Updates

Sorry I haven't written here lately, but you can catch up on all the kitchen news on my regular blog. I'll try to fill this blog in at a later time. Lots has been going on. Finally I can use the kitchen again, but I'm having more problems with Home Depot.

I've got running water...

in the kitchen again. The plumber was here today. Four valves need to be replaced, however. One is leaking slightly. So the plumber has to come back. Meanwhile he put a towel and a bowl under the drip, so the new cabinet won't get damaged. Needless to say, the city inspection scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled.

A cabinet guy is coming back first thing in the morning to cut a hole into the inside of the cabinet by one of the valves, so the plumber can do what he has to do. Right now the valve is practically scraping the side of the cabinet, and it would be impossible to affix a handle to it. (And they don't make special handles for that situation. I asked.)

I'm also getting ice again. The plumber re-connected the water line to the fridge. He also connected the water lines to the dishwasher, but I won't be able to use it till the electrician comes back and finishes his work (after the inspection). The plumber also installed the new disposer, but I won't be able to use that either till the electrical work is finished.

Before the plumber got here, someone from his office called to ask whether the elevators here are on the inside or outside of the building. She said the plumber is afraid of heights. I told her I was too, and that the elevators are on the inside. And if the elevators had been on the outside?

The new faucet, by the way, works like a "fine precision instrument." There's also a built-in soap dispenser on the other side, which I filled tonight, and used.

So I can now do my dishes in the kitchen--rather than the bathroom (mostly glasses and silverware these days). (When I eat here, I use paper plates.) Looking forward to being able to use the stove and dishwasher, too. Maybe by Thanksgiving.

I'd not had any running water in the kitchen since July 2.

Close-ups

The faucet is not connected yet. It has a pull-down sprayer spout. At the right is a built-in detergent dispenser (not fully installed yet). The sink is large and deep.

This is a little dark, but I'm trying to show the pattern of the Silestone ("Yukon Blanco"). Click to enlarge a bit. It's off-white with random, white dappling or mottling throughout it. There are also little dark specks in it. It's subtle but interesting. Very beautiful. Certainly beats the ceramic tile and laminates that were here before. Also, Silestone is virtually indestructible as far as counter tops go.

The counters go perfectly with the bright white cabinets. I can't wait to put up the colorful iridescent glass tile backsplash.

Almost there

(Yes, it's been that long since anything's been done in the kitchen.)

Counter installers here today.

Now the electrical has to be inspected and finished, and the plumbing hooked up.

Here (and at top) you can see the brackets I bought and prepped.

This counter has a nice bowed shape. All have bullnose edge.

Before the counter guys got here, the cabinet guys were here to add the overlay to the spice rack (top right) and adjust a shelf for me. The cabinets then passed their final inspection.

The drywall guys came next and repaired all the drywall. Remember how bad it was on this wall? (See here.)

Shenanigans update

Didn't hear back from Home Depot today (after my calls on Friday), so at around 3:00 I called the counter company to find out something. They still hadn't heard from the kitchen expediter at Home Depot about the "verification," the "final P.O." I immediately called the Home Depot lady in Atlanta and explained the situation. (I'd already explained most of it in two messages I left her last Friday--today she acknowledged receiving them but said she'd been out of the office and apologized.)

She said she'd call the kitchen expediter herself. (She had somehow been under the impression that there was an installation scheduling problem, and I told her that it appeared to be a fabrication problem.) Sure enough, the counters have not even been fabricated yet.

Not long after I talked to the lady in Atlanta, the counter people called back, asking me the name of the color of the counters I'd ordered (way back when) (I'd actually forgotten the name of it and, at the time the measurements were taken for the counters, asked them to call Home Depot, apparently to no avail). (But I since ascertained the name of the color and told them today.)

Anyway, apparently Home Depot called the counter company back this afternoon, after my call to Atlanta. The counter person (same person I talked with on Friday) was obviously very concerned about getting the order in right away to the fabricators. Now it will take 10 to 14 days for the counters to be fabricated. So the kitchen expediter at my local Home Depot has set this project back another week at least, due to her failure to respond to the counter company. (I'm glad I sicced the lady in Atlanta on her and mentioned her by name--again.) Such glaring incompetence.

Then the counters will have to be installed, along with the sink, faucet and new disposer, and the water line to the refrigerator reconnected; then the drywall people have to come in and repair the drywall; then the electrical work has to be reinspected and then finished (including installing the outlet for the stove, etc. and installing the ceiling fan), at which point I can use this kitchen. Also, I'm still waiting on the overlay for the spice rack cabinet. I've put off the cabinet inspection until this has been installed.

After all that, I'll put up on some cool tile the backsplashes. And the kitchen will be done. A friend of mine said it would be done by Thanksgiving. I think that sounds a little ambitious at this point.

More shenanigans

On Friday, I called up the counter people to see how hunky-dory everything was with my counters. The lady I spoke with said she's still waiting on a fax from Home Depot--Home Depot's "verification" and "final P.O." for this project--and that it had been a week already since the lady first requested this from Home Depot. She said she would call Home Depot after we got off the phone (it was a little past 4:00). I told her to call the District Services Manager and gave her his phone number.

