kitchen Archives - GabbieGillmer

I could be drinking this! Apec RO-90 Water Filter replacment review.

admin — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 03:00:58 +0000

I really can say this is the most used and best purchase for our home so far. Its the Apec RO-90 Reverse Osmosis under the sink water filter. I was just replacing the filters tonight and I thought I would snap a couple pictures as it looked so gross. I could be drinking all that stuff! Luckily it is filtered out before it gets to our filters water tap. The filter uses Reverse Osmosis to filter out up to 99% of contaminants they say on the website. It stores the water in a tank under your sink and you have a dedicated faucet for it. You have instant access to a large amount of filtered water and it has a fast flow rate.

Disclaimer: This article is not financial advice, or instructions on how you should do anything, it is for entertainment purposes only. This site also uses affiliate links. This means I may make a small amount of money at no cost to you if you buy something after clicking a link on this site.

Now I don’t have any pictures of my husband doing the installation, but he had no problem installing it. He said the instructions were good and it was pretty easy to do. I feel the price for the unit is really reasonable, and the same with the cost of replacement filters. We have to replace the 3 first stage filters every year and they run around 40 bucks for the set. It ends up being much cheaper then using our refrigerator filter for water. (We actually do not use the fridge for water any more) . The other reason we love it is because it fills the glass with water REALLY fast. You get really spoiled with this aspect and waiting for a refrigerator to fill a glass is like watching paint dry now. You can read other reviews HERE and see others have enjoyed it as much as we have.

BEFORE SWAPPING FILTERS

Here is what it looks like pulled out from under the sink and ready to swap filters.

We were almost at our yearly replacement date and I ordered a new set of filters off of Amazon. One thing you may notice from our picture is we have an upgraded first stage sediment clear filter cover as I wanted to be able to see how dirty is gets between filter swaps. Look it this picture, the sediment filter is a pretty ugly brown by now. I was also able tell it was getting close to time to swap out the filters as I could detect the water flow was a little slower on the dedicated water filter faucet the filter uses.

This time I went and ordered 2 sets of the 3 pre-stage filters that get changed yearly. I was able to save 10 bucks and now will have a set on hand for next time. As for price, you can get them direct from Apec or through Amazon. They are usually about the same price, but if your a Prime member at Amazon you save on shipping and get them faster. This was the double pack that saved me a little money.

Here is a picture of the first stage Sediment Filter after removing it. The water had some chunks of stuff floating in it. This is what would be in our tap water.

The carbon filters #2 and #3 did not look to bad when I pulled them out of their containers. The first one #2 had a little discoloration.

THE NEW FILTERS

Getting ready to add the new filters. They just drop in place into the container.

Here is the first stage sediment filter, notice how white they are when they are new. Crazy how dirty the filters end up and all the gunk they pull out of the tap water.

Here is the RO-90 with the clean filters installed and ready to go back under the sink.

While I have never had a leak with the unit, I do have it into a plastic tub under the sink just as a precaution. I guess I am a little paranoid.

We are ready for another year. The other two filters on the unit will need to be replaced in 3-5 years. We plan to do it on our next filter swap as it should be about 5 years. We will just do all 5 filters at once. This full sett next year will run more as the #4 and #5 filters are more expensive. The whole kit of 5 filters was in the 130 dollar range last I checked. But again, this is once every 3-5 years. I think the difference in time depends on the quality of tap water you already have. I always thought we had pretty good water in our location, and I am surprised at how dirty the filters gets.

We purchased our unit directly from Apec Water’s website here https://www.freedrinkingwater.com/ and you can see they do have some optional upgrades. We did a clear sediment filter housing and some 3/8 line upgrade they were offering at the time. They also have some good sales once in a while you can keep an eye out for. If you do decide to make a purchase online through them, They do have a referral program. If you use a friend for the referral they can get a free set of filters. (or you can always use me if you don’t have anyone 🙂 gabbiegillmer@gmail.com

But another great option is to buy it on Amazon HERE. I tend to get the filters on Amazon out of convenience and the free shipping with prime. With Amazons free shipping the price usually seems to be about the same as on Apec’s website. But it doesn’t hurt to check both to see which price is best for you.

