Cabinet Installation

When we last left our fearless homeowners we had cabinet woes. While the woes continue, things are not as horrific as you may believe.

Woe #1:
The original cabinet woe can have the center of the cabinet replaced to make it a slide-out pantry cabinet. This is one crisis that has been averted. Now if the granite place had not been on vacation all this week, someone might have cared.

As is stands, since the granite place is on vacation, we wait anyway. But there are plenty of things to do for our worker guys to get things in place. Currently they have just installed part on the island, and hopefully complete it today. This involved putting the base cabinets in place, adding the doors and hardware, cutting, fitting and installing the bottom panels, and building a place to receive the small refrigerator on the end where there is no cabinet (my only part on this oasis), as well as providing a bit of stability for the granite. This brings us to the next world or woe.

Woe #2:
As you can see from the photo there is no door where there is no cabinet. While I believe this is fine (why would you need a door when there is no cabinet), my wife thought this looks strange and wants a fake door there.

The other part of the island she did not like was the way the bottom kick plate looks. When there is a cabinet, under the cabinet is an area that dips into the cabinet (think of the space under a mushroom). This area is not translated around the whole thing since the void does not exist on the sides of cabinets. The wife thought this was horrible. I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about, not being a mushroom fan in the first place.

Eventually, she relented. Because, as they said in the Shawshank Redemption, “How often do you look at a man’s shoes”, I believe this applies to cabinet bottoms as well.

Woe #3:
Communication is a wonderful thing. Miss-communication is not. To make a long story even longer…
a. We had a cabinet above the refrigerator area.
b. Wife changes mind about refrigerator.
c. Appliance dealer informs cabinetmaker of the change.
d. Cabinetmaker denies ever getting a change (we have a dated fax saying it was received).
e. Cabinet is too big for the space.
f. Refrigerator doesn’t fit – or does it.

The fridge fits in the space but the cabinet doors do not open because the hinges are too high. It is unclear whether we can raise the doors (contractor’s suggestion), re-make the cabinets (cabinet-maker’s suggestion), make new doors – there is an extra 2 inches behind the doors (my suggestion) or nail them shut (best suggestion).

Cabinet Woes

Last Friday the workmen began putting in the kitchen cabinets. Friday went flawlessly and we expected to have the cabinets in by mid week (Thursday, because of the 4th of July holiday) based on the progress they made on Friday.

Unfortunately as the boxes were unpacked and the cabinets set up there was one cabinet that was wrong. More unfortunate for us is the fact that this cabinet is almost all the way to the corner, which makes setting up the other cabinets next to it a real problem.

Without the cabinets secured we can't get the granite place to take measurements. This delays the construction.

To make matters worse, the cabinet place is closed on Monday, so my wife will be on the phone this morning to give the KitchenScapes guy an ear full and have it expedited so we can continue work.

There is still a number of items to do, and with the appliances coming in soon there is work to be done, but nothing can be finalized until the cabinets are correct.

The cabinet in question is to the right. It is supposed to be a pull out pantry unit, and it is just a plain cabinet.

Tile and Cabinets, oh my...

In the last couple of days the workers have installed the kitchen floor, which means finalizing the cuts on the replacement wood floor area and the cabinets were delivered yesterday.

The floor looks great, a whole sight better than the mess that it was before. I could get used to a floor that isn't all cracked and wavy like a roller coaster.

The workmen were putting in the grout yesterday afternoon and they ran out of grout. I don't know how you run out of grout and not run to the store to get the rest of it, but the part that they did looks great. It will look fantastic after the polish off the film over the top, but even with the film it's leagues ahead of the last floor.

The cabinets also came in. They were delivered in big boxes except for one corner cabinet that was uncovered. They look great too. In looking at the cabinet construction it's nice to see that the semi-custom cabinets we bought are not made of particle board and crap, they are nice and sturdy wood.

The wife is now in the process of finding knobs for the cabinets. The ones she found are $5 each. At first glance that isn't a problem, but we need a lot of handles. Her job is to search out for nice handles that might be a bit cheaper.

How to turn 3 weeks time into 10 weeks

Apparently contractor time is not the same as human time.

Here we sit waiting for the kitchen job to begin and we are still waiting on the cabinetry to be completed. All I can surmise is that people are generally stupid and cannot adhere to timetables. Such is the case with kitchenscapes.

Our order was placed before the new year to take advantage of pricing before a new year's increase and was finalized at that time. Our Start date for beginning work was early April. The contract knew this, the cabinet guy knew this and we knew this. But I guess it's too difficult to understand your business enough to know how long it takes to build cabinets and then count backwards to finish on time.

Four months sports fans, and our contractor says its going to take another 3 weeks to complete the cabinets.

The order of things.

The contractor was supposed to start on the new kitchen on Monday and I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what exactly they are going to do and in what order.

I say, "was supposed to start on Monday" because as I began writing this blog I got a call from my wife saying that the cabinets are delayed by two weeks, and I don't understand fully how that impacts them starting on Monday.

By my estimate this is how I think it will go for the 3 months they say they are going to be around:

1. Demo the space
   Remove all the existing cabinetry, appliances wallboard, existing floor tile.
2. Add Framing
   Since we're moving the layout around a new structural beam needs to be added and some walls need to be moved around.
   
3. Run Electrical/Piping
   Rough in all the stuff that's behind walls and under floors.
   
4. Size the floor
   Make the floor flat, getting rid of existing mud and putting in plywood floors to work on.
5. Replace the windows
   Some windows are going, some are being added.
6. Lay radiant heating
   Since the radiant heating is going to be under the floor tiles, this needs to be done earlier than later.
7. Lighting
   Put up new lighting options for recessed lights.
   
8. Sheetrock walls
   Cover up all of the stuff to get ready for cabinetry
9. Tile Floor
   I assume this gets done before the cabinets are hung.
10. Install Cabinets
    Rough in the cabinets and make room for appliances.
11. Install Appliances
    This all needs to be in to do the counter tops.
    
12. Install Counter tops
    Stuff needs to be measured for the appliances and the actual room.
13. Tile Backsplash
    Now that the counter tops and cabinets are in we can do some cosmetic stuff.
    
14. Install Fixtures/Water
    Once the counter tops are in, the task of connecting all the parts begins.
    
15. Finish Electrical/Lighting
    Put boxes in where the roughing was done for switches and appliances.
16. Lay Wood Floors
    Part of the space has wood flooring in the dining area.
    
17. Paint Walls
    This is my part of the whole job, and will save about 3 grand from the construction price if I do it myself
18. Finish floors
    After all the construction guys are gone, it is our responsibility to get the wood floor finished. This is an additional few hundred dollars that are not in the estimate.

So, the question becomes, if the cabinets are step 10, why is there a delay in starting, and what can we do to minimize other delays.