5th week update and the SHOCKER

Since the remodeling started in the middle of a week back on April 26th, the 4 week mark was hit on May 16th.

I came back from my trip on Monday night to find the kitchen completely transformed. Even though the dust and boxes were everywhere, and the walls that are to be covered with the granite were still painted mango, it was a WOW moment when I saw it live. The microwave cabinet was installed, and that nearly completed the kitchen. Only 5 minor cabinets remained plus all the trim and molding.

Tuesday proved to be a hellish day. Wall cabinet next to range went in, no issues. I scheduled the templating with the granite people - June 1st. Later than I hoped to be, but it proved just about right only a few hours later.


After the 3 cabinets next to the microwave cabinet were installed, all the wiring was done (one of the uppers next to microwave cabinet will have an electrical outlet for my cell phone charging and a phone jack for the land line phone), the microwave was installed - only to reveal a design flow - a missing filler between the microwave and the fridge - which prevented the freezer from being completely open. It got only better when the final cabinet was taken out of the box - at least a 6" long crack was running from the top. What a day, hah??? Of course, I called the KD right away to request a replacement and the missing filler.

I have to say we were very lucky, because we had just enough room on the affected wall for the filler. Anything wider and we would have major issues.

So, since we needed a new cabinet and a piece of molding, all the work basically came to a screeching halt. The kitchen was nearly there!!! Nothing else could've been really done until all the missing items would arrive - hopefully before templating. Guys installed the filler above the vent, cleaned up the garage, installed the old counter top on the sink section of the kitchen and basically called it a day. The agreement is that Bryan will be periodically popping in and out as the replacement doors, molding, etc will be arriving. He will also have to come in to connect the old sink since new pipes are needed.

After the latest "shocker" we were majorly ticked off, because this time it would actually cost us money to fix this mess. To install the filler between the microwave and the fridge, 4 cabinets would have to be moved and electrical outlets would have to be moved. Bryan has been really patient with working around some of the KD or cabinet-related issues, but this issue would cost him a day. I was also ticked off with some of the cabinet-related issues - since we ordered the cabinets when Decora was raising prices, a lot of folks did the same thing, so the output increased but the QA/QC suffered a lot as well. We have 5 doors to replace, some corner supports were not attached properly, of course the 2 wrong size fillers, and the one cabinet that was slightly bowed in - nothing major or anything that would impact the structural quality but it shouldn't be like that with the cabinetry that prizes itself on their workmanship and quality.

So, I compiled a list of all my cabinet complaints, printed out all the evidence and Brian and I went to meet the KD. I wanted some kind of compensation for the cabinets and some kind of compensation for the $300 an extra day of work that we had to pay up due to what seemed to us was a KD negligence (he had all the appliance specs!!!!). At the end, I got all the molding I wanted to order free of charge (from Decora) as well as the grape embellishment that we wanted to order to go on the valance above the hood. KD kicked in half of what I wanted, but I was satisfied anyways. Because of his mistakes we got the fridge filler, the panels for the wall cabinets flanking the vent on the house, as well as the valance above the hood (we were going to pay for it since it was a last minute addition but we ordered it at the same time as we found out the missing finished panels for the wall cabinets mentioned above, and he gave the valance free of charge). So considering these freebies, I don't feel too bad about getting only the $150 back. If I had to pay for molding, trim, the grape onlay and other stuff, it would be at least $800, if not more.

Photos to be posted later. Have a great weekend everyone.