Difference between revisions of "Items needed for Oven install"

Revision as of 21:11, 12 January 2015

Installing the new Oven in my kitchen was Stressful! The old stove was s "drop in" model, original to the house. The new stove required an opening in the cabinets that was 30 inches wide.

My brother came over to help with the process.

• We started at noon on a Saturday.
• Step 1 : Turn off the breakers!!
• We pulled the old stove out of the opening (two small screws at the front, under the range burners held it in place).
• Next we disconnected the stove from power. It was "hardwired" to a junction box on the floor.
• We measured the distance between the cabinets ... about 30 inches. I say "about" because the cabinets were NOT square to either the front of the counter top or the wall! The documentation for the new stove indicated it was 29 7/8 inches wide, so we had a very small amount of wiggle room.
• At this point, we didn't have the stove on hand, it wasn't going to be delivered until Monday morning (between 8am & 10am), so we had to take the documentation at face value and trust the measurements.
• Now that we knew we should have enough space to fit the stove we began to modify the counters. The point of "No Return!"
• Starting on the right side of the opening.
• We started by using a scrap 1x4 with a notch cut wide enough into the edge to fit over the counter overlap. We used this to establish a reference line on top of the counter indicating where the edge of the lower cabinet was located. We needed to run a reference line so that we could establish a straight edge to run a Dremel Ultra-Max saw to cut the counter top edge back.
• Ooops!! The Ultra-Max only has a 3/4 inch maximum depth of cut. The counters were particle board with laminate glued to the top. The particle board was 3/4 inch thick, so the Ultra-Max left us with approximately 1/16 inch of material it couldn't cut!
• Time to dig out the Japanese Pull Saw. Using the side of the lower cabinet as a reference line, I was able to release the freshly cut counter top piece from the rest of the top. The fact that I only had 1/16th of an inch of wood to cut made it VERY easy and fast to cut. The pull saw worked FABULOUSLY!
• Now for the left side.
• Not as simple. The setup was performed the same way. The notched board was used to reference a line on top of the counter top to represent the cabinet face underneath, and a straight edge was clamped down. The problem is that the blade on the Ultra-Max is mounted on the left side of the saw, so we didn't have much space to run the saw's foot on. It tended to want to 'tip' into the opening, but with care, I was able to make the cut.
• Now, the back splash needs to come out.
• The Back Splash was screwed to the back of the lower cabinets, so it needed to have a section cut out between the lower cabinet boxes. To complicate things, there was what looked like a thin metal edging, intended to keep crumbs etc from gathering in the corner between the counter top and the back splash. I thought this was just a small, thin piece of metal. Nope. it extended down to the bottom of the back splash and I wasn't going to be able to cut this with the pull saw.
• Ultra-Max to the rescue again!
• On the Left side of the opening I was able to make a cut, using a small construction square as a straight edge, from inside the cabinet opening up through the back splash, severing the filler and slicing through most of the back splash. Again, about 1/16th of an inch needed to be cut with the Pull-Saw, but the bulk of the material and the filler were cleanly cut by the Ultra-Max.
• For the Right side of the opening, I had to turn the saw around and cut down from above. The small construction square let me line the cut up with the edge of the opening. Again, finishing the cut with the Pull-Saw.
• Now for the cabinet faces.
• Because the faces were solid wood, with vertical grain, I just used the Pull-Saw, referenced off the cabinet face inside the opening. Nice and clean, down to the internal platform that the original stove sat on.
• Breaking out the Ultra-Saw again, easily sliced though the left edge of the platform.
• I was able to turn the Saw around and cut "most" of the material on the right side then finish it with the pull-saw.
• Turns out the platform was rather well connected to the front of the cabinet face below it. Pocket screws from below!
• Used the Ultra-Saw to make a freehand cut a few inches back from the edge and removed the platform.
• Now, the pull saw again. Ooops! One of the pocket screws was located right where I needed to cut.
• Out comes the contractor square and the Ultra-Max again. Turns out it was just the 'edge' of the screw head, most of it was in the section I was cutting out. No match for the Ultra-Max!
• Same issue with the left side of the opening. Darn pocket screws! This time most of the screw remained in the remaining face cabinet.
• The Pull-Saw was able to complete the cuts under the toe kick and down to the floor.
• Pull the toe kick out sweep out the saw-dust ...
• And the opening was done.

It only took the two of us 5 hours to complete! I'm sure that someone with more experience would take a lot less time, but it's done!

The wiring came into the original stove opening in the corner, but fortunately it actually came through the floor in the center right at the wall. It was a 4-wire system (2 hot legs, a Neutral and a Ground). An electrician came in Monday morning and installed a 220V 4 wire outlet on the floor. I didn't want to mess around with the wiring.

The stove fit into the opening perfectly! We adjusted the height of the stove so it was level with the counter top. The addition of two silicone filler strips and it's DONE!