Anyways , I really love our water filter and how convenient it is to use. I feel it really is a great product.

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DIY – Lemon Fabric Kitchen Valance and Table Runner

admin — Sun, 30 Sep 2018 23:16:17 +0000

I was wanting to add a little yellow accent to the kitchen and saw this nice tablecloth for 60% off at a local store. I decided to make a Kitchen Valance and a table runner from it.

Starting with a tablecloth.

First I eyeballed the size I needed for a valance, and also for the middle of the table. Then I grabbed my scissors and stitchwitch and my iron. I cut the tablecloth into two pieces to start.

If you don’t know what Stitch Witch is, it looks like this and is a bonding material that bonds upon heat. It will replace my need for any sewing on this project. You can purchase it HERE on amazon.

Here you can see the stitch witch placed down on the fabric, and ready to put fabric over it and Iron.

Just follow the included instructions on the stitch witch and Iron it to bond the fabric together. My Iron was at number 7.

Here you can see it bonded the fabric.

I now have my Kitchen Valance done. I did the same process for the table runner.

Ta da! Here you can see both the table runner and valance hanging up.

Here is a closeup of the table runner.

Here is a closeup of the Valance.

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Kitchen Island remodel

admin — Sun, 30 Sep 2018 14:57:06 +0000

We recently decided to remodel our kitchen island. Originally it was in an L shape and we wanted it to be just a long straight island. We also wanted to paint it and put on a new countertop. I thought I would go ahead and snap some pictures of the progress.

Starting out

So we had rearranged the existing cabinets to line them up straight. We also removed the existing tile countertop that was on the top. While we wanted to go with a granite countertop, we are holding off on that until we are ready to do all our countertops at once. For now we are going to use a wood countertop we found at Ikea that we liked.

Also you will notice the holes in the cabinet doors below. We did this a while ago when our dog was a puppy. This is where her dog bed is and she sleeps once in a while. She was wondering what I am doing to her house.

It was really easy to cut the new countertop with my a skillsaw. The cut came out nice and clean. The Ikea countertop also has an end piece that we will glue on later, so that the cut end will match the other side.

Here is the back of the island. You can see we needed a longer panel piece for the back after doing the rearrangement of the cabinets. This was fine as we decided wanted to do wainscot on the back as I have always liked the look of it.

So we started by removing the back panel, and also the countertop as it had not been glued down yet. We also removed the doors on the front in preparation of the paint job.

Picking the wainscot

Here we were deciding on a backing. We deiced to go with the narrow lines like the one on the right.

We also got started on the painting while still working on the back. For the paint I went with General Finishes Queenstown Gray Milk Paint as I have used it before. I had to order it from Amazon, but it was worth it as this stuff is amazing and really coats and sticks well to cabinets. Here is a LINK if you want to check it out and read the reviews and see other peoples pictures, last I checked it still had a 5 star rating.

General Finishes Queenstown Gray Milk Paint.

Here is the island with a coat of paint on the front. (And a sad looking dog who is wondering where her dog bed went.)

Next we added a couple more boards to the back to make it easier to attach the wainscot.

Wainscot is now attached and ready for some paint.

Doors and back are painted with the first coat.

Here it is at this stage with no molding on the bottom.

I decided to go with something a little chunkier for the molding then we had on the island earlier. We went ahead and painted it before putting it on the island. In the background you can see the cabinets we purchased for the wall buffet.

I just nailed it with our brad nail gun.

Here is a better overview at this point.

Once the molding was attached I needed to go over and fill the gaps with some paintable caulk.

Here you can see the I just filled in any cracks before the final coat of paint.

Completed

Here is a final overview picture of it completed in the room.

Here is another picture with some yellow accents I added along with some green chair covers I dyed.

And just so you know, someone was really happy to have her little home back 🙂

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the website! Have a great day!

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