Lone Locust Productions

Month: May 2006

  • End of Day Two

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    Mr. Soong’s work is done.

    We hired him in the remove the soffit, affix the cabinets to the walls, re-install and re-duct the range hood and cut the countertop.

    I’ll finish the rest.

    The most finished are the wall cabinets, seen here. I’ve mounted the shelves, doors and handles and they’re pretty much finished. I still have to play with the door adjustments to make them all straight.

    The lower cabinets are still basic. The endges of the cut countertop are drying and can be mounted tomorrow after some trim work, then I can install the drawers, doors and handles on the lower set.


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  • The First New Cabinet

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    Just before lunch we mounted and completed the first new cabinet. This one is actually completely new space over the refrigerator. Prior to this it was just wasted space.

    Progress is good on the rest of the cabinets, too. the range hood is completed, and the lower cabinets have been set.


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  • Early Morning Excursion

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    The plan this morning was to get out to Home Depot and find a better way to install the electrical box that needed to be placed for the range hood.

    That ingenious rail system has a drawback. It places the back of the cabinet a full half inch away from the wall, making it very difficult to sink in a tiger grip electrical box.

    Instead, I mounted a shallow, surface mount box to the wall, passing through the back of the cabinet. It seems to work and now Mr. Soong can complete installation of the rangehood and removal of the antique vent overhead. (The new cabinet doors won’t be able to open unless the grill is removed.)


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  • End of Day One

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    And the end of the work day (ha!) we had the first set of cabinets placed.

    I’ve still got to relocate the electrical outlet in the middle section. Mr. Soon needs to install the rangehood and ductwork, but apart from trim this batch is done.

    Tomorrow we install the lower cabinets and counter top. That should be fun.


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  • Ingenious Hanger

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    I’ve watched more than my fair share of “This Old House” and, having once been a construction worker, I’ve seen more than my fair share of kitchen cabinets.

    I’ve never seen a more ingenious wall hanging system than the one featured on IKEA’s cabinets.

    A metal rail is securely fastened about a quarter inch from the ceiling. Into the rail bolts are placed, which are positioned so that they protrude through the back of the cabinet.

    You just fasten the rails, place the bolt and lift the cabinet over the bolts, then secure them.

    In this picture, Mr. Soong, our handyman, is placing the first cabinet.

    You can also see in this picture that the offending soffit has been removed..


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  • Some People Call It “Fun”

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    Somewhere on a sign at IKEA, there’s one of those question and answer style signs that says something like, “How come I have to build everything myself?”

    and the asnwer says, among other things, “…some people find building their furniture fun.”

    Talk about trying to put a positive spin on a tedious and often frustrating experience!

    Here I am in this picture assembling one of my “fun” wall cabinets.


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  • Macbook – No Show

    Macbook back

    So the new MacBooks came out yesterday (coincidentally on the exact same day that my iBook suddenly started running terribly, terribly slow – coincidence or conspiracy?) and we went down at lunch to the Apple store to take a look.

    They didn’t have any and so my credit card was safe.

    I had to use this picture from someone else’s flickr account, because I still haven’t seen one.


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  • Stage One Demolition

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    In anticipation of Thursday’s removal of the soffit, I’ve begun to remove the cabinets.

    First the base cabinets were removed. I was not happy to discover that the flooring does not continue under the originals. This might make it more difficult when we come back later to install a new floor.

    You can see the lovely original kitchen color on the walls. It almost matches the almond-colored stove.

    I’ve also removed the doors from the upper cabinets. Unlike the new ones, which are in 3 sections, these old cabinets are one unit and so I was not able to bring them down safely by myself. They’ll come down with the soffit tomorrow.


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  • Crazy Jim’s Pizza

    Crazy Jim’s has been just around the corner from my house for years, and I must admit, I don’t go there very often. Not because I don’t enjoy it, but just because it’s small, crowded and a little on the expensive side.

    The picture here was taken in August when we made our first “review” visit, but I was not feeling well that evening and came down sick the next day. I felt it probably had impacted my enjoyment of my pizza and so decided not to review at that time.

    Last week we tried again with more success.

    Crazy Jim’s is always busy and they should be, they make a good pizza.

    One thing I really like about Crazy Jim’s is that, for dine-in customers, they’ll only make a 9″ pizza. I don’t know why they do that, but I’d like to think they’re standing on principal: “Smaller pizzas are always better and if you’re dining in we’re going to serve you the best pizza we can. If you’re traking a pizza to go, you probably don’t care about quality anyway, so let them eat big pies.”

    I’d like to think that’s it, anyway. In the absence of testimony to the contrary, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

    There’s nothing I’d classify as outstanding about their pizza, except that it’s consistently well-prepared and cooked. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, but it is a little on the expensive side.

    They also serve greek food which is pretty good, too.

    9″ Pepperoni, $8.75 or $0.14in2 (0.138)

    Conclusion: recommended

    Crazy Jim’s Restaurant
    4041 N 15th Ave
    Phoenix, AZ



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  • …and so it begins

    We’ve begun the kitchen remodel.

    These are a couple of photos stitched together of the west side, which is the smallest side. The lower right-hand corner is really a distortion created when i uploaded the file to flickr.

    We’ll be replacing these 1970’s reject cabinets with something a little more modern. We’ll also be eliminating the soffit so that we can put ceiling-height (39″) cabinets in.

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