New-ish kitchen jam

dodgechargerfan

dodgechargerfan

CanadianGary
Administrator
Instead of hijacking jbj’s thread, I’ll share the fun we are having here.

As mentioned in the other thread,
We’re going through a redecoration/remodel right now.
We couldn’t really make any significant changes to the layout and the cabinets are good quality cabinets.
So, we just got them refaced and painted.
New countertops. New sink and faucet. New lighting. New appliances. Fresh paint on the walls and ceiling.

It should be nice, but the process seems to be very much a gong show.
Stuff is going to have to redone before the project is finished.

Gong show specifics to follow.
 
We hired a designer/contractor to help us make good decisions.
Almost every decision we made, he agreed with. He even said that we are making it too easy for him nd taking some of the fun out of it.
I’m not overly concerned about that as we’re getting what we want and he’s providing some guard rails and keeping us on budget.

So, we give him the timelines that we need to meet and give him a deposit.
We pick paint colours from the chip samples he provided.
He schedules workers.

It should be a 7 to 10 business day job.


Oh, the floor is not getting changed as we just had that done a couple of years ago because Mrs DCF said she’d be happy if just that got done…
 
Our timelines were:
Be done before July 12 or don’t start until August.

He chose to start in late June. The 17th, if I remember correctly.

The cabinet doors got yanked that week.
Painters started with cleaning/degreasing and putting primer on the cabinets. Good start.
 
I went through a full kitchen glow up a couple years ago. I hope that yours is less stressful than mine. The guy painting our cabinets (39 of them) decided to retire while in the middle of the project. I am not kidding. He called our designer and told her to come get the doors because he was retiring. So she tracked down some random guy on CL and he actually did a great job finishing but it took 6 weeks longer than expected. Weirdest thing a vendor has ever done to me.
 
Subsequent days, stuff happened.
In no order other than what I can recall.

Paint went on the cabinets. Three coats.
One coat, they decided that the walls could get cabinet paint on them.
The job includes painting the walls with a lighter colour paint. The cabinets are a very dark blue.
So, I’m looking at the lack of cutting in and thinking, “Glad I don’t have to make that look good.”
 
MonkeyZero said:
I went through a full kitchen glow up a couple years ago. I hope that yours is less stressful than mine. The guy painting our cabinets (39 of them) decided to retire while in the middle of the project. I am not kidding. He called our designer and told her to come get the doors because he was retiring. So she tracked down some random guy on CL and he actually did a great job finishing but it took 6 weeks longer than expected. Weirdest thing a vendor has ever done to me.
Click to expand...
That’s wild!
 
The wall behind the fridge had some backsplash tiles up near the top.
This got ripped off with the rest of the backsplash as planned.
The tile adhesive was left behind and needed to be addressed.

So, they went at it with a giant sander/grinder thing. (My daughter’s description as I didn’t see it.)
That shot dust all over the place to the point that it set off the smoke alarm in the back hallway… on the other side of the family room.
THEN they ran out and bought a shop vac to keep the dust down while they finished the job.

Mrs DCF had to dust and vacuum pretty much the entire main floor.


Oh and this after they had paint on the cabinets and walls, and not the final coats.
 
The lighting that was there was that wonderful 80s era fluorescent tubes behind a drop ceiling of yellow plastic panels.
That got yanked down and the wood frame that supported the drop ceiling had to come out.

Yeah. This is after the painting mentioned above.

So, that got yanked out yesterday.
Some of the holes got the first layer of patch,
And all of the debris from the demo work was sitting on top of the cabinet frame and in the cabinet.

The countertop guys showed up today as planned.
Good thing Mrs DCF cleaned up the mess so they could do their work.

They’re doing their thing right now.
They wanted to use the garage to cut countertop, but honestly there is no room. None.
So, they have to do it in the rain. Sorry guys.

They opened up the sink that was ordered so that they could measure for the opening and line up the hole for the faucet.
The sink is broken.

Designer/contractor dude is going to get another.
It was a special order. So….
We’ll see.
 
countertop and backsplash are in.

Better fit than I expected.
The backsplash is thick though.
That’s gonna push our fridge and stove out a bit from the wall and consequently stick out beyond the cabinet/countertop.

We’ll see. I guess.

IMG_3504.jpeg



Should have doors tomorrow.
 
Plumber is there today.
Looks good. That’s how I would have done it.

IMG_3510.jpeg



Cabinet doors may not make it today.
Designer/contractor dude needed to drive out of town to pick up the hinges he ordered.
It sounds like he had them shipped to the wrong store for pickup.

There was a visitor today, too.

IMG_3511.jpeg
 
Update.
The doors did show up today.

They look like shit.
Dust and dirt painted in. So not the smooth as glass look that was promised.

Also, the hinges were changed and the old holes are not properly filled.

Plumber did a great job though.
 
Oops. The doors didn’t show up today.
I misunderstood the text from Mrs DCF. I was out all day.

The “looks like shit” refers to the cabinets in the pic above.

With the new lighting in, every flaw shows.
There are a lot.

The plumber saw the work being done on the doors in the shop and he told the designer/contractor that it would be cheaper for him and better for us to build new doors from scratch.

Mrs DCF lost it.

They’re going to come back in August and strip and sand everything down a start over.

It’s been a gong show.
The light fixtures went up, but the ceiling isn’t patched and painted yet.
I get that he may have been able to get the electrician in at a certain time, but if they don’t drop the fixture and paint under it, I’m going to lose it.

I was watching some of the comings and goings on the security cameras and the designer/contractor and the painter had a loooooong talk out in front of the house.
 
dodgechargerfan said:
countertop and backsplash are in.

Better fit than I expected.
The backsplash is thick though.
That’s gonna push our fridge and stove out a bit from the wall and consequently stick out beyond the cabinet/countertop.

We’ll see. I guess.

View attachment 94845


Should have doors tomorrow.
Click to expand...
See the opening for the stove?
It’s wider at the front edge of the countertop than it is at the back.
The stove might JUST fit in the back width, but the countertop edge is going to “flare out” and the gap will widen toward the front edge.

Imma get my sledge hammer…
 
dodgechargerfan said:
See the opening for the stove?
It’s wider at the front edge of the countertop than it is at the back.
The stove might JUST fit in the back width, but the countertop edge is going to “flare out” and the gap will widen toward the front edge.

Imma get my sledge hammer…
Click to expand...
That sounds like a total bodge just to go on top of everything else.

I'd be giving the designer it absolutely fucking rotten on a daily basis until it's fixed if he's the one who's picked the contractors. It'll be worth it when it's done even though it is a shit show just now.

We're lucky that our build will be coming through a network of good pals and colleagues of a close family friend.

Said friend is very well connected (and I don't just mean for plumbers and joiners... :embarrassed: ) so of the numerous kitchens he's booked people I know up with, I've never heard of anything apart from the usual basic snagging needing dealt with.
 
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