Range Notes.

The range we bought was different from the one we originally chose, for several reasons. We thought the Kenmore 79363 was dual-fuel (electric oven, gas range) like the one in the store, but they offer a gas-only model as well. This range has five different burners, a cooktop that makes it easy to move pots around, and several different burner sizes for simmering, hardcore cooking, and regular heating. It came with a cast-iron grilling rack that reverses to a frying surface, something we haven't played with yet. The difference between electric elements is huge—water boils much quicker, and the heat it puts off is immediate.

The oven has a convection option, soething that came in handy for browning the turkey on Thanksgiving. It's 5 cubic feet of space, which means we were able to fit a 20 lb. bird and two casserole dishes of stuffing in at the same time. The user's manual is huge, and there are several features we haven't figured out yet. It also features a warming drawer on the bottom, which we tried using for the rolls on Thanksgiving.

Overall, I'd say we're thrilled with the range. It's everything we wanted without a $3,000 "Viking" badge stamped on the front.

Posted on November 30, 2005 4:23 PM | link to this entry

Refrigerator Notes.

The fridge was the one appliance we didn't change our minds on. We bought the Kenmore 76233 21.7 model in stainless steel. Consumer Reports gave it a good review, and it has a stellar EnergyStar rating, so I was sold. It's been very good so far. The freezer is ice-cold (it doesn't play around, be warned) and the fridge is absolutely huge—two gallons of milk fit comfortably in the door, something I've never seen before. There's a built-in water dispenser on the left side, and the filter produces cold, fresh water that tastes pure. However, because it's set up with the thin plastic water hose used for most ice-cube makers, the water comes out slow, which means the door is open for a long time. Consider the next higher model with the dispenser built in on the outside, or another model with a true water dispenser.

Other than that small quibble, there's nothing else to complain about. It's quiet, huge, and worlds better than our old fridge.

Posted on November 30, 2005 4:03 PM | link to this entry

Dishwasher Notes.

So we went with the Kenmore 16279, in black. (The other model we'd picked out was unavailable.) So far, it's working well; we've found that there are problems with spotting and haze on the glasses, and had to increase the water softener setting higher from the factory default to prevent etching. As with any appliance, we're still learning its peculiarities, but overall, we like it. We're also going to stick with the black front—after being told we could order a custom cabinet front mount, I called Kenmore and couldn't get anyone on the phone to find the part. So be warned, folks-the Sears salesmen will advise you to go through Kenmore directly to save money, but Kenmore might not be able to help you.

If you have children, I'd recommend this one. The controls are on the top, which hides them under the granite of the countertop, away from little fingers. It has several different washing options (Turbo Wash being one of them) and when it's operating, it's very quiet.

Posted on November 30, 2005 3:04 PM | link to this entry

Kitchen/Dining Room Updates.

After finishing most of the touch-up work in the kitchen, this weekend I moved out into the dining room. (Some history: the dining room has been unfinished since our first year in this house. We scraped wallpaper and pulled the lousy paneling off the walls before the wedding, pulled the carpeting up the night before our first Fourth of July party, and painted last fall. It's been in stasis ever since.)

The strange hole in the front corner has been filled. There are two new baseboards installed and finished with cap molding, waiting for a fresh coat of paint. The other two will get new molding and a sanding before being painted—it's hard to get a 17' length of wood without having it specially cut—and the remaining nicks and dings in the wall are getting smoothed out.

I'm leaving the window as it is for a while, until we can afford a replacement—getting something architecturally accurate with modern construction is going to cost big bucks. Until then, we'll cover over the holes with curtains and I'll tack in the replacement molding.

Also, I covered the nasty paneling out on the front porch with three(!) coats of white Kilz to try and brighten the light coming in the front of the house. Years of nicotine have already burned through the paint and stained it brown.

With these two rooms done (or close to done), we'll have three rooms on the ground floor completed, and we'll be able to focus on the living room.

Posted on November 14, 2005 11:58 AM | link to this entry

HOLY CRAP IT LOOKS NICE DOWN THERE

That is all

Posted on October 24, 2005 4:19 PM | link to this entry

Kitchen Update, Day Six.

Yesterday morning two compact men of Central American descent pulled up in front of the house and unloaded several thousand dollars worth of new appliances. At first we were worried when they took the boxes off the units in the truck, but they treated our shiny new children with care as they hefted them up the front steps and into the front porch. I stood back with my coffee, amazed, when the smaller of the two men carried our dishwasher up our front walk and into the house on his back. (Note to Sears: Send your deliverymen out with a Johnni-Lift or something next time.)

And then, it was time to say goodbye to the legacy range. The two men strapped it to the cart, carefully navigated through the hallway, and then practically threw it down the front stairs. Goodbye, lousy electric range: may you never spatter grease, burn cookies, collect hair, or stink up our house again.

B. the electrician came back and finished roughing in the electrical work as well. As with the rest of the house, we'll have several dozen outlets and dedicated circuits for all the appliances instead of two ungrounded plugs and an extension cord—halleleujah, amen.

I followed B. last night by patching up various holes in the plaster, insulating the weight channels in the window sash (which were empty, no wonder it cooled off in that room so quickly) and slapped a coat of Kilz on the Pepto-pink walls. In one way, I'm glad I was laid off, because this room needs a lot more work than I expected to get it ready for cabinets.

Posted on October 18, 2005 11:53 AM | link to this entry

Planer-Fu.

This weekend I finally got to the two projects that have been bugging me for weeks now. The upstairs bedroom (The Cream room) has been closed up for months, waiting for an electrician to come and hook up the wiring. Since that got accomplished two weeks ago, It's been waiting for me to cut new baseboards and reinstall everything I ripped out. After I ran data, phone and cable to the basement and made several trips to the Lowe's for lumber, I put in new shims and tacked the boards back into place for fit. Everything checked out, so the baseboards and cap molding are in and ready for primer.

Downstairs in the kitchen, the sticky mess on the floor that's been collecting cat hair and dust finally got addressed this afternoon. I started at about 3 and by the third quarter of the Patriots/Steelers game I had everything on the east side of the kitchen up and clean. Observe:

There's more under the cabinets and under the range, and the perimeter of the floor needs to be hand-scraped, but it's beginning to shape up. After a good drum sanding to the point where it's all an even tone, it'll look much nicer.

As for the installation, we had a brief freakout with the cabinet colors. The color we thought was "red" was actually a sort of yellowish brown, and that was definitely not cool. After cancelling the original order, we got a pair of full-size cabinet fronts and compared colors with a sample of granite (the color is called Bianco Romano), and finally decided on the red. This set everything back by about two weeks, but that's fine—we can use the time to get all the other stuff organized. The other good news is that the quote for the granite is actually a couple hundred dollars cheaper than the original ballpark I'd been given.

Posted on September 25, 2005 7:07 PM | link to this entry

Floor Removal

This is the result of four or five hours' work pulling up a layer of linoleum, a layer of luuan, another layer of linoleum, and finally a layer of tarpaper on top of perfectly good Georgia pine.

Posted on May 31, 2005 6:45 PM | link to this entry

Kitchen Floor, Beginning

Here's what the kitchen floor started out as, in May of 2005. (That's right, I tore the floor up in the end of May, and we're just now getting the tarpaper off.)

Posted on May 25, 2005 12:30 AM | link to this entry