Half a kitchen

Tonight, Jess and I bought half a kitchen. That is, we bought cabinets with no countertop; a sink with no tap; an oven with no stovetop; handles but no knobs. We spent two hours trying to figure out what size doors for the refrigerator cabinet, but finally gave up.

It was also the third time in a week we had to be escorted out of Ikea, because we were there past closing time.

It's funny what passes for accomplishment nowadays.

I also spent a large chunk of my day learning about toilet options in the UK. In the US, your options are a "close coupled" porcelain toilet in either one piece or two pieces. That's it. In the UK, you can have a close-coupled, high level, low level, "back to wall" or wall hung toilet. The latter two use a hidden cistern, meaning the tank is in a cupboard. High level means the tank is over your head, and low level is the same thing except the tank is lower (but not touching, which would be close coupled). You'll generally want a dual flush option, and all toilets today use a P-trap, or "horizontal outlet."

Except, I am replacing the old downstairs toilet, which used an S-trap (or "bottom outlet"). That means the drain hole is in the floor, and the toilet sits right on top of it. If you replace it with a P-trap, you have to put in an elbow to go to the drain, which means the entire toilet has to move about 5 inches forward, which isn't an option in the small downstairs bathroom.

Augh!

So after trawling through hundreds of websites, and talking to a dozen clueless individuals at various bathroom centers, I finally found what I needed: A Kohler Ove toilet with "vario outlet," which allows the elbow to be installed within the body of the toilet so it sits right over the hole. Perfect!

Except, while Kohler is the dominant brand in the US, it is almost unknown in the UK. In London I couldn't find a single bath center that had any Kohler on display--it was al catalogue only. And even more amazing, I could only find one online retailer, and they were more expensive than the local showroom! And even that was pretty dear -- £370 (US £600) just for the toilet pan, not including the tank or the stupid elbow!

Tomorrow, now armed with a near encyclopedic knowledge of toilet options, I will have another look and see what can be fitted there. Right after I understand how to calculate BTUs so I can buy a towel rail.