We Have Discovered Oven

I dug, pounded, cut, sawed, chopped and trimmed eventually I found oven.

As I mentioned yesterday, my dear wife and I bought a new oven to replace our old crappy one. I was hoping that the retrofit of the cabinet for the new free standing range would be rather a simple process. It wasn't.

I widened the opening in the cabinet so that it was the standard 30 inches. The space between the cabinets was 30 inches. But there was so much mortar and grout squeezed into the open space that the opening was only about 29.7 inches. This is probably why we had some of the level troubles we had with the old stove. It was crammed into an opening that was too narrow for it. This caused some buckling and hense our inability to get the whole thing level.

After returning the opening to a full 30 inches we slid the oven into it. This is when we discovered that it stuck out 2 inches too far. Strangely enough the strip of tile along the back side of the oven opening was exactly 2 inches deep. So that strip of tile had to go. But if I removed it I would also have to replumb the gas lines, which stuck out of the wall by 2 inches.

So I cut the two tiles on either side of the strip that I had to remove. This was a little time consuming because the only tools I had to do this with were my dremel tool and a supply of cutoff discs. It took several discs, but I finally got through the tiles without cracking either one of them. Then I chiseled the tiles off the backerboard, then I chiseled out the backerboard that needed to be removed. Once I got all that stuff removed I was able to saw through the board and remove it.

Then I cut out the drywall around the gas line. Because of a stud that was in the way I couldn't simply route the line over to where I needed it. But I was able to install a box in the wall, shorten the gas line and get it stubbed out with a valve inside the box. This way everything is flush with the wall and there will be room for the stove to slide all the way in.

I finally got the gas lines all connected and checked for leaks. I got the stove initally leveled, and ready to go. Then I got it slide into place. A little final leveling, straightening and we were finally ready to go. I picked up my tools and then got out of the way while my dear wife cleaned up my mess. I was willing to do the cleanup, but she wanted to chip in and help, and I was tired enough to not argue with her.

So we now have a new oven in the kitchen. I have three new holes in my left thumb, a pretty nasty scratch and bruise on my right bicep and a new dent in my head (you gotta watch those vent hood corners). It wouldn't be a home improvement project without a couple bumps and scrapes now would it?

This project was more complicated than I hoped it would be. But not not as bad as I feared it could get. It would have been simpiler if we had replaced our oven with another slide-in. But we just couldn't find one we liked as well as this one.

So next up is new flooring for the kitchen and dining room then new countertops for the kitchen. I think I will definately hire out the new countertops. I like doing the home repair stuff myself, but that job may be more than I'm ready to take on. A 2 inch by 30 inch strip took me most of this morning. At that rate it would take me all week just to get rid of the old countertop and backsplash.