I immediately called up the Home Depot lady in Atlanta and left her a message about this.

I then called the counter people back (to get the name of the person I spoke with before). I was connected to the same person (got her name). She said she had called Home Depot and left a message (with the kitchen expediter, who appears to be my nemesis), and said she would call the District Services Manager if she didn't hear back from the kitchen expediter within 10 minutes.

I then called the lady in Atlanta back and relayed this information (again, by voice message). I never heard anything back from anybody that day. We'll see what unfolds tomorrow.

Update

This morning I called the Home Depot lady in Atlanta and explained the latest wrinkle. I was pretty distraught. She was very nice as always and said she'd look into the situation and get back with me.

A little after 3:00, I got a call from the contractor who will be doing the drywall. They wanted to come in next Tuesday. I told her I'd talked to the kitchen designer over the weekend about putting a strip of molding beneath the bar counter where it sits on the half wall. (The designer recommended it.) To back up a minute, two weeks ago when the drywall guy came here after the cabinets were installed, he asked whether I would need such a molding. I told him at the time that I didn't know. So the drywall guy does the moldings, too. Anyway, I told the contractor today that perhaps they should hold off doing the drywall and molding work until the counters are installed, since the bar counter will have to be in place before they can add the molding. She said she'd talk to the drywall person and call me back. Sure enough, they'll come in and do this work after the counters are installed. I'll let them know when that's done.

An hour or so later, the District Services Manager called about the counters. Notwithstanding what I'd heard yesterday from the counter people (and I mentioned I'd got "riled up" over it), he assured me that the counters are coming along fine. Maybe they're coming along fine as of today when someone took some action, but that's OK, too. Along as things are moving along, I'm fine.

P.S. At the beginning of the week, I primed and painted the wooden brackets that will support the bar counter top, so I'm all ready to go here. (Photo shows brackets sitting on the half wall, atop which an arc-shaped counter will be installed.)

Update

More problems with Home Depot. The counter installation is now at a complete standstill. Apparently somebody at Home Depot dropped the ball again. The counters should have been in at the end of this week (like tomorrow) (or the very beginning of next, at the latest). I did my own follow-up with the counter company today, since I hadn't heard anything from Home Depot.

It turns out that the counters haven't even been fabricated yet. The counter people contacted Home Depot last week with questions on certain details of the project and haven't heard back from them (as of shortly past noon Wednesday). I told the woman I spoke with that I would call Home Depot myself; she said I shouldn't have to do that. She said she'd call them after lunch if she didn't hear anything from them by the time she returned from her lunch break.

I immediately called the District Services Manager at Home Depot and left a message, telling him what the counter company said. I didn't hear back from him (or from the counter company). Tomorrow, if I don't hear back from the District Services Manager by 2:00 p.m., I'll call the lady at Home Depot in Atlanta who's been handling my case.

I can't believe this. I haven't had a kitchen here since July 2. The cabinets are in now, but I still can't use the kitchen. There's no sink, no water, no usable stove or dishwasher, etc.

Update

Today I was back at Home Depot to get the support brackets for the bar counter top--heavy-duty wooden ones. Tonight I primed them and will spray-paint them tomorrow. I'm not sure when the counters will be ready, but I want to make sure the brackets are ready before the counter installers come.

Last Sunday, in addition to buying the sink, I bought some plastic tubing for the water line that runs approx. 10 feet from the water supply beneath the sink to the refrigerator's ice maker/water dispenser. This will run beneath the counter along the tops of the cabinets, so the line has to be in place before the counters are installed. (I've been buying ice by the bag for months.) I also bought a new Insinkerator compact garbage disposer, stainless steel stopper, and power cord kit. I'm ready, folks!

My old garbage disposer was noisy and rattled everything near it when switched on. If there was any silverware or other utensils sitting in the sink, they would quickly start gravitating toward the open drain. (Fortunately, nothing ever fell in and got mangled.) I trust the new disposer will be less of a beast than the old one. (I'll let you know.) (Anything would be an improvement.)

Last Thursday, after the cabinets were installed, the drywall guy asked me whether I'd like some molding to go along the seam where the bar counter rests on the half wall. I told him I didn't know. (I didn't have molding before, since the seam wasn't visible unless you bent over and looked underneath the bar top.) Today I discussed this with the kitchen designer, and she suggested a small molding.

Tomorrow I'll call the District Services Manager and explain this. (I don't think I mentioned it before.) If the drywall guy is going to do this molding, then he has to come in and do his work after the counters are installed.

Last week I paid $374+ in advance for the drywall work.

Cabinets in!

Lots of progress last Thursday (Oct. 2), exactly three months after the kitchen had been demolished. I took the day off from work. People were working here all day long. First the electrician came in to rewire the recessed lights. Next came the cabinet installers. It took the electrician over three hours to do what he had to do (apparently it wasn't easy). (That cost an extra $200.) The cabinet installers were here for around seven hours. Before they left, someone came in to assess the drywall repairs.

