Monday, September 7th, 2009
I have always wanted an under sink water filter. I’m not sure why, especially since we have a whole house filter. I guess it’s because the whole house filter is all the way down in the basement and I keep thinking the water gets all screwed up traveling through the pipes. I like the idea of having a filter close to the tap.
I decided that I had the capabilities to install an under sink water filter myself. I mean, I do have the brains and the patience. It’s not really a hard job, just one that you have to psych yourself into doing because you have to clean out under the sink. You know…all those bottles of who knows what and cans of what the heck it this. Throw in a few old sponges and there you have it – the area below a kitchen sink.
There was one little issue that was in the way of me installing a water filter. The faucet we had installed on the kitchen sink was a bit out dated. It was one of those “one handle” ones that sits right in the middle. Some people prefer that style, but I always liked the two handle ones. In this case, the two handles are preferred because the water filter only runs on the cold line. I like knowing that when I turn on the cold water, only the cold water is running. So, I basically needed a water filter and a new kitchen faucet. Not a problem, I’m really cheap when it comes to kitchen faucets and the filter setup was only $34. It even came with the insert.
Off to Lowe’s I went. When I got there, I strolled down the filter aisle and picked out a “Whirlpool Drop in Filtration System – WHKF-DUF.” This is the $34 jobber I just told you about. I knew what to expect because I already picked it out online. I put the filter in the cart and went over to the next aisle that had all the faucets. There they were, all lined up on the wall. I knew I wanted the chrome Peerless for around $44, but I was forced to get the $68 model because we have a four hole sink. That means that we have that extra little sprayer. You know, the one that you can wrap a rubber band around and sit back in its holder. When someone comes by to turn on the sink, they get sprayed. Yeah, that one.
I picked up the model I needed and put it in my cart. Or what I thought was my cart.
Here’s a funny little story. When I rolled my cart into the faucet aisle, I saw a nice family standing there trying to pick out a kitchen faucet. I noticed that they were kind of just randomly picking things out and didn’t know why. There are differentiating factors in faucets such as the one handle or two that I spoke of above. Also, there is the height of the faucet end. Our old faucet was low, so when I tried to get a large pot filled with water, I had to angle it such a way. Anyway, I broke the ice by saying, “Boy, I feel like I’m part of the family.” They laughed and I laughed. The father just looked at me. There were three of them…the mother, the father and the daughter. Okay, on with the story. I told them about the height issue and why and they were just amazed. As far as I was concerned, they thought I was the cat’s meow. I left the aisle to go out to the garden center.
When I got out to the garden center, I picked out two trees and put them into the cart. I stood back and looked at the faucet. Then, I wondered where the filter was. For the first time in my life, I grabbed the wrong cart. I think it was the faucet aisle family’s cart that I had taken. I left the cart outside in the garden area (because I already had the trees in it) and walked back into the faucet aisle. There it was, my cart with the filter in it. I felt bad for the poor family that had to walk away with no cart, carrying the faucet in their hands. They probably thought I was just fluffing them up earlier so I could steal their cart.
Okay, story time is over. Here are some pictures of the kitchen faucet and under sink water filter installation.
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Under kitchen sink looking up at botton of old faucet
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Under kitchen sink looking at hot and cold plumbing pipes
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Top of sink with old faucet removed
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Under sink with old faucet removed
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New Peerless kitchen faucet installed
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Whirlpool under sink water filter installed
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Peerless kitchen faucet box
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Peerless kitchen faucet model P99587-D
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Whirlpool under sink water model WHKF-DUF
Everything works great and the installation took me about an hour and a half.
I have always wondered why there is such a big price difference between faucets, and doorknobs for that matter. Either I have never used a really high quality faucet or doorknob or I am just missing something. Every time I go shopping for either, I always get the cheapest available and find that they work just great. Maybe I am missing something. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.
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Thursday, December 6th, 2007
I just got back from the kitchen place. I have to go in to pick out the counter top color and the handles and knobs. I didn’t pick out the counter top colors…I did something better. I brought home four samples. We placed a bunch on the actual color of the cabinets and kept the ones that looked the best. I took a picture for the blog here. I traded one out after I took the picture, so the bottom right isn’t the right one.
Personally, I like the one I traded in and the top left one. The wall colors will be a very light gray, with a hint of blue in it and the floor will be a tumbled limestone.
This is a photo of the handles and knobs I narrowed down to. I like the plain ones in the middle.
I will have an update of what we are going with probably later tonight.
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Monday, December 3rd, 2007
Today was a pretty busy day for us.
I think one of the most fun things about me is that I have no plan. This morning, while I was sitting at my computer, I decided to call Lowe’s to make an appointment for Laura and I to head down and meet with someone. I had my measurements all set. I called and made the appointment for Wednesday at 7PM. I kept pacing back and forth, because the woman I spoke with on the phone had no business designing kitchens, much less answering a telephone. I wasn’t at ease.
