{State of the Kitchen} Part 16: I Can Touch the Light!

I can touch the light!

Can you believe it? I know I can't! I thought this day would never get here.
I had a friend who tiles for a living do our backsplash. That was the 1 thing in this whole project that went off without a glitch. Ben did such an amazing job:

I decided to go ahead and tile around the window.

We did a good job picking out the tile!

I wasn't sure how to pick out the grout; we actually went with a darker grout than the designer recommended.

We thought the countertop was put in without anything going wrong, but we were mistaken. The light caught the corner of the sink just right for me to notice this:

Milky spot in the countertop

It was hard to get a good picture of the spot.

This is a better view of the spot.

It's hard to see in the pictures, but there's a "milky" spot. When I first saw it I thought maybe something they used to put in the sink got on the countertop. I used my granite cleaner but it didn't come off. I sent the pictures to the designer at Home Depot. She said she sent them on to the countertop people, but as of Wed.  evening (when I'm writing this)I haven't heard anything. (Big surprise, huh?)  Ben (my tile friend) said he thought they could just buff it out.

Monday, I plugged up my coffee maker, but it didn't come on. I plugged it into the lower receptacle, and it worked. AND, when I turned on the garbage disposal, it didn't come on. CH got it to come on by flipping the switch quickly. I emailed the contractor & the electrician came by yesterday afternoon. The electrician said that the outlet where I put the coffeemaker was bad. He said that he had some bad ones mixed in, and we got a bad one. REALLY??? He also replaced the switch for the garbage disposal, so that's all good now.

So...what's left? I sent these pictures to the designer and asked her if this is what the corners were supposed to look like:

I thought they looked unfinished. She said that they should have carried the toekick all the way to the edge. That will have to be fixed. Also, apparently there are some touch-ups that have to be done. And then they should be done. 

We have some boxes of trim, doors, and tile that need to go back. One of my sisters asked if the contractor will take those back or if we will need to. I told her I didn't want the contractor to take them; I want to make sure we get credit for bringing them back. Oh, and one thing needs to go back that just breaks my heart:

I was told the cookbook holder wouldn't fit since I have undercabinet lights. We haven't double-checked, though. I'm thinking it's a possibility that they just didn't want to mess with it.
We decided to not push the strip in the ceiling. CH said that it is textured, it just needs to be painted. Since we're planning on having the walls painted, we'll have our handyman guy paint the ceiling as well.
We've resolved ourselves to the fact that we're probably going to have to fix the seam in our floor by ourselves.

Not quite "turn key"

I am absolutely in love with how my kitchen looks. I knew it would be beautiful, and it certainly is!

It turned to to be as beautiful as I thought it would.

I'm extremely happy with how it looks

{State of the Kitchen} Part 15: The Light is Brighter

We're a couple of steps closer to being finished!

We have countertops! And crown molding!!! Monday, I was given a 2:00-4:00 window for the countertop installation, so I left work a little early to make sure I would be home when the countertop people arrived. When 4:00 came and went, I called the office at 4:10 to find out what was going on and was told that their first job of the day ran over. I told the woman that it would have been nice if someone had called me since I left work early and my last 2 groups of students missed Speech Therapy that day. Of course she said she apologized and that they would be at the house after 6:00. And they were. 7:30 is after 6:00, right? They finished up around 10:00...about an hour after my bedtime. I was honestly about to cry. If they didn't make it on Monday, it was going to throw the plumber (who came yesterday) off schedule.

After having the missing trim on the floor for a week, it was installed on Tuesday! CG2 installed the trim and the crown molding.

How the kitchen looked Tues. night.

He also made a frame for the microwave, moved the upper pullout down, and installed the remaining one. He drilled a hole in the shelf for the microwave cord as well. 

I was able to gain a little more storage with the additional pullout...perfect for my really small appliances!

The plumber was at my house waiting for me when I got home yesterday. He hooked up the sink, disposal, and dishwasher.

It's a real, honest to goodness sink & faucet!

