Take it Off!

As I posted on Tuesday, our goals for tonight were to paint behind the vanity and remove all of the countertops in the kitchen. Easy peesy.

So, the island countertop came off super easy. The corner piece to the left of the stove was a little difficult. They had a ‘backsplash’ piece that was glued to the cabinet, but it took like 10 minutes…not bad.
We then move on to the biggest countertop, the one with the sink in it. We emptied everything out from underneath the sink, unscrewed all of the screws that were holding the countertop to the cabinets, and then proceeded to disconnect all of the sink plumbing. Wow – now we know why plumbers cost so freaking much!

I’ll play this debacle out like a how-to/how-not-to:

• First, turn off the water supply, and have towels on hand to catch the water that is resting in the pipes.
• If a garbage disposal is involved, turn off the power that runs to it…this machine is hardwired to your house. SURPRISE!
• Take a razor and score the caulk/sealant around the sink.
• Be aware that porcelain sinks weigh approximately 13,763 pounds, so you need to prepare for this by eating Wheatie’s for breakfast, a high protein lunch and dinner, wear gloves, and shy away from that beer with dinner. Do not slide the sink around just so you can ‘see that it is really coming out.’
• Do not forget that your garbage disposal is still connected to the sink - that would be just plain silly. Prepare to remove this machine by, again, getting towels to catch the run-off water, and grabbing a SARS mask to protect yourself from the rancid smell of filth and rot.
• There are three metal pieces that connect your disposal to your sink…I don’t know what they are called – you can google that part. Unscrew the three bolts that are holding the three metal pieces together.
• Do not start to spin the garbage disposal around, that doesn’t do anything. Do not grab onto the middle metal piece and try to unscrew it – that doesn’t work either. Do not then have a conversation about just busting up the porcelain sink, it will not be easier to carry out if you did that.
• Do not proceed to lay a towel on the sink and hit it as hard as you can with a hammer. This is very dangerous – and does not work. Again, porcelain is indestructible…and I believe that it could be used in body armor.
• Do not then go back to unscrewing the garbage disposal, I told you that didn’t work.
• Do not get frustrated and decide to remove the garbage disposal from the sink by bending in the metal part that sits in your sink. This is dangerous.
• Always be prepared for the garbage disposal to just fall off after 30 minutes of desperately trying to remove it.
• However you may choose to remove the garbage disposal, be prepared to purchase a new one. We will be.

I hope you enjoyed that play by play, and also found it useful.

We then removed the sink and the countertop, and found a few issues (note the wires that are laying on top of the counter). But nothing that a drill and mortar bit couldn’t help. Ahhhh….mortar bit. Funny story about the mortar bit – but I’ll save that for another day.
More pictures to come of the new granite countertops! Stay tuned!