Dimmer Day and the Oven Cabinet - January 4

So, as promised, my Dad brought the rewired dimmer switch (that we had fried but were using as our template) and we wired up the new one, and tested out one of the pendant lights and "let there be light", "let there be less light", and "let the light turn off" all happened as we hoped.  Quite exciting, that!

Then we moved on to the oven cabinet.  A little background here.  We currently have a stove/oven combo that we are absolutely certain is original to the house, so 30-ish years old.  The thing will not die.  It just won't.  So for about the last 10 years we've been turning the oven part on with pliers (yes, pliers like you have in your toolbox) because the stinkin' thing won't die but it is so old we can't find the exact right replacement knobs.  It is also one of those all-in-one units so the oven is about 3 inches off the floor and I *always* burn myself getting stuff out of it.  You'd think I would learn, but nope, each and every time, I burn myself.  As in today at lunch getting the bread out of the oven, I burned myself.  Therefore, the new kitchen shall have a wall oven.  Actually kinda two - one regular-ish and one microwave-ish.  Read on.

Turns out, cabinets made for wall ovens are ridiculously expensive. And seeing that I am on a mission, well...ridiculously expensive doesn't play.  So, at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Jacksonville, I found this beautiful specimen of wall oven cabinetry..for $135.  Yes, $135.

Beautiful, right?  I agree!  Problem is, it only had one oven opening and it wasn't exactly the right size, and had no opening for the micro/convection combo I also want.  So, Suddenly Carpentry came out today to make it work...And here's where we time lapse many hours to the final product. 

(Just a note here:  If you know me, you know I cannot do math (or arithmetic) at ALL, much less in my head.  My Mom, who is the master of spacial orientation on stuff like this, was measuring and re-measuring and doing math in her head - including FRACTIONS - muttering things like "if we take 10 and 3/8 inches and need the shelf to be 1/4 of an inch below that then the 2x4 which is really 1 3/4 by 3 5/8 will need to be 22 and 5/8 long..." and it all worked.  The first time.  And is level (we checked, using an acutal level).  I did not get that gene.  Just sayin'.)

In process:

Dry run of the oven installation (with my husband playing a very sarcastic Vanna):

Dry run of the micro/convection installation (again, the Hubster):

We have to trim it in (same style as the Shaker doors, but we were D*O*N*E today, so that will be another day).  And the cabinet doors on the very top part have been put back on but that will be another shot another day, too.

What's next?  Gotta start priming cabinets.  Need the gas to be installed - hopefully January 9th (the Dooze's 7th birthday) pray for good weather!  Then drywall and probably a new ceiling (Scope Creep will be another post topic sometime).  Then we can get on to the cabinet-o-rama, counters, backsplash and fireplace surround tile, etcetera! etcetera! etcetera! ("The King and I" reference for you movie buffs out there).

Today was a very good day!  Night, y'all!