the actual plumbing.

For a few days, we washed dishes in the downstairs bathroom sink. It was a tad inconvenient but thank goodness for that downstairs sink. It felt almost awkward to think of using the kitchen sink again. The dish drain board had to sit on the washing machine and necessitated many trips back and forth from the bathroom to the kitchen. I don't miss that procession!
But finally, the sink was dropped in and the side pieces were glued on and braced. That's what the random looking piece of wood is all about: causing pressure to hold the side panels in place until set. But look at that glowing red sink! Fabulous! Around the edge, you can see silicone caulking oozing out of the friction between the sink and the counter surface. Bob carefully sliced that away and then he was ready to hook up the pipes and connections underneath. That's the nerve wracking part, because if it isn't sealed correctly, we're back to Leak Ville!
But it worked and brilliantly when Bob turned on the water.

So the sink is now in use and every time I approach it to get a glass of water or place a dish in the sink to wash it, I admire the amazing red sink... with no leaks. The doors still remain to be reattached but we're waiting a couple of days until the underneath dries out completely. But it looks and works great and I don't cringe when ever I get a glass of water.

That Sink-ing Feeling

Get ready for some truly gross before pictures! I mean, our sink was BAD. Last year, pre-tornado, we were aware that the faucet on the kitchen sink leaked. Water was seeping out from under the (badly chipped!) metal housing and oozing down around the sink and between the wall and the countertop. I even (cringe) removed a few mushrooms that sprouted in that crevice between the wall and the faucet. Hey! They were small...

Here's the underneath- unpleasantly soggy and one of those places in your house you don't want to even think about, let alone dwell on. And this is the cleaned out picture! There were boxes of things like steel wool pads that had disintegrated so completely that when I reached in to remove them, they dissolved into a nasty smeary, rusty rotten pile of slime. It was awful cleaning everything out from under the sink.
And the sink itself! Holy cow! It was never a paragon of sink perfection but as it was made of plastic, it just became entirely stained and no amount of Bartender's Helper's Friend helped. Take a look:

Wow... even I'm impressed by how hideous that was!
So I was attempting to say that we meant to do the sink/ counter/cabinet replacement last year but never got to it as we had so much exterior clean up to do. But Bob and our intrepid friend Joe (thanks Joe!) set to work on Tuesday and tore all this nastiness out.

 Here's Joe's arm being featured alongside the old cabinet (and dishwasher) that are a-comin' out. Notice the lovely neon lime green wall detailing: I think the entire kitchen was once that refreshing color! (Yeeeesh!! My eyes!) Anyway, here's what it looked like after circuit breaker had been tripped, water had been shut off and cabinets had made their way to the backyard:

Bob and Joe cleaned that disaster up and I painted the interior white. (I also did my (small) part by painting all the doors, trim boards, floor boards and various other connection pieces white... the least I could do!) Enough eye sore! I'll post the happier photos of successful rebuilding the cabinet and installing the sink in a few days!