Oh, Yay, just in time for the holidays. :[

marti, you will be fine. Just post lots of pics so we can all agree with you when you question anything else that DH does. ;)

yes, we need to follow along with pics!

Oh Marti sorry about the mold. And it could be rotting some thing in your wall or foundation. I know nothing about putting in doors so no comment there. I ope you can get it sorted out. Can't wait for pictures.

Yes, I think part of the weird smell is wood rot.

I can't afford to mess this up, and I'd like your input.

This is the drawing I did a long time ago for the outside wall. I'm firm on what I want there except for the area outlined in red. There is 2-1/2 feet there between the refrigerator cabinet and the door.

Since this is the door we use almost exclusively, I'd really like a cabinet beside the fridge to hang coats etc. But since the door opens against that wall, would the door always be in the way? The door wasn't there when the house was built. We put it there because the builder didn't put a door into the backyard. But now, the door bangs against the bar and it's impossible to sit there if people are going in & out, so I'm a little worried that people will slam the door into the cabinet. Of course, I can always put a door bumper on the cabinet. Dh thinks we should leave the wall free for the door to open all the way, but since all the other doors in our house open against another door or a wall, I don't really see a problem with a cabinet.

Any experience with a door against a cabinet? Pros and cons?

The mold is under the bar. mama goose, if you see this, I have another question below too.
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

To minimize the mess right now, I would like to unscrew the two base cabinets we are going to move and just cut the countertop with a circular saw. Do you think that would work? Then we could change out the countertop when we have more time, money, better weather, and I've had time to research the counter I want.

Oh, Marti!!!
I feel your pain. Our mold led to a gut job of three spaces. I'll cross my fingers for you.

I actually popped on tonight just to give you this link. When looking through these kitchen photo, I spied a hidden MW and thought of you. It's in "kitchen 2."

Here is a link that might be useful: click on

Thank you young-gardener! Those are some great cabinets! I like everything about kitchen 2, and love most of kitchen 5 too. He has done so many of the things I've been planning. Nice to see how they will look. That's even the style beadboard I want to use. I guess technically, it's not beadboard but I don't know what to call it.

Marti I think you can cut the counter. I am not sure of the proper blade to use. I remember doing it years ago and know there is the right blade. You also have to tape it off on top and cut through the tape.

I would think the door opening against the cabinet will be just fine. We have had doors opening against walls cabinets. The master bath door opens against the shower and that is kind of scary. They make small door stops you screw to the floor to stop the door swing. In our bath it is in the corner by the bottom on hing side and seems to be out of the way enough but it does not totally stop the door swing into the glass if a person really hits the door.

marti, our countertop was cut with a reciprocating saw, because the cut was perpendicular to the wall--we wouldn't have been able to cut the integrated backsplash with a circular saw. If you are cutting parallel to the wall--just cutting off the peninsula top, I'd think a circular saw would work. Shades has it right--IIRC it was taped and scored with a utility knife to minimize chipping. I don't remember which blade was used. I have a jigsaw blade for use with laminate, but I've never tried it myself.

It won't be pretty, but if you're replacing the counter eventually, it's functional--just cover the cut with duct tape to that it doesn't snag fabrics.

I checked out #5 on the link--gorgeous!!

Yes, a reciprocating saw would be better. Good idea on the tape Shades. I do that a lot when cutting plywood. No I don't care how it looks right now. I don't want to replace the counter just yet. Don't want to start the kitchen remodel right now either, but that cabinet has to come out.

I plan on doing just this side for now, and see how bad it is behind it, get the stack of drawers moved into place and the refrigerator & freezer. I'm not going to build another cabinet by the door until the leaking is fixed. But I want the plan in place so I know how much room I have for the spice rack and coat area.

Our back door opens to the wall oven cabinet, and it hasn't been a problem for us at all. When we took down the wall between the kitchen and DR, we changed the swing of the door because it would have opened to the working side of our peninsula, and that WOULD have posed a problem.

We have one of those door stopper doohickeys on the bottom of the oven cabinet, so the doorknob can't actually hit anything. This has worked out well for us.

Thanks shelayne. The more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to put the cabinet there, and I'll use a door stopper. I just think I will really like the coat & junk storage. But other than pulling cabinets out right now, nothing will go back until that door is fixed.