Remodeling Our Kitchen - Cabinets

Remodeling Our Kitchen - Cabinets - November 2008

And so it begins (again)

It's been nearly six months since we started this project and we're finally back to it. Ann and I have been here, there, and everywhere, looking at different style cabinets. We even looked at the put them together yourself ones. They look beautiful and are well built, but they don't save that much money and they're made in China! We went back to Lowe's a couple times to look at the Diamond Cabinets line that Ann likes plus they're made in the USA! She definitely has a style and color in mind.

Next decision, what kind of countertop? Laminate? Marble? Corian? At first Ann wants the marble, and I like it too, except for the extra maintenance of having to seal the pores annually. Expensive to begin with and expensive to maintain. Neither Ann nor I like the look of laminate, but it is low maintenance and even I can work with it (read "do it myself"). Ann says "NO WAY!" Finally she decides she wants the Corian instead of the marble. Now what about the floor tile? We've looked and looked and looked and still haven't found anything we like. Ann decides she likes the tile we have in the hall, and that's what she wants.

She also decides she wants the kitchen done for Thanksgiving. I tell her good luck with that... It's not that I don't want to do it, it's what I know has to happen by then and all the unknowns involved. Plus we're flying to Ohio to visit her family for Thanksgiving, so we should really wait to start until after that. As long as it's done by Christmas she says...

Well, now that it's all decided, we're looking to get things in motion to meet the Christmas deadline. We head to Lowe's two weekends before Thanksgiving and order the cabinets. They tell us it will be two to three weeks to build and ship the cabinets and the air freight handlers will call us to set up a time for delivery, so that should work. But now there's a new problem, Lowe's can't order the tile we want, or at least the system isn't letting them order it.

Since it's the weekend, there's no one to ask until Monday. So they follow up and call us with the bad news. Bummer, but at least Ann knows the place we got the living room carpet from carries that tile, or used to anyway. So we head down there, and they do still carry it, but for half again as much as what Lowe's was charging. We manage to talk him down to about a quarter again as much and order the twenty boxes we need.

That was quick!

(22 November 2008)
They told us it would be a week or two, but it arrives the next weekend, so I drive down there and they load the palette on the truck. When Nick gets home I ask for his help unloading it but get his usual "once he's done with doing whatever he's doing at the moment" response. Before I know it the sun has set and it's dark, so I get the dolly and unload it myself, with Mr. Helpful nowhere to be found. God forbid he has to work for his supper! He could be making a lot of money helping me but I guess he hasn't figured that out yet. His loss.

Ann and Nick are off to the grocery store that Sunday afternoon before the Thanksgiving holiday. The air freight rep says he has been trying to get in touch with us since Friday night. Turns out they can deliver the cabinets Monday and the driver is supposed to call later in the evening to set up a time, which he doesn't. I was already planning on working from home Tuesday in order to start early enough to be able to leave for the airport in time for our 5:00 PM flight to Ohio, so I decide to work from home Monday as well.

I do eventually get a call from the driver Monday morning and now I'm waiting on them to arrive. When the two of them get here with the truck, they unload the entire shipment in less than half an hour! I'm trying to keep track of all the boxes as they come in to make sure we get everything, but soon lose track and end up just signing the paperwork so they can be on their way...

Making use of the old cabinets

(23 November 2008)
We've been living out of the old wall cabinets, now sitting on the floor, for nearly the last six months and it's really starting to get old. The old base cabinets are still in place but they'll soon be history as well. Especially irritating is that 'stove pipe', hanging out of the ceiling, the one I wanted cut off but no one seemed to be able to figure out how to get apart and cut! Oh well, there has been plenty of time to get that done before now. It's just that it would have been MUCH easier when someone could (easily) get to the joint, the one just above the new ceiling BEFORE the new ceiling went in. You can also see the effects of the incorrectly placed electrical box for the light fixture over the sink. The light just looks stupid off center like that. You'll notice the sink looks a bit off center too. I asked Quinci to put an extra 2x4 on either side of the pass-through window, but she put two on the right side and none on the left. I can already see in my head the new cabinets are going to make it look off center too. But enough bitching and moaning, the new cabinets are here!

Getting excited...

(24 November 2008)
When I say we're getting excited, it's an understatement. At first I figure I'll wait until Ann gets home to open the boxes. On second thought, the better use of my time is to unpack and inspect them. I have to take the boxes in the order I can get to them since they're packed into the dining room. It's actually Ann's office and she said to make sure to leave an access to her desk and stuff. They left just enough room to walk past all the boxes, stacked nearly to the ceiling. As I said, they are packed in there.

After the first few boxes are unpacked and the cabinets placed wherever there is room left for them, I see I need to stage the cabinets as they will eventually fit in the kitchen. That way I can see everything as it will look together and more easily spot any issues or missing items. Once I can get to the base cabinets for the sink side of the kitchen and easily lay them out it slowly comes together.

The new cabinets arrive! - 24 November 2008

By now the boxes are stacking up and I'm really running out of room for anything else. Before I start collapsing the boxes into flats, I inspect the cabinets best I can and keep the one(s) I need. The rest are collapsed and sit in the corner of the patio, on top of the boxes of tile we won't need until the cabinets are installed. I finish and not a moment too soon! I sit down just before Ann gets home.