Oh, but that wasn't without something going wrong. A clamp was missing from the disposal so he had to buy another one.  We looked around for it but couldn't find it.  I guess that's par for the course, because we're also missing the panel for the dishwasher:

Will they, or won't they find a panel?

I asked CG2 about it, and he said it had to be around somewhere, but it's nowhere to be found. I told him it was there when the project started, and said I wondered if something happened to it during demo. Just more sloppy management. 

My friend will get started on the backsplash on Saturday, and then we'll have someone come in and paint the walls and ceiling. And then we'll have our house back...finally!

Wed. night's photo: We bought a dimmer switch for the undercabinet lighting to achieve the "ambience" I' was expecting; we  CH hasn't put it in yet.

The sink is IN!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 14: Same Ol' Same Ol'

Yep, this is what my kitchen still looks like. The missing piece arrived at my house on Friday, and I promptly texted the contractor to let him know. He said he would check with CG2 to see if he could come out one day next week (which is this week) to finish up. It is now 8:41 on Wednesday night, and I haven't had a text or a cabinet guy.
I called the countertop people on Tuesday to find out when they would be ready to make my appointment. The lady said that I was the next person on their list to call (isn't that a coincidence...yeah, like that's likely), and she made my appointment for Monday afternoon. I texted the contractor to let him know, because they have to come out and remove the temporary sink so the real sink can be installed. It's now 8:43 on Wed. night and I haven't received a text or call.
I forwarded the same text to the contractor (so he would have it again) as well as the Home Depot store manager. Yep, 8:44 pm on Wed. and no response.
I emailed the owner of the contract company, the manager at Home Depot, and the Kitchen Designer (who probably isn't working today) and included a screenshot of the texts from last Friday through today. Which means they are seeing 3 texts: 2 from me & 1 from the contractor saying he would get back with me.
I have a huge concern that the countertop people are going to show up on Monday to install my countertops and won't be able to because of the contract company. Then there's the concern about the strip in the ceiling (which I'm pretty sure we're going to have to fix on our own) and the piece of dishwasher that's missing.
Something has gone very right lately in the way of construction, but it has nothing to do with the kitchen. Last week I posted a picture of the wall that had finally given way and fallen.

The wall that finally gave way. It was cracked when we bought the house, so we knew it was just a matter of time.

I got in touch with a brick mason we know, and he came over fairly quickly to look at it and give us a quote. I had the quote that night, and CH & I discussed whether we wanted another wall put up, or if we just wanted the brick repaired. We decided to go ahead with the wall.

A footer was poured around the wall.

This guy is a very hard worker and wants to make sure he does things correctly. What a breath of fresh air after what we've been through with the kitchen!

Cement block wall to support the brick wall.

I think it looks great, and he said he wasn't quite done yet. He's coming back this morning to finish up and clean up.

The brick doesn't match exactly, but the house brick is no longer made. The brick on the wall that fell didn't match exactly, either, which makes me think it was added after the house was built.

It looks much better than the original wall!

This guy has pride in his work, and is extremely professional. Like a said...a breath of fresh air!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 13: A Light...Definitely a Light!

I can feel the finish line!

It's almost done...it's really almost done! The utility cabinet, last wall cabinet, and wine cubby were put in on Monday, along with (most of) the trim. I say "most of" because apparently someone didn't measure correctly, or enough pieces weren't ordered. As has been par for the course, something didn't go right.

There are still a few concerns.

A piece of trim is missing (in the red circle), so they'll have to come back again. I'm still wondering if they're going to finish fixing the strip in the ceiling (see the arrows).  You can see in the pictures that the boxes laying around are dwindling, so it feels like we're about to have our house back.

The utility cabinet with small appliances.

The utility cabinet has 3 drawers, but he only put in 2. CH is thinking that the shelf can go up a couple of notches, then the top drawer can be moved up a little, leaving some room for the 3rd drawer to be installed. I don't know why he didn't consult with CH (who worked from home that day so they could finish up) before he put the top drawer in, but he didn't.

