Our original plan for today was to do as many of the cabinets as we could. But we ended up deciding we should put the couple of cabinets around the sink-plumbing in place and then work out all the plumbing for the new sink as well as the built-in dishwasher and disposal we were adding. We didn't really finish it, but it somehow ended up taking the entire day.

The first big job was getting the sink cabinet in place around the plumbing connections. We first got the corner cabinet in place, leveled, and attached to the wall, and then started on figuring out how to get the sink cabinet in. There are two pipes that supply water coming up through the floor, and a big pipe for the drain in the wall, so you can picture the tetris-like acumen involved in getting everything lined up. We finally figured out what to cut (two holes for the supply pipes, and a long slot for the drain pipe so we could sort of slide the cabinet over and then drop it straight down) and made the cuts -- and of course they were off. We went through several cycles of modifying the holes, putting the cabinet in place, and finding it didn't fit yet before it finally worked -- at which point the holes were really large and ugly (solution: getting bigger metal plates to cover the holes).

Next we had to find all the correct connections for the various plumbing bits. Since neither of us is a plumbing expert, we spent an inordinate amount of time at Home Depot wandering up and down the aisles, eyeballing valves and tubes and who-knows-what trying to figure out what we needed. With all that stuff in hand, it was time to get the sink in place by making a temporary plywood countertop (for various reasons, it will be a while before I get the real countertop in) and cutting a sink-shaped hole in it. After the experience with the supply-line holes, we managed to get this one right on the first try and put the sink in place. We hooked everything up on the supply side and actually had water running out of the faucet with no leaks anywhere -- but draining into a bucket because we hadn't done the drain or disposal yet. We had all the hookups ready to go but had forgotten plumber's putty to seal the drain to the sink. It was late in the day though, and we'd already spent enough time at Home Depot, so we just left it for next time.

Trips to Home Depot: (1) to buy sink, faucet, plumbing doodads, plywood, and electrical supplies; and (2) to buy more plywood, more plumbing supplies, and shims.

During the week I put in a little quality time assembling some more of the cabinets. Basically, we've been assembling just the frames, figuring it's easier to handle them that way and put on the doors and drawers later. The Ikea cabinets are great -- they all assemble in exactly the same way, and after you've done one you can do them with your eyes closed (or at least with your eyes on episodes of South Park). The one annoying part is nailing on the backs with dozens of tiny nails, but Nick solved that problem by bringing his nail gun. We put all the cabinets in the basement and have been assembling then we have some spare time. Here's the cabinet staging area.



Trips to Home Depot: (1) plumber's putty and an angled quarter-turn sink valve.