The Corian galley tops have been installed since August (well, mostly installed) but up until a week or so ago we’ve been lifting the fridge lids by a flimsy strip of blue painter’s tape. Every few days someone (not pointing fingers) tears the tape, and then I have to replace it. My penitence, if you will, for dragging heels on the getting the catches installed.
I’ve had the latching hardware for ages, but I’ve seriously been dreading doing them because I knew what a pain in the ass it was going to be. I wanted something with a positive latching mechanism because I don’t want things to come flying out if it gets a little bumpy. I also wanted them inlayed flush with the surface for aesthetics reasons. Problem is that the way I built and insulated the insides of the lids didn’t leave me a lot of options as far as hardware goes.
I finally settled on Perko latching ring pulls, but needed to make a router template similar to the one I used to recess the hinges. Corian is very brittle and can chip and crack during the machining process, so I wanted to be certain to not mess up the final product. Six different practice cuts later I finally ended up with something that fit correctly. Also, Corian doesn’t get along well with wood screws, so everything had to be drilled and through-bolted with tiny little nuts and bolts.
One cool thing about finally getting pulls on the lids (besides the obvious reasons) is that I had a chance to play with the GoPro my parents got us for christmas. I set it up to do a time-lapse and then let it run ’til the battery died.