The wine cubby!

Another view. I'm not sure where the missing piece to the dishwasher is, but I hope they find it, or replace it. (See the purple arrow!)

The electrician is coming this afternoon to put in the pendant lights, undercabinet lights, and finish the outlets.

The contractor told me that he spoke with the countertop people. They said that the hold up was because I had to decide whether to make the granite behind the range all 1 piece, or have 1 piece behind the range and a piece on either side. I told the lady that I wanted 3 pieces since she said I was asking for a disaster if I had it all 1 piece. She said that it could break easily before they installed it, so I told her 3 pieces. Then, the designer emailed me about the situation, and I told her I wanted 3 pieces. THEN, a couple of days later, someone from Home Depot called and asked me the same thing. So, no. It wasn't my fault...it was poor communication on HD's part. Anyway, they're supposed to call Friday to make an appointment for installation.
The never-ending kitchen reno looks like it's coming to an end. FINALLY.
Oh, but wait. This happened over the weekend:

When we bought the house, there was a crack in the wall, so we knew we'd eventually have to have it replaced. Over the past few months, we knew it was about to come down. Last week, I had someone give us an estimate on taking it down and rebuilding it. And then, over the weekend, the wall tumbled down.  The guy came yesterday and took the rest of it down. Now the rebuilding begins! The joys of an older home!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 12: Whole Lot of Nuttin'

What a mess.

A whole lot of nuttin' went on in the house this past week since nothing could be done until the last wall cabinet came in. It's in and will be delivered this afternoon. As of Wed. night, I haven't received a call from the countertop people to schedule installation. I was really hoping everything (except the backsplash) would be done by the end of next week, but now I'm not very hopeful.
The pictures above show what we're living in. The doors on the left side are the rough ones; we're not sure why they're still in our kitchen. The boxes on the right are the trim and crown molding. There are a couple of drawers that were replaced hanging out there, too.
I have to admit: last Friday I was pretty down about having everything that belongs in my kitchen strewn around my house. I'm not a big fan of clutter, and right now my house is one big clutter fest.  When I took everything out of the cabinets, I just put them in totes and boxes, thinking it was just going to be a few weeks before I'd be able to put them back in the cabinets. Yet, here we are, 8 weeks later, and I still have stuff in totes all around the house.
I decided to go ahead and do what I could...which wasn't much. I put some pans and cutting boards in my pan cabinet.

I put some things in the pan cabinet.

I also bought a couple of things to organize a couple of drawers:

Top drawer of pantry; I'm debating about ordering another set of these for the drawer.

Slide out utensil organizer: I can't put anything in it because the countertop isn't in.

I felt a little better after taking Saturday to clean the house a bit and reorganize some of the totes. Not as good as I'll feel when it's all done, but...!!!!

I've used the oven a few times, and last night we took the plunge & used the dishwasher for the first time. After the washing machine debacle, I was a bit wary of using the dishwasher, but I knew it needed to be done.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 11: This is a Short One

This is going to be a rather short post this week. The only thing that happened is the utility cabinet arriving. It hasn't been installed, but it is in place. I'm not sure where the doors are, but that's not my problem. When the cabinet with the blemish came in, 1 of the doors wasn't smooth. That one was to be replaced, but I don't know what happened to the other 3. Like I said: not my problem.
This cabinet is going to house my microwave and small appliances like the breadmaker, mixer, and slow-cooker. I'm also going to put papertowels in the top.
The door that did come in looks like this:

I'm not sure how this passed QC.

Can you believe those white lines? How did this pass QC? Maybe they thought that because it's the inside of the door it didn't matter? CH said he knows why the cabinets cost so much...they have to make them 3 times to get them right. Or, in our case, still not get them right. Incredible.
The owner of the contract company and the contractor delivered the utility cabinet on Monday. The owner asked about pendant lights going above the sink, and I showed them to him. I also asked to make sure someone was going to put the blind corner cabinet together and was told CG2 would do it. I didn't say anything about the strip in the ceiling or the electrical outlet for the microwave. I told the designer I was going to let her take care of that.

