A day of cabinets

I would first like to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog readers... may you have a lovely day surrounded by those you love, giving thanks for all you have been blessed with.  

We are heading down to Milwaukee to spend the day with Steve's family.  110 miles each way on jammed packed highways should be an adventure?   Two of our three kids are coming, along with their spouses and some of the grandtots for me to hug and hold and play with.

Yesterday I got a LOT done on my cabinet project.  If you recall, last week we bought a set of 1920's oak kitchen cabinets that came out of a mansion down in Fond Du Lac.  Here is the seller with the un-restored cabinets.

I have been sanding and removing the latches, hinges and door pulls.  Yesterday I bought some "food safe" paint that is designed for painting milk houses at dairy farms.  Only in Wisconsin can you walk into a store and buy a gallon of paint off the shelf made for this!  LOL

The little flat sticks are made for shelf supports that go in jagged teeth along each side of the upper cabinets.  On each of those sticks goes a shelf plank, that are just made of pine, not oak.  I think I am going to cover each wooden shelf with an old fashioned printed shelf liner. 

This photo below is the main bottom cabinet base, resting on it's back behind the motorhome.  I still have a little more sanding to do on the bottom edge after the paint dries.   We think we are going to omit the drawer section and put in our dishwasher in that space.  I have four more drawers along the bottom of the upper cabinets where they rest on the countertop.  Not sure yet, but Steve is re-figuring the measurements once we get the cabinet base into the house.  It's either that or put the dishwasher in the next section to the right between the drawers and the bins. 

I coated the insides of all of the cabinets and also the two pull out bins.  (I think we are going to use one for taters and onions, the other for a big bag of dog food)    I know nobody really sees the insides of the cabinets once the doors are back on.  But it will be good to start out with fresh clean surfaces for our dishes and food.

The back sides of the cabinet doors were a bit rough, so I stripped off their finish too.  You can see the backsides just to the right of the bins in the pics below.  Then I can stain both sides of each door to look pleasant when open or shut.  If I didn't do the inside surfaces of the doors, I just know every time I would look at them and say to myself: "Dang, why didn't I do the insides when I had the chance?"

While working, I had the door of the workshop area wide open... this paint is oil based and has fumes that are gassing off as the paint cures and hardens.  I worked for about 4 hours and called it a day.  Whew!   I still have to coat a few of box insides of the drawers.   Soon I can start staining the entire set of cabinets, then a few coats of polyurethane  and putting on the new latches, hinges and drawer pulls.

Let's hope this warm weather holds out so I can get these done and cured to a strong finish before we have to move them over to the new house. It's a lot of work, but I think they will be worth it, and be well-fitting for our turn-of-the-century home.

Everyone, please have a safe holiday....  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!