Guest Blog - Kitchen Edition

First, a review of the kitchen situation.

This is what we had:

    

This is what they said we'd get:

This is what we got:

    

So, all good, right?

Well, I'll let Bruce tell the story. This how he answered his brother's texted question about how things were going in renovation land:

Hmmm. Bit of a rollercoaster ride, but I think we’re finished all the frightening, sickening loops, rolls and plunges. We came back from Belleville by train yesterday afternoon, full of optimism that the job was done (as the project manager informed us it was), and done properly (we ought to have known better). We arrived to find the work substantially done, but with some glaring defects in the workmanship. The place was a bloody mess, with dust, surplus installation hardware, protective plastic wrap and foam from  the appliances strewn everywhere. Our new counter limited the new fridge to opening on the right side only. It took Karen an hour to figure out why the induction cooktop wouldn’t heat a pan or stay on - by the time she figured it out she was in quite a state. She was just getting over a cold she caught in Belleville. I caught it from her and I was only about half alive when we got home. By the time we went out to get something to eat at around 4 in the afternoon we were pretty dispirited and dangerously salty. But a beer and some mutual talking one another down helped a lot, and we resolved that we shouldn’t say or do anything too rash until we talked to the project manager and got a read on what he could do by way of mitigation. Then we set out to make a lengthy and detailed list of deficiencies for him to address.

The project manager was slated to come by this afternoon, so we went out for breakfast, came home and begin to battle the drifts of drywall dust and construction waste. We made a little progress, but the effort was therapeutic in itself. As we cleared the kitchen of crap, we were able to see how well our choices of materials came together, how much improved was the light on the work surfaces, how shiny and clean were the (insides) of the new appliances. This buoyed our spirits considerably, I can tell you. By the time buddy arrived to talk to us we were collected and businesslike, with what I hope was an undertone of steely determination to see this shit sorted. None of what we said or showed him phased him at all, and he acknowledged the problems. His foreman arrived a while later and corrected some little stuff. We have reasonable assurance that they’ll be back to do the rest in the next couple of days. We’re holding back the last three grand of their billing against satisfactory completion. And the the fridge door problem was solved by shoving the fridge as far away from the counter as the cavity would allow - it’s not perfect, but neither are we. Seems somehow appropriate.

My cold’s a bit better today, and we’re just ready to go out for another meal. I’m glad you texted to ask about this because whenever I feel overwhelmingly pissed off at things in my life I can look back to this text and be reminded of how much better things can seem with a little patience, effort, good will, and the passage of twenty-four hours.

Your loving brother,

Bruce  

The drama of the first 48 hours aside, I'd say we did OK. There were some glitches in our renovation, but there always are. All the other metrics were fine: the job was done per specifications, on time and as quoted. (The cost, by the way, was just under $50K, which includes tax and two side projects that were executed perfectly well.)

And now we never, ever, ever have to do anything like this again.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

November 11th's post: I think a Remembrance Day graphic I added to the distribution email must have sent last week's entry into most people's spam filters. You can find it here.