My time is now divided between working in the kitchen and other projects outside. With only ten more days before I leave for China I need to take care of things I have been putting off. There is garden work to do and lawn work around the fences. If I get the lawn and garden work done then there will only be simple maintenance the month I am in China and then when I get home I can get caught back up again.
Several nights ago we had a surprise frost and lost some of the garden. That will have to be replanted. The weatherman is calling for frost Sunday and Monday nights. That means we will have to cover up frost sensitive plants. That would be fairly easy if the wind wasn't blowing. Before a frost the wind will stop, but in the evening when we need to cover things up it is blowing hard making it difficult to cover things up.
Back to the kitchen, from the picture below you can see some progress. I have cut and put down the base for the laminate and laid it on top of the base cabinets. I will not secure it down until I have the drawer hardware installed. At the present time I am searching for the right hardware, but haven't found it yet. I will have to do an Internet search to see if I can find the kind I want.
Two more views.
The next view shows a new feature. It is a fixed table, providing a place for four to sit. There was discussion among family members over this table. Should it be a table or a counter? Is it the right size? Should we place chairs, stools, or benches to sit on? At first the counter idea sounded good, but the more I thought about it I realized the construction would not be as good as a table. Besides, Americans do not spend enough face to face time together and with a counter you face a wall. I visualized some nice Chinese food in the center of a table, with chopsticks in hand, reaching for food, talking and eating. In my mind the counter was not an option. Another option was a movable table instead of a fixed table. I pointed out the merits of making it fixed and decided that I would make it fixed. Discussion then focused on how to sit at the table. I felt it should be with an appetite and good manners. Others said on chairs or a booth or a bench or stools. As the builder, all I cared about at the moment was what the person was going to set on in the corner. A chair would require more space, causing the table to extend out farther into the kitchen. A bench was suggested. I felt with some more work that option could be improved upon and suggested a booth. I did some research to determine spacing characteristics so I would know where to place the table top so I could get back to work and form the top to fit against the wall and base cabinet. What you see in the picture below will be painted before I secure the top to the legs and the wall. The table top will be covered with the same laminate as the counter tops.
I plan to prime the table Monday morning and put on the finish coats Tuesday and Wednesday. I would like very much to start on the doors. I plan to work only in the mornings in the kitchen and outside in the afternoons.
