Kitchen Cabinets and Tongue and Groove

Yes I know this isn't a kitchen cabinet. However before they arrived we had a myriad of things to do. One of them was to continue with the wiring rough in. Here we are installing a sub panel in the shop. This panel will feed both the shop and garage and will provide 220 for a large air compressor as well as high amperage circuits for a welder, plasma cutter, and other "automotive" tools.

Because we weren't completely ready for the electrical rough in inspection we took several pictures of the walls in the kitchen and utility room to show our inspector. Our inspector is on light duty due to an ankle injury and it was much easier for us to take her the pictures and obtain approval to insulate those walls than ask her to make a special trip out to see them in person. Here you see the walls between the shop area and the kitchen and utility rooms fully insulated. This was necessary because the tongue and groove wall material has to be installed prior to the kitchen cabinets and of course the insulation comes first.

Once the "Boss" completed the insulation she started cutting the tongue and groove for the kitchen walls. Having the proper tools for the job makes it a great deal easier. This is a Makita sliding cut off saw and not only is it easy to use, it makes quick work of squaring and cutting the tongue and groove.

This short wall will separate the kitchen from the dining room. At the moment only one side will be covered with tongue and groove so our building inspector will be able to see the electrical wiring when she does her rough in inspection. The tongue and groove actually goes up very quickly.

This is another case of having the right tool for the job. Here the "Boss" is using a finish nailing gun to install the tongue and groove. This could be easily done by hand but this gun saves having to set each nail by hand. If a nail set slips off a finish nail that section of wall could easily be damaged to the point of having to replace the entire piece. This gun virtually eliminates that possibility.

Where ever you have an electrical outlet or switch that section must be cut out of the tongue and groove. This is easily done with a small jig saw. Care must be taken when making the measurements in order for everything to fit correctly but in reality this is not a very difficult job.

The large stud wall in the kitchen was next. If this wall was going to be seen we would have used longer pieces of tongue and groove but because it will be almost entirely covered with cabinets or tile we took this opportunity to let the "Boss" practice the techniques she'll need to use when it comes to doing this all by herself later.

Here you can see the completed wall. This wall took about 3 hours to complete including cutting out all the switch and outlet boxes. If we had used longer pieces instead of practicing with shorter pieces it would have gone much quicker.

Once the cabinets were unloaded we found it pretty difficult to move around on the main floor. Who knew there would be so many boxes.....

Friday morning Francis, our cabinet installer, began his work. He estimates that it will take him 3 days to get all the cabinets completely installed.

Some of the first boxes he unpacked were sections of the master bath vanity. As you can see the bathroom will be a relatively dark Oak color while the kitchen cabinets are natural Hickory.

Prior to installing the bathroom vanity we needed to partially install the ceiling. Because there are electrical components the inspector will want to see we can't totally install the ceiling at this time however doing the section above where the vanity will be located will save us from having to work over and around the new vanity later.

While Francis was busy in the kitchen the "Boss" busied herself by installing the tongue and groove on the inside of some of the closets. Here she has done the inside of the master bedroom walk in closet. The studs and electrical wiring are still visible from the bedroom side of the wall for the building inspector's approval.

Here is the small linen closet just outside the master bath. The "Boss" did this one all by herself in about an hour. Again since the walls won't be directly seen we used smaller pieces of tongue and groove rather than waste them.

Here you see the first section of kitchen cabinets installed. As I said earlier Francis has two more days of work to go before they are all completely installed because this is such a large kitchen.

That's it for another week. Next week we'll finish the electrical rough in and get a good start on the plumbing. The "Boss" will continue her assault on the tongue and groove walls and we'll finish the kitchen cabinets and master bathroom vanity. Counter tops will come in about 3 more weeks.

Check back soon.