I was talking to Laura about it when I decided to give the local place a call, just to talk. We talked and they sounded good. He invited us up for a visit. At 11AM, we pulled in the parking lot of the showroom. We walked in and were impressed with what they had. Everything looks so damn good in those places. We talked for a bit and we told the guy what we wanted. The room is fairly simple, so there really were no curve balls.
Ok, let’s get to the point. At the end of the visit, I found myself writing a check for 5% of the project. After Laura and I left, we headed to the tile place and picked out some really nice 13″ tile for the kitchen floor. We also scheduled the tile installation for the first week of the new year. Then, we got some food at the food store, but that’s not important.
Ok, here is the shnazzy design he created for us, based on what we said we wanted.
This is the window wall that faces the backyard. We went with the darker brown color. The wood is solid maple. We are getting a dishwasher, so that is going to be a nice addition to what we have. The upper cabinet all the way to the right is going to have glass in the doors. The corner cabinet is going to go all the way to the ceiling and have glass, but different than the others. This one is going to have panes in it. The bottom corner is going to have shelves, not the lazy susan thing. We vetoed that. All the cabinets are going to have crown moulding. We already have a nice sink with faucet, so we are keeping that.
This is the continuation of the “L.” I guess this is pretty self explanatory. Nothing new here, except that we are keeping the same refrigerator and oven. They are both new and stainless. From what I have been hearing, stainless is the cat’s meow for this half-year. Next half-year, I’m sure it’ll be something different.
This is the wall heading out into the hallway. This is a great new feature…a pantry. This piece comes with five adjustable shelves. We are most likely going to take most of them out, so we have somewhere to keep the vacuum. Also, the counter top to the right is a nice place for the cats to eat.
We are using them to install everything, except for the floor. Their price as a whole, is higher than Lowe’s, but believe it or not, the installation is less. We did get the least expensive counter tops. Whatever it is, it will be fine, I’m sure. We have another appointment next Thursday to go back to the showroom and finalize any colors or designs. Also, we have to pick out the color of the counter tops and choose what hardware (handles) we want.
I feel pretty good about this. I like the way I know who is taking care of the ordering, shipping and installation. That is what was making me nervous about the other places. Also, now that I have the designs, I can only fix the portions of the walls that need to be fixed. That is going to save a heck of a lot of time.
I really didn’t plan on doing this today, but I am glad we did. At least things can get ordered and we can have the project done early in the new year.
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Friday, November 9th, 2007
This just goes to show that I will actually post anything on this blog when I have the time. Now, to the fun stuff.
Ok, since we have moved into this house, we have had this loose handle on the sliding glass door that goes out to the porch. I always said that I was going to replace it, but never got around to it. It’s been over two years now and I suppose enough is enough. I can be lazy sometimes, but c’mon. How can I expect my beauty queen to use a door with a loose handle on it? I just wasn’t raised like that.
Since I had today off, I thought it would be nice to take a leisurely stroll down to Lowes in Middletown. I had to get some deer screening, posts (which I got) and the door handle for the sliding glass door. I picked up the other stuff and wandered over to the sliding glass door handle aisle. I looked at the selection and noticed that they didn’t have what I wanted. From looking online, I knew these handles were kind of expensive at $47.50 and $29.50. I always thought they were cheaper than that for some reason. I wasn’t too upset. Also, all I needed was the outside part. I grabbed something else instead…some nice stainless steel nuts and bolts.
I compared the threads with the bolts in the other door handle packages.
Before I go any further, let’s get down to the reason the handle was loose in the first place. The two screws that hold the thing together were kind of rusted in place. There was no way to loosen or tighted these two bolts. Over the years, I guess the handle loosened up and couldn’t be tightened. (Yeah, I should’ve cleaned that)
How did I get the handle off then? I drilled the two bolt heads off. Above is a picture of the door with no handle.
When I say rusted, I mean rusted. I thought that since I had that long bolt to work with, I could just grab them with my channel locks and twist. Well, I did that and here is what happened.
Hmmmm…what the heck was I supposed to do now? I had broken both bolts. They were really weak, by the way. I thought about drilling then out, by I couldn’t do that without totally messing up the handle. Instead, I got out my handy new Dremel and started cutting.
I knew the bolts couldn’t be rusted all the way inside the handle. After I grinded the handle all the way down to the bolt, I twisted them right out.
What a wonderful achievement, if I don’t say so myself. Before I did this, I came very close to running down to the hardware store for a new handle.
Here is a photo of the handle back in place…this time, nice and tight. The new bolts were threaded perfectly. I had to use those washers because the bolts were a hint too long. Also, I cleaned and oiled the sliding glass door track, which allowed the door to slide much smoother and easier. Now, there won’t be so much stress on the handle when we open the door.
Mad peace to you.
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