I started organizing my pantry:

The left side of the pantry 

The right side of the pantry

The paper towels won't stay in the pantry so that will give me a little more room in that side. I took one of the shelves out of the right side since I had some tall containers. There's still plenty of room on both sides.

Next week I hope to at least have an appointment for the countertops. It's getting closer to being finished!

{State of the Kitchen} Part 10: Highs and Lows

What a week!

This past week was full of highs & lows. It seems like every time we start going, something happens to make it screech to a halt. I expected the replacements to be delivered to the house Friday. The contractor was going to go by the courier on Thursday and pick them up as soon as they were delivered. Except...the Thomasville Rep called me around 4:30 to let me know that 3 items did not pass Quality Control, so nothing was shipped. Wasn't that nice of them to not let me know? 

The sheetrock guys came and halfway repaired the strip in the ceiling where the cabinets used to be. I sent the designer the picture and asked if they were planning on finishing. She said that they may not be finished; she will get with the contractor about finishing.

The ceiling is kind of repaired

They got some patching material on the chimney of the hood.

Saturday was a very bad day for us. CH was at a function and I did a load of laundry. I heard some weird sounds coming from the temporary sink.  When I went to investigate, the sink was almost overflowing and there was sludge coming up from the pipe.

How gross is this?

I bailed the water until the washing machine stopped draining (I couldn't stop the washer because it's in the basement), then went down to see if anything else had happened. It had.  There was water pouring out of the vent pipe, onto the shelf where CH has all of our camping equipment. I called him, and the contractor. Then I called our plumber, who said it sounded like there was something stopping up the pipe. He referred me to someone to clean out the pipes. 

So here we are, on the hottest day of the year, carrying out all of our camping equipment and setting it up so it will dry. The contractor denied that they had anything to do with it, although this is the first time we've ever had this problem. Also, there was a new clamp around the vent pipe, and we haven't had any plumbing done in that area. Very suspicious. 

Camping equipment had to be set up to dry after the monsoon in our basement.

The replacements ended up coming in on Monday and were delivered by the contractor on Tuesday. Since I went back to work on Tuesday, they came after I got home so there would be "an adult who can make decisions" on site (per Home Depot's policy). After feeling the doors, there were still 5 that are rough, and 2 of the drawers are giving on the sides. At this point, we just want them done, so I told the Rep that those 5 will just be rough, and once the drawers fall in I'll have them replaced through our warranty. However, CG2 used a very soft sandpaper and was able to smooth the doors. I have no idea why this wasn't done before, but maybe they were too rough the first time. Anyway, he did a fantastic job with them, and they are all smooth!!!

The measurements for the countertops were done on Monday; I looked at the slab on Wed.

The granite against the range & cabinet.

I'll have the appointment for them to be installed in about a week and a half.

My slab!

I also sent this picture to the designer. The contractor put up a board behind the range to house the wire. I noticed the wire from the outlet is not behind the board. This will be a concern when they start trimming the bottom.

Wire from the outlet in the peninsula is not behind the board.

Tuesday night, this is what the kitchen looked like:

Replacement doors came in and 1 wall cabinet is up.

Replacement cabinet is in the pantry.

Oh, but Wednesday night! It was a huge difference!

I have handles!!!

Just to remind you what the old pantry looked like:

I was so glad to see those doors go!

To how it looks today:

I love how it looks!

I love the "Pet Center"...Gurl Dogg does, too!

Now we're waiting for the utility cabinet to come in; it's supposed to be finished tomorrow so hopefully it will be delivered next week. We're also waiting for the other wall cabinet. Once those are in, the trim, valance, undercabinet lights & pendant lights can be put in. The blind corner cabinet still needs to be put together...I can't wait to see how that works when it's finished.

Then it will be the countertop & sink (with the garbage disposal hooked back up), followed by the backsplash and we'll be DONE. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!