There. That much is done. Now we can get on the plane to Dayton, Tuesday afternoon, and enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday with Ann's family. While we're there, Quinci calls and leaves a message. Then she calls Ann while we're sitting around at her sister's house. Ann lets her know we have the tile and the cabinetry and she will be needed, and soon, but we're in Ohio right now and we're back home early Sunday. Ann tells her we start Monday since I took it off anyway, thinking I wanted an extra day to get back into the swing of things after traveling.

Getting down to business...

(1 December 2008)
So now we need to get down to business. This kitchen isn't going to remodel itself! I help Quinci get the rest of the base cabinets out of the way and get her started on chipping up the tile. She starts out with a chisel and hammer. Meanwhile, I'm working on getting the pictures of the demolition printed so I know where the nail guards are and can start marking the studs for the cabinet placement. At first I thought she was just chipping out the floor nailer for the old penninsula, but when I see she is chipping up the tile by hand, I can tell from the look on her face she knows she has underbid the tile removal work.

I tell her I have something better and faster... Enter the air chisel and compressor. I don't think she was figuring on the extra days to make more money since she already told me about the other job she was working that she needs to get back to. She knows this is her saving grace. So after nearly a day of chipping she's almost done. Had Nick and I removed the base cabinets I think she probably could have finished Monday. Not a big deal, I tell her I can take Tuesday off too, but she's worried I'll get in trouble. So Tuesday Quinci 'finishes' chipping up the tile and we manage to get the cabinets over and around the stove installed by the end of the day. That smile on Ann's face when she sees it is more than worth it!

The old tile gone and one wall of cabinets installed - in two days!

That's it until the weekend since Quinci has other obligations until then. In the meantime, I get the plumbing and other loose ends prepared so we can start early Saturday and finish this job. The only loose end we have left is Ann's spice cabinet - a tall and narrow (9" wide) pull out 'drawer', open on both sides, with many shelves for easy access to ALL your spices. When I unpacked it I noticed that it looked 'tweaked' and the drawer slide doesn't operate smoothly either. We install it anyway so at least the countertop folks can come out and measure for their template. After speaking with the cabinet rep, Lowe's ordered us a new one so when it comes in we'll just replace it. Hopefully it will be in BEFORE the countertop is done. Another best laid plans deal, and I'm sure you're as sick of hearing about them as I am sick of them happening to us!

Saturday arrives before we know it and Quinci is running late. She calls to say she has to stop by another job where she has a maintenance contract, but then she will be on her way over. She was telling Ann about an older male black lab she found just tied to a fence along side the road with a sign reading 'Free Dog'. Now we're not going to throw blood on your fur coat or anything like that, but I have to ask just what in the Hell was the owner thinking just abandoning the dog like that? In any case, Quinci 'rescued' him. Ann and Quinci discussed us adopting him and her bringing him along for a trial visit, just to see how well he gets along with our female black lab, Wren.

Well, now it's really getting late, like afternoon already late, and Quinci is nowhere to be found. Turns out somehow the dog escaped from her truck and she had to chase him everywhere before he eventually tired out. And this from an old dog with arthritic hips no less! She eventually gets here and we start to hang the cabinets, getting most of the rest of the wall cabinets hung, when she realizes she can't find her wallet. Well, she looks through her truck then Ann looks through her truck then Nick looks through her truck but no one finds it! She looked again then Ann looked again but still no wallet...

She ends up leaving the dog, "Big Boy" as she calls him, with us while she returns to the maintenance job site to look for her wallet. If ever there was a dog that epitomizes "Puppy Dog Eyes', it's this one! He's very well behaved and he and Wren seem to get along... Eventually that is, once Wren asserts her alpha position. He seems to be looking out the window for Quinci's return, perhaps worried he's again been abandoned. I try to get as many other things done and out of the way as possible in preparation for her return. He eventually gives up looking for her and joins me in the kitchen. He's just sitting there, looking important, like he should be wearing reading glasses low on his nose and holding a clipboard taking notes or something.

Well, I make the 'mistake' of calling him "Clipboard, The Big Black Dog", like "Clifford, The Big Red Dog", and it sticks! Done it now, 'aven't I? Eventually Quinci does manage to make it back, and still no wallet to speak of, but it's too late to get anything else done that evening... That is, anything other than going out for Mexican and drinking Margaritas! We make plans to pick up Sunday morning. As Ann relates the "Clipboard" incident, it is decided that since I named him, I get to keep him. That's how I find out Ann and Quinci have been conspiring on this 'adoption' thing... But after a few (more) Margaritas, it doesn't really matter. Good thing too, notice how the pass-through window looks off center by a 2x4 on either side?

The remaining cabinets installed - in two days!

Quinci takes "Big Boy" back home with her that evening but brings him and his things with her Sunday morning. So now we have a "new, old dog"... Clipboard. While Quinci and I get started on the installation of the remaining cabinets, Ann and Nick head out to the store to look at hardware. When they get back, they have a new collar and a new tag with his name and address on it. Ann puts it together and slips it on him. He's proud of his new 'pretty'. Meanwhile, Quinci and I are just about finished with the cabinets along the one wall. All that remains is the sink base and the stub end for the dishwasher opening. So in less than a day we have the rest of the cabinets installed.