NEW KITCHEN WINDOWS!

Sometime last summer we spoke with Dino, the window guy. He’s made several new windows for our house as well as the new door out to the garden. Slowly but surely we’re trying to replace all the old windows with new, double paned and weather-tight ones. Because the kitchen isn’t all that warm, and because the window is so large and lets in so much cold air, this seems to be the logical one to replace next.

Dino told us that he wouldn’t be able to have our new window until September, but we told him that was fine, as long as we had it before the cold weather hit, and before we returned to the United States. Well, this being Italy, we weren’t too surprised when our new window hadn’t arrived by the first of November which is when we went back to the states. Disappointed yes, surprised, no.

Once we returned Art gave Dino a call and Hurrah!, our windows were ready! Although I say “windows” it really is just one piece with three separate windows in it. The windows are hinged on the sides and open into the room, but not quite that simply. You can open the far right window by itself, but not just a crack…it always seems to drift all the way open. The middle window doesn’t have a separate lock, so if the right window is open, eventually the middle window will open too. Sometimes that just a little too much air, and I wanted to be able to have better control.

We had requested that Dino install a latch on the middle window so that if I wanted it closed it would stay closed. Easy enough. I also asked him if he could install a dual hinge on the far right window, like the ones we’d seen in Germany. These dual hinges allow the window to be opened from the side or to be opened from the top. This would allow me to have just a bit of fresh air or ventilation without having the entire window open.

Dino arrived around nine on the morning we had agreed upon and began the tedious job of removing the window. Thank god it was a nice day because once the window was out, Dino left! He told us he’d be back with the window shortly. A while later he pulled up with our new windows on the top of his car and he and Art carefully lifted the entire unit off the car. Once the window was in Dino sprayed foam insulation around the frame and told us this would take a while to set-up. He told us he’d be back after lunch to finish up the trim. As promised, he came back later in the afternoon and carefully cut the trim to fit. A few minor adjustments later the windows were finished, beautiful AND functional!