The Only Thing That Works Is The Kitchen Sink. Ha. Ha...

True enough the only thing working in the kitchen is the sink. There is an electrical outlet for the refrigerator but since it is non-grounded, not GFI and it forces the refrigerator cord to lay over the counter it is in violation of code so it is 'technically' non-functional.

The appliances... Well... There done.

There was an electric stovetop (builtin) that, aside from being decayed to the point of hazardous, was dead. It had been so completely abused in its service that nothing worked. Even though it had power. The builtin range (oven) was in only slightly better shape. I think that miraculously the timer worked. Although it couldn't really time anything because the oven part was long since burnt out. As for the stove vent-hood. Hey... The light worked. Ugh!

Was I surprised? No... Not at all. Well... Maybe surprised in the sense that a family lived here in this condition before it was taken from them because their debt had totally expired. Should you fell bad. No! I don't. They almost killed this house.

It was actually a very easy gut job. This stuff was obviously part of an earlier renovation. I'm guessing '60's'. Sadly it had been so poorly maintained that all the metal was rusted and rotting away and all the labeling has all worn off. Good riddance!

Now we're getting somewhere. With the appliances removed it doesn't look too bad. Well... Yeah it does! But it doesn't look 'as' bad.

Fortunately... The framework was in relatively good (salvageable) condition. This is the pivotable point where we have to decide how far we are willing to go with the renovation. Saving the cabinetry and counter will save huge time and coin. Even if we replace it later.

After a quick trip to Sears which is a mail-order satellite outlet here, Yeah! Order... Wait... Wait... Pickup! We decided that since we could replace the appliances relatively cheaply we would refinish the original cabinetry and tile the counter.

Well... Not to bad. And keeps the 'Do It Yourself' (DIY) budget in check. Except the oven required hacking out the brick a bit to fit. Not beyond our capabilities but it made a huge toxic mess.

There were also. As expected. Several electrical issues that needed attention. This being a rental candidate needs an extra reliable electrical service and the Kitchen does not meet this requirement. Aside from rewiring the stove, oven, vent-hood, switches and all the receptacles (plugs) there were still a few remarkable failures needing correction.

Over the dining nook there was this abomination for the ceiling light. Oddly. The original (meets code) junction box had been relocated (loosely) in the attic and an extension-cord had been spliced in from it to the light fixture which was held in place by loosely stacked building-scrap and some string. Really! Surprisingly... This was not the only place we found this blatant abuse of safety and common sense. Here's where you start to think that the former residents really deserved to loose this house.

We patched up the floor, walls, ducting and prepped the counters for tile. But the ceiling still had the 'cottage-cheese' scourge. Wow! That's really unpleasant to scrape, plaster and sand. I hope we're ready for finishing finally.

Fortunately when it came to tiling we had some experience in kitchen counters. We know all about bullnose and sanitary cove and countercap and inside corners and outside corners. And. We have a really cool wet tile-saw that also miters corners and plunges for cutting around electrical fixtures and such. That in conjunction with nibblers and drum-sanders we can just about shape a tile to anything we need.

We also chose to accept the additional burden of hand grinding/sanding the edges of all the tile we cut. Remember, tile is a glass covered ceramic/porcelain substrate and shaping often leaves sharp edges. And sharp edges cut people. Including Me. So we make sure there are no sharp edges before we mortar the tiles down. A nicer edge also improves grouting which we have still not mastered.

As we had decided earlier. We sanded down the cabinet doors, applied many coats of danish-oil and hand waxed them. Sadly they probably wont last long but they look great and cost very little to restore. Including pleasing and inexpensive knob, handle and hinge sets.

Even though we had to compromise a lot for economy the Kitchen is 'fully' functional and looks pretty good. The materials may not be the best but the quality of workmanship should hopefully stand up over time. Hopefully, long enough to let us fix whatever we screwed up.

I'm going to call this one another success.