Kitchen Deconstruction

We had a big weekend.  A really big weekend.  A weekend so big I woke up this morning with a headache and feeling like I'd been hit by a truck.  I wish I could say it was because we just celebrated too hard after watching the Giant's first victory of the season.  Except it was because we did major work on the kitchen.  And it was brutal.

Just removing the countertops was an adventure.  First we had to learn how to disengage our stove, which required finding the manual in the basement (and our basement looks like an episode of Hoarders, it's so embarrassing).  Eventually we got the stove top off the counter (we shut off the gas - don't worry), but then the sink was even worse.  The trap was welded to the drain and required a hacksaw.  The other pipes, even with a monster pipe wrench, had 50 years of corrosion to twist through.  The hot water shutoff valve to the faucet was completely broken so we had to shut off the hot water to the house and keep a bucket there while working.  Then there were the clips and screws connecting the basin to the countertop, the screws so completely rusted that they required a wrench and brute force.  If the countertop wasn't a giant L and the sink wasn't cast iron, we would have taken them off together (we tried- impossible).  Seriously there were a couple scary moments in there where I thought serious injury might occur.  I promised Mike I would visit him in the hospital.

Yet somehow it all came out.  The sink, the faucet, the old (NASTY!) drain - gone.  The countertop (with some serious maneuvering) made it off the cabinets and outside without breaking anything.  The stove is awaiting re-installation.  The ugly old vent was removed so we could clean it up and remove the final piece of back splash it was sitting on.  We chipped away at some additional plaster to make room for the new green board coming in for behind the backsplash.  I could finally reach the deepest parts of the base cabinets for priming.  Our kitchen finally became a blank canvas.