General Upgrades & Ideas

[Bo Diddley]

My wife thinks the tile backsplash in our new kitchen is boring. She wants me to hang this decorative metallic thing above the stove to improve the aesthetic appeal. The issues:

- I don't want to drill any holes into the tile.

- The outer rim is very narrow and the only part that comes into contact with the tile.

I tried using some 3M Command strips to hold it, but they weren't getting enough contact to hold it in place. I also tried putting a bead of clear caulk on that outer rim, but holding it in place while waiting for the caulk to firm up and adhere didn't work out so well.

Any ideas on how to get this thing to stick to the tile without having to drill into the tile?

20221219_125213.jpg

A faster drying glue might work. Liquid Nails? You could put a wood jig below and to the side of it to stabilize it while the caulk dries. There are certainly different epoxies that would work, but that might be more permanent than you're going for.

[BigPiney]

I used Gorilla Glue to reattach the soap dish nin my kid's shower when my daughter fell against it and broke it off. It is holding well. It was the one in caulk tube.

[Moliere]

My best guess is to try epoxy but I really don’t know if it’ll stick well to tile. You can get one of those four minute epoxy things at Lowe’s and they work well and fast. I like the idea of using something to prop it up so you don’t have to hold it while it dries.

[Pelado]

The kitchen cabinets in our new house are in need of some new stain. The prior owner said the wood is naughty knotty alder. I matched the stain at Sherwin Williams.

I've been reading some online guides this morning on the process of restaining:

- remove hardware
- clean with TSP
- lightly sand
- apply sanding sealer or pre-stain wood conditioner
- stain (possible multiple coats)
- apply polyurethane sealer

How important are the steps for sanding sealer/pre-stain wood conditioner and the polyurethane sealer?

Any other tips/tricks for making the project go smoothly?

We have a lot of projects on our to-do list at our new place. Several of them were waiting on the removal of the raised island in the kitchen. Here's a picture that includes ita little bit:

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My brother-in-law came over to help and we got quitea bit done that day - removing that portion of the island, removing the electrical outlet from the raised island, drilling a new hole through the floor, removing the countertop from the remaining island, salvaging the back panel of the old island to use as the finish end piece of the remaining island, putting the electrical outlet on the new end piece, etc.

Here's what it looked like with the new (unfinished) end piece and counertop (before I re-secured the toe kick trim):

20221227_014318.jpg

So then i did a couple of coats of stain and another couple of coats of polyurethane to both that end piece and several of the other lower cabinets - especially the ones under the sink that were really stripped.

This is after I'd stained the end piece but before I'd stained anything else or done any polyurethane coats:

20221231_141101.jpg

So last night I made my first foray into epoxy for the new island countertop. Here's how it looks after round 1:

20230106_072340.jpg I was expecting the sides and edges to get more color from the epoxy running off and spilling over the edges, but it didn't quite work how I was expecting. I'm considering doing another round to correct that.

[Moliere]

Looking good!

What is your countertop? It kind of looks like concrete but it might just have a protective cover on it now. I also assume you are still within code even after removing the raised portion of the island since you sitll have an outlet on the island. In Texas at least you are required to have an outlet on an island.

[Pelado]

Looking good!

What is your countertop? It kind of looks like concrete but it might just have a protective cover on it now. I also assume you are still within code even after removing the raised portion of the island since you sitll have an outlet on the island. In Texas at least you are required to have an outlet on an island.

MDF with 1" x 2" pine drop edge.

Even if we'd removed the outlet instead of just moving it, we would still have an outlet in the island because some genius thought it would be a good idea to lean down every time one wants to reheat something. There is a cubby on the side of the island for the microwave. We moved the microwave to a kitchen counter.

Here's what the countertop looks like after round 2:

20230106_232733.jpg
The edges still aren't doing what I want, but they're better than last night.

[BigFatMeanie]

Looking good!

What is your countertop? It kind of looks like concrete but it might just have a protective cover on it now. I also assume you are still within code even after removing the raised portion of the island since you sitll have an outlet on the island. In Texas at least you are required to have an outlet on an island.

Most jurisdictions have this as part of their building codes. I assume it's prevent trips or other disasters because of cords strung across the walkway? E.g. - someone tripping or otherwise getting entangled in the cord of an electric deep fryer on the island could easily end up disastrous.

[Bo Diddley]

MDF with 1" x 2" pine drop edge.

Even if we'd removed the outlet instead of just moving it, we would still have an outlet in the island because some genius thought it would be a good idea to lean down every time one wants to reheat something. There is a cubby on the side of the island for the microwave. We moved the microwave to a kitchen counter.

Here's what the countertop looks like after round 2:

20230106_232733.jpg
The edges still aren't doing what I want, but they're better than last night.

That looks nice.

[BigFatMeanie]

That looks nice.

Are you referring to the big penis pattern in the countertop or to some other part of the project?

[Bo Diddley]

Are you referring to the big penis pattern in the countertop or to some other part of the project?

Paging Dr Rorschach...

[Moliere]

MDF with 1" x 2" pine drop edge..

I’ve never heard of or seen MDF countertops. MDF hates water so crazy to have it in the kitchen. It does look nice and I assume they put some type of protective coating on top of it.

[falafel]

I’ve never heard of or seen MDF countertops. MDF hates water so crazy to have it in the kitchen. It does look nice and I assume they put some type of protective coating on top of it.

I guess you missed that he covered it in epoxy?

[Moliere]

I guess you missed that he covered it in epoxy?

Yeah, I thought the epoxy was on the edges. Interesting and looks cool nonetheless.

[Pelado]

I’ve never heard of or seen MDF countertops. MDF hates water so crazy to have it in the kitchen. It does look nice and I assume they put some type of protective coating on top of it.

I guess you missed that he covered it in epoxy?

MDF is the preferred substrate for epoxy countertops because of its exceeding flatness - doesn't require a lot of sanding. I've got a few layers of Sherwin Williams Duration paint under three layers of epoxy. Shouldn't be too much water getting through that. If it were going around a sink, then I would also have waterproofed the underside of the MDF. I didn't worry about that for the island.

When we epoxy the rest of the countertops, we won't bother with MDF since we can just put the epoxy on over the existing laminate (after sanding and other prep).

[Pelado]

Are you referring to the big penis pattern in the countertop or to some other part of the project?

I'm not compensating for anything, you are!