Some parts of a kitchen remodel are less thrilling than others—especially compared to the excitement of opening up a wall. Still, those smaller tasks matter, and a few needed to be completed before the countertop installer came to template our new surfaces. Accurate measurements are worth the prep work.
First on the list was closing the gaps beside our stove.
The base cabinet we removed had been 36″ wide, while our stove is only about 30″, leaving roughly 2 3/4″ of empty space on each side. You can’t fit much functionality into such narrow gaps—most slide-out organizers start around 3″—so we chose simple wooden filler strips. We considered shifting the stove to one side to allow a wider pull-out, but that would have left the hood off-center and required enlarging the ceiling opening. None of the very thin slide-out doors matched our cabinet faces anyway, so a pair of basic filler pieces made the most sense. We also decided against ornate legs or decorative trim because we want the penny-tile backsplash and items on the floating shelves to be the focal points.
I picked up some pine project boards, cut them to size, drilled pilot holes with a Kreg jig, and screwed them into place. We added a front filler for appearance and a back filler in case the countertop installer needed support during templating.
Each side ended up with three filler pieces. Two might have sufficed, but the boards were inexpensive—about $11 total for the whole filler project—far cheaper than custom pull-outs.
Once painted and topped with new countertops, these filler strips will blend in with the rest of the base cabinets, many of which already include narrow fillers.
After examining our work more closely, we noticed a small visible gap—about a quarter inch—so I returned to the store and bought 3/8″ project boards to shave the gap flush. These thinner slivers were nailed in place just at the front for aesthetic purposes. Sliding the stove back in revealed a much neater result: snug enough for a clean look, yet still removable when needed. When we demo the tile behind the stove later, the appliance will sit a bit closer to the wall, and a continuous toe kick along the front will hide small discrepancies at the base.
With the stove gap solved, the next task was squaring off the back of the peninsula. We didn’t want the countertop templater to assume we wanted an angled or irregular corner, so we attached a flat panel to the peninsula’s back. I had already fastened a small corner brace to anchor the panel against the half wall. The brace was simply two scrap pieces of wood screwed together at 90 degrees and attached so the plywood panel would sit flush with the cabinet backs.
The plywood panel itself was a thin utility plywood panel we’d bought when we picked up material for another built-in. Lowe’s cut it to size, though I later trimmed an extra 3″ off the overhang with a jigsaw after changing from a 21″ to an 18″ end cabinet. The panel was nailed into place and will later receive trim—baseboard, corner pieces, and perhaps a board-and-batten treatment—then painted to match the cabinets. For now it gives a clean, square edge for the countertop template. The peninsula will have about a 12″ Corian overhang on two sides to accommodate four stools.
We also tackled some paint touch-ups while waiting for the countertop templater. This wasn’t strictly necessary for templating, but it made the space feel more finished and helped our sanity. We painted raw trim, drywall, and leftover paneling from the pantry and fridge shuffle as well as the recent wall opening. Painting the inside edge of the half wall a soft gray—matching the dining room—felt more natural than extending the “grellow” used elsewhere, since the half wall edge is drywall. The light gray reads almost white next to the door jamb and provides a subtle, cohesive transition between spaces.
One temporary fix worth noting: a leftover panel piece from the wall opening was cut down and installed as a temporary threshold where the removed wall created a gap. It will later be covered with cork and receive a small finish threshold to join the new section to the original hardwood, similar to a previous house project.
After painting, the kitchen and dining room already look a bit more polished, even if many finishing tasks remain. We staged some placeholder chairs and lighting, but the overall progress makes the space feel closer to complete. From the living room you can now easily see the large picture window at the back of the house; widening that doorway is a tempting future project, but it may involve significant structural work, so it’s on the “maybe someday” list.
These were small, practical updates—filling gaps around the stove, adding a plywood panel to the peninsula, and doing paint touch-ups—but they made a noticeable difference. Progress in a kitchen remodel is often a string of small decisions like these that add up to a cohesive, functional result.
What small improvements have you made around your house recently? Any last-minute tasks you’re planning to finish before the weekend or upcoming holidays?
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