Serendipity

The original plan for the kitchen windows was to have the countertop be the sills and the cabinet bottoms be the on-top sill (transom? lintel? whatever). Due to the way the cabinet tops and sizes came together, the plan for the top didn’t work (or would have looked very strange). So, there’s a gap. It’s a nicely filled gap because Kitchen Tune-Up does good work, but it is a gap nonetheless.

Perhaps I should say, “it was a gap.” It’s now a spice rack. How awesome is that?

The first step: Screw a strip of stainless steel into the moulding.

It hurt to do this because the cabinetry is brand new. There’s not a scratch anywhere in the kitchen and I’m screwing things into it.

I suppose that was the third step. The first step was to buy a strip of stainless steel. Menards had it. Whatever it is intended for, it’s not a decorative purpose. It required a bit of sanding to get rid of milling marks (I assume that’s what the bumpy lines were).

The second step was to find screws in the giant pile of “these will be handy, some day” screws and drill the appropriate sized holes. My spacing end-to-end is good, but top-to-bottom could use some work. The other one is much more centered.

The fourth (second?) step: Put up the magnetic spice jars.

These things are super-cool. I had planned to do the “mount steel plate” thing somewhere, but I couldn’t decide where. I rate them 4.5 stars. The magnets could be higher quality/strength, but the only thing that has (so far) pulled them off is filling one with salt. To be fair, salt is a very heavy “spice”. At half-full, they work fine. They’re also quite flimsy – but they are spice jars (“tins” I suppose), which are hardly subject to great forces and if they were more sturdy, they’d be heavier, which would also require better magnets. For the price, they’re 5 star.

If you’re observant, you will have noticed that they are empty spice tins. The fifth step will be to fill them as the spices move into the new kitchen.

This remodeling project has dragged on and on (it’s been over a year, now). It hasn’t been “awful”, but happy little surprises such as this are very welcome. That is the permit, still in the window. I’m not sure what we’re waiting for pre-inspection. Probably the bathroom plumbing, which is waiting on the bathroom tile, which I won’t even speculate the current state of.