The Kitchen Is Done...Sort of

Thursday, the cabinet man arrived with his helper at 9:00 am. Who would have guessed they would still be here at 9:00 pm. Not I, for sure. Our old cabinets were in great shape, so we kept the basic structures, just having the doors and borders redone with replacement parts. They kept the kitchen door closed most of the day. We were not sure if this was because we kept peeking in or to block the noise and dust from their sawing and cutting of the counter top. As Ron claims, I notice things that most people don't. Alright, I give attention to detail, but most people would look at these things and wonder when it was going to be finished off. We tried occupying our time like expectant fathers waiting to hear the good news! Finally, at 9:15 pm, we had the unveiling. It was joy and disappointment at the same time. The cabinets look lovely; however, something was lost in translation. Along one wall, there are three cabinets. All six doors were to have glass panels in them. Only two of them do. The others are solid doors. If it were the center cabinets that had the glass, I could live with it, but alas, it is the two at the far end. It looks ridiculous. The cabinet exposed sides and bottoms were left white, though with new molding. I specifically requested it all be the same as the cabinets. It definitely has an unfinished look to it. A call into Anna, our interpreter and the sister of the cabinet maker, was frustrating since she said she could not remember any of these instructions when her brother took his notes. I tried tripping her memory by recalling the things that she and I discussed, but it was useless. Perhaps because she was here that night with both of her babies, there were too many distractions. Lesson learned, make notes of your own and go over them before everyone leaves. To add to the mix, they inserted the new sink, which looks lovely, but they could not put in the faucet, or the 'tap' as they call it. We need to call a plumber to do the work. Hence, we have no kitchen water yet. The stove hood is on back order and will be up to four weeks to arrive. We will look elsewhere in the meanwhile. We had asked if they could get two sliding drawers for the other lower cabinets like we have in another lower cabinet. That never happened. Now we have to look for those on our own also. They did not reinstall our under cabinet lights. We have to get the electrician back for that too. We spent the day carting things back from hither and yon to place them back into the cupboards, I mopped all of the floors since tile and counter top dust can travel all over the apartment. Ron had already done the dusting. We still owe the cabinet man money, so he is guaranteed to return. Our translator will be thrilled to have this end. I am sure it is more than she bargained for. We did get her a gift certificate for a restaurant for she and her husband, but that was some time ago and is now feeling like a drop in the bucket. Nothing other compensation will have to follow. The bright side is that we are now convinced we need to re-tile the hallway to match the kitchen floor.

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