Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

Is there a convenient way to fix finger wear gouges in cupboards.
Ours are around fifty years old, but there’s lots of them and they match.
 
My biggest issue with the basement is that it's about 78" without any floor/ceiling so meeting the 80" minimum is very difficult.

And unless I go lift it up, or get a variance to the code then it's a non starter...of course there's also the non-code version of the work that can be done.

EDIT:

Red - where the drain is for the entire cottage
Green - where I would plan on putting a bathroom if we ever got to that stage in the basement

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Blue - where some idiot (not my dad...I asked) decided to install a horizontal line for drain from bathroom to the sanitary sewer

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If I ever do build up the basement...I'll need to figure out a way to deal with that blue rectangle as the line is literally at mid-height in the basement. Either put it up higher, or dig into the concrete and build it like it should have been done 20+ years ago.
Plumbing is an easy fix. Raising the cottage or lowering the slab is big work.
 
I’ve done two IKEA kitchens , first one took a while but once your into Swedish think , the boxes go together very quickly . The metal cleat system is very good , get a laser level on a tripod and make life simple . I like them so much I’d put one in almost any house .


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I use them whenever possible. The uppers hang on a track, the lowers go on adjustable sets.

The hard part is assembling the cabinets - that will take more time than hanging them.

Another cool thing is most of their doors are standard sizes and interchangeable. I refreshed my sisters 20 year old blonde birch kitchen with new doors and drawer fronts for less than $1000.

We have anthracite color doors in out kitchen, wife bought one gloss red and one gloss green door that we snap on during the Christmas season.
 
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The ones I'm looking at from IKEA use the metal cleat system.

Hardest part will be finding the studs and ensuring the stud finder is a good quality one.
For uppers, if it’s a new build or gut, I block between the studs using at least 2x6 .
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If it’s a kitchen Reno ( not gutted) I rip off a 30” wide strip of drywall and replace it with plywood screwed right to the studs. You still want to hit studs when hanging boxes over the ply, the advantage is you know where the studs are, you eliminate the bump on vertical drywall seams, and you have a reasonably strong connection if the box ends sit wide of a stud.
 
For uppers, if it’s a new build or gut, I block between the studs using at least 2x6 .
View attachment 80011

If it’s a kitchen Reno ( not gutted) I rip off a 30” wide strip of drywall and replace it with plywood screwed right to the studs. You still want to hit studs when hanging boxes over the ply, the advantage is you know where the studs are, you eliminate the bump on vertical drywall seams, and you have a reasonably strong connection if the box ends sit wide of a stud.
Thanks that’s a great idea with the plywood. I’ll use that if I get the job.

Quote went out yesterday so now we wait.

But why such a wide strip? The rail is very narrow and should be enough for. 10-16” strip to hold it up.
 
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Thanks that’s a great idea with the plywood. I’ll use that if I get the job.

Quote went out yesterday so now we wait.

But why such a wide strip? The rail is very narrow and should be enough for. 10-16” strip to hold it up.
It is the same height as the cabinets. You can do 10 or 12” , I use one bigger patch to eliminate the rise in drywall butt joints and to have plywood on the upper and lower screw points for the cabinets. .
Plywood behind is completely optional if you find the framing and drywall are well done. Just did a stud using a nail then measure.
 
Last ikea kitchen I did was thier new product , it also uses a metal wall plate for the lowers , only the front legs are on adjusters , back clips to the wall plate . It’s genius . If you have space , assemble the boxes in another room so you’re not tripping over stuff . Have two cordless drills with appropriate bits , and a new Philips screwdriver to adjust the hinges .
I just built two maple boxes for a ski chalet in Ellicottville with 5 piece doors to match the 30 yr old painted kitchen . The cost was about twice what two ikea boxes would have cost .
My only advice with IKEA and I think @backmarker mentioned it , have all parts on hand before starting unless your sure you can fit the part later . If they back order you may end up driving to another store ( miles apart) or waiting weeks .



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Working for Habitat for Humanity as the Salvage Coordinator I removed over 400 kitchens. I've seen cabinets hung every which way - you would truly be amazed.
A number of times we would remove every visible screw and still the cabinet wouldn't budge. After ripping it down we would find another screw hidden in behind somewhere holding it place.
After all that I really think you could keep them in place with one screw and the 3 or 4 inevitable coats of paints around the edges.

Sometimes cabinets have the built in toe kick area and sometimes they sit on a separate raised toe kick. Once we pulled up about 8' of lowers and found the entire raised toe kick area full of chicken bones. The end of the run was at the wall to the garage. Something had been busy a very long time. Homeowner was kind of freaked out.
 
Last ikea kitchen I did was thier new product , it also uses a metal wall plate for the lowers , only the front legs are on adjusters , back clips to the wall plate . It’s genius . If you have space , assemble the boxes in another room so you’re not tripping over stuff . Have two cordless drills with appropriate bits , and a new Philips screwdriver to adjust the hinges .
I just built two maple boxes for a ski chalet in Ellicottville with 5 piece doors to match the 30 yr old painted kitchen . The cost was about twice what two ikea boxes would have cost .
My only advice with IKEA and I think @backmarker mentioned it , have all parts on hand before starting unless your sure you can fit the part later . If they back order you may end up driving to another store ( miles apart) or waiting weeks .



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Thanks. Plan is to assemble it all at home and then take it to the installation spot. If anything is missing I'll know right away before I start ripping up things in preparation for installation.
 
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