Saving old hardware

Installing a convertible dishwasher

Today I got fed up with dealing with hand-washing dishes and finally got around to installing my rolling, free-standing dishwasher. It's a really good little dishwasher and served us well at the slum last place.

The conversion kit is $180 from GE. Screw that. I took my happy ass up to home depot and purchased the following for under $25: 

3/8 in. x 3/8 in. x 60 in. Stainless Steel Universal Dishwasher Supply Line

 

1-1/2 in. x 8-1/2 in. PVC Hi-Line Dishwasher Wye Tailpiece

 

3/8 in. x 3/8 in. x 3/8 in. Compression x Compression Brass T-Fitting

There were a couple layers I had to remove to get to an installable dishwasher. I pulled off the fake wood top, the steel shell, the bottom kick-plate, the back and front braces, one of which held two massive concrete blocks (you can see them lower right in this photo, still attached to the machine).

 

I also had to cut this guy off. This is what used to slip onto the sink faucet to supply water and act as a drain. The fat bottom hose is the drain and smaller top one is the supply. You have to completely remove the top hose from the machine and replace it with the nifty silver braid-clad hose provided in the kit above.

 

 

Here's the finished under-sink setup. I DID NOT BRAZE THAT COPPER. One day when I get a wild hair up my ass, I'll replace this 2" copper drain with PVC. Maybe. Whatever....

ANYWAYS, you can see the black drain hose in the foreground going to the T from the sink drain. In the back you can see the compression T and dishwasher supply hose. 

I was lucky enough to have a plug directly below this area in the basement so I totally cheesed out on that and just dropped the plug down through the floor.

 

 

Oh, I also had to remove these sexy wheels. If you keep them, make sure you keep the spring clips that hold them tight to stuff. 

 

 

WOO! Dishes being effortlessly cleaned!

 

 

 

Floor synopsis

I already love my kitchen

I finished a big illustration project today and finally got a little brain space to focus on some baking. I chose a Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake since spring needs to get here ASAP.  

 Also, most of my kitchen stuff is old so I've been adding new tools, ones which will fit in with the Day of the Dead theme:

 

Cute stuff for the kitchen

Sealing the back door and the first sighting of the back deck

What's this? A deck?! It took about an hour of hacking at ice to uncover this much. I purchased a Fiskars X17 splitting axe per a recommendation from my friend Juha. This little axe made removing all the ice incredibly easy. The fatter wood-splitting head levers the ice away from the main mass as it cuts. Brilliant. 

 

 

My daughter and I spent a while afterwards sitting in the sun. It felt amazing. 

Unfortunately it appears the deck will need some serious cleaning. 

 

Here's the pile of ice blocks we removed: 

 On to the door. Cold air leaks in a lot via my lovely back door (that sounds a little naughty). It has this old rubber seal which is now hard from age (also naughty).

 

 

The simplest fix for now is this clean and adequate sticky black foam. I'm not entirely sure how I want to approach refinishing the doors yet so I opted for this fix.

 

New faucets

Ugh...we've all had *this* faucet. I love you Delta, but your ball valves have failed me over the years  too often.  

Ah, a new Moen. I have yet to have a Moen faucet fail me. I considered one of the touch on/off faucets but decided against it. I have cats and they like to do shit...they would turn the water on and then walk away.  I went instead with sexy thing. It's tall enough to fill my growlers and brew kettle without having to ninja them in and out of the sink.

 

Also Moen includes this with their faucets (greatest tool ever):

 

 

Then there was the bathroom faucet. Gross:

 

Never fear! American Standard is here! Sorry Moen, I just liked this style better. It's easy to clean.