Microwave

I spent a vulgarity-filled evening last night installing a new microwave oven into the formerly blank area above my stove. This last and final piece of kitchen project 2005-6 may well have been the most annoying of the bunch. To begin with, I had to patch up the drywall holes left by the electricians when installing a new circuit — they had reattached the cutouts but left the putty work to me. So I embarked on the now-familiar task of covering a wall in joint compound, then sanding it into oblivion, priming and painting. This naturally left me with a nice thin coat of sheetrock dust throughout the kitchen. After the paint dried, I began drilling holes as needed in the base cabinet. My drill’s battery died after approximately three seconds of this. Why do they even make cordless drills, I ask you?

Once the battery charged up, I made the 2″ cutout for the electrical cord, then began attaching the mounting bracket. A sharp, pointy bracket that made my knuckles bleed. The toggle bolts that came with the bracket were of the exceedingly cheap variety, so I managed to (ahem) bust a nut during this procedure. And once on, the broken toggle bolts were impossible to get back off, so I had to haul out the dremel to cut the screws. I ended up using two of my own drywall fasteners that were much stronger than those supplied.

With that behind me, I hefted the microwave oven onto the bracket (a two person job, according to the manual, but since I am virtually five men put together, I managed on my own), then faced the prospect of my pre-drilled cabinet holes being about 1/4″ off of where they should have been. Nothing is easy. I cursed the screws, the microwave, the cabinet, my drill and everything else nearby as I spent the next twenty minutes correcting this mistake. Ultimately, I succeeded.

May the popcorn making commence!