Here’s a picture of the kitchen countertop that came with the house.

See that?  See that deep impact wound in the top of the kitchen countertops?  That’s lovely, isn’t it?  My best guess is that was caused by a tomahawk thrown by an angry indian at a prior owner of this house.  But I really don’t know.  All I know is we’ve been staring at that ax wound in our oh-so-lovely formica countertops (with the gold flecks that look like the bottom of a bottle of Goldschlager) for longer than I care to remember.  And we want it gone.  Is it possible to hate kitchen countertops?  Yes, it is.

So, that’s the whole point of this exercise.  Remove the existing countertops with a sledgehammer and a crowbar and maybe a tomahawk, extend the existing cabinetry, and install new countertops atop them.

Easier done than said, eh?

I made these platforms that will hold our trash bins.  We can pull the trash bins out on the little (and rather expensive) drawer glides and they’ll be conveniently next to us ready to accept copious amounts of kitchen refuse while we cook.  I have to admit, I have my doubts about this idea.  It looks good on paper.  We’ll see how well it does in practice.

If my cabinet burns down, this will be all that’s left.

And here is photographic proof that our house is rodent free.  Because when I removed the drawers from the existing cabinets, in preparation for the install, I found this pile of spilt cat / dog / gerbil / whatever food, just waiting for the ravenous little fangs of rats and mice and other assorted vermin that can sneak into a house.  The fact that this pile has sat undisturbed for at least four years is evidence enough that nothing comes into my house that would want to eat it.

And here they are installed.  Yeah, it’s a hodge-podge of colors and textures, the red cabinet doors, the blue stools, the green floor.  This house is a patchwork quilt, which is something you get when you live on Orcas.

I’ve got some plywood pinned on top temporarily, as it could be months before the new countertops are installed.  Island time, you know.