Cabinets: Good News/Bad News

Our cabinets arrived last week and were loaded into the house, stuffed into every available floor space we have left.  They started to install them, beginning with the cabinet outside of the bathroom, the upper cabinet above the dishwasher, the sink & sink cabinet, and the trash bin cabinets.  Then came issue number 1.

It was discovered that if the matching upper cabinet to the right of the window and the cabinet covering the exhaust hood were installed, the hood cabinet would be overhanging the double windows in the back of the kitchen by 5.5 inches too long.  *Someone* mis-measured.  Course, the kitchen designer pointed fingers at the contractor; the contractor blamed the designer.  No one wanted to take responsibility for the mistake with good reason: to make the cabinets fit, the hood cabinet would have to be rebuilt, and it was one of the most expensive cabinets (due to its sheer size).  No one wanted to have to pay for it; all we knew was that the mistake wasn't ours and so we weren't going to pay for the fix.  

 So, while the three parties decided what we wanted to do to move forward with the hood cabinet, the contractors installed the cabinets on the other side of the room: the chef pantry, the one above the fridge, and the unit that will contain the microwave. And that is when we noticed issue #2. 





We ordered creamy white cabinets doors in a matte, powder finish.  Along the edges, the paint was messed up: shiny speckled spots, as if the paint had not dried completely before they wrapped it in the protective paper.  We noticed the imperfection on every single door and drawer in any kind of light.  Every. Single. One.

*cry*


So, after a week and half, we have solved both issues, with major delays to the final product. 

For issue #1: we aren't hanging the 2nd upper cabinet next to the window.  The stove and the hood cabinet slide down closer to the sink.  We add an alcove behind the stove and some glass shelves to the sides of hood cabinet. 

Issue #2 is a bit more complicated.  The cabinet company sent an employee/driver to pick up the defective doors and drawers and take it back to the factory.  We sent back every door, drawer, filler piece, kick plate, crown pieces back, plus two cabinets with bad construction.  Any surface that faces outward was sent back to the factory to be sanded down and repainted.  The factory is Tulsa.  Three days drive from DC.  We have no real idea when the cabinets will get to the factory, when they will get fixed, and when they will be put back on the truck to be sent back to us.  Did I mention that the cabinet factory is closed between Christmas and New Year's?

* still crying*

All we know is that this is a significant delay.  Without the doors and drawers and the two cabinets, the contractors can't finish setting the cabinets, can't pay tile, can't lay counter tops. Can't. can't. can't.

the run of cabinets, minus the fronts and appliances

Soooooo.  While we wait for the return of the cabinets, there is a limited amount of work that can be done.  Basically, the contractors can work on trimming out the doors and around the floor. After that... we wait.  We wait for the return of cabinets, which most likely will be around the second week in January.  So much for the delivery date of December 20th for a finished kitchen. We are now looking at January 20th, and possibly even into early February. 

*sobbing*

new alcove that will be above the stove

movable shelves of the chef pantry, which allows storage on the back wall of the cabinet, both sides of the movable columns, and on each of the doors (not pictured)

starting to add the trim around the door, and reusing the header piece from the old dining room doorway