The cabinets look fantastic, and the installers did a great job. (As far as I know, so did the electrician.)

The spice rack cabinet was missing an overlay. That's been ordered and will be installed when it gets in.

The recessed lights will be reinstalled after the electrical inspector examines the new wiring. The inspector had said to leave the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

To the left of the fridge is the new pull-out pantry, which my new cat, Lucky (seen below), used to sleep on top of when it was standing in its box in the living room.

Early this morning someone came to measure for the quartz counter tops. They should be ready for installation in about two weeks. Yesterday I picked up the new sink at Home Depot (I'd paid for it already) which came with a template. The measuring guy took that with him to use in fabricating the counter tops. He said I'd need to buy two brackets to support the counter that will sit on the half wall. I have plenty of time to get those.

After the installation was done, I moved the card table back into the kitchen since I need some kind of surface there. (Won't it be great to have counters again.)

While I was at work today, the District Services Manager called to ask about the installation. I told him everything looks great and we discussed the next steps.

BEFORE

AFTER

The spice rack cabinet (last one at right) is getting an overlay.

The new cabinets had been sitting for over three months in front of this half wall, which will be topped with a new counter. I was so relieved to get my space back. Lucky was confused, however. He joined the household in mid-July and was accustomed to the cabinets sitting in the living room. He used to play (and sleep) on them. Now he's getting accustomed to the cabinets being in the kitchen. I'm sure he'll love the new counters to race around on.

Since the recessed lights aren't functional now, I rigged up something temporary (top left). I also used an old belt to tie two of the recessed lights together so that I could access the new pantry without damaging it (top right). Once the lights are reinstalled, I'll have full access to the upper cabinets. I'm slowly restocking the cabinets. I'll wait until the counters and sink are in before putting everything back. Meanwhile I can figure out where everything will go, since I have more space to fill than I had before.

Saturday update

Today I used a razor blade to score around the bases of the recessed lights where they contact the drywall and are painted over. Hopefully the electrician will be able to dislodge the lights to rewire them without disturbing the paint job too much. (Below is a shot of the paint damage around one of the lights, which I'll have to fix eventually. The paint ripped away from the soffit when the light was dislodged.)

Repaired, repainted ceiling where fan goes

Damage had been pretty bad when I extricated the ring of caulk from the ceiling. Now you would never know. Ready for the fan to be installed.

Electrical inspection

[Updated below.] Wednesday afternoon I got a call from the Home Depot District Services Manager saying the electrical inspector would be coming to my home today between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. I also got a call from the electrical contractor saying the electrician would be here between 8 and 10. I called the City of North Miami and tried to get a more specific time of arrival, but they couldn't give me one. So I took today off from work as a vacation day.

The electrician got here at 9:00 (not the same one who was here last Friday) and we waited till almost 2:00 for the inspector. The inspector approved the latest work but then started probing around the recessed lights in the soffit, which were installed over a year ago when I had the ceiling redone. He said recessed lights can no longer be wired with "romex" (a heavy-duty plastic-coated wire, pictured)--and sure enough, these had been.

So, the next step is to schedule a time for the electrician to come back in and rewire the recessed lights, which will entail further damaging the ceiling where the lights are located (i.e., the soffit). As you know, I had spent so much time and energy awhile back correcting the handyman's sloppy details, spackling and sanding and then priming and painting the area with the correct paint.

The inspector will come back when the recessed lights are rewired and the drywall on the walls around the electrical boxes is repaired/replaced. Also, the recessed lights have to be left dangling so the inspector can see that they've been rewired properly--with flexible metal conduit. Meanwhile, I may loosen the recessed light housings from the soffit myself in an effort (maybe futile) to minimize the damage. We'll see. They're stuck to the drywall with paint.

P.S. Last night I (almost) painted the rest of the kitchen ceiling. (I ran out of paint.) It's ready for the fan to be installed, however.

Friday update: I've decided to score the drywall around the rims of the light housings with a razor blade or X-acto knife, cutting through the layers of paint and primer. Thus the electrician should be able to pull the housing out without taking my new paint job with it.

I didn't hear anything from anybody today about coming back in and doing more electrical work, etc.

Update

Last night while I was out at the store, I received a voice message from the lady at Home Depot in Atlanta. I returned the call and left a message.

I talked to her today. She said she would let me know what's going on with the electrical inspection, etc when she hears more from the District Services Manager.

Tonight I sanded around the electrical box for the ceiling fan and then primed the area. It looks pretty smooth now and will look even better when it's painted over. I don't think anyone would notice the repair job. Moreover, it will be obscured by the fan itself.

Next I'll begin repainting the square recessed area, starting with the edging. Then I'll use the roller. I want to have the ceiling totally finished before they install the new fan. I don't want to even attempt to paint it with the big, brand-new fan hanging there.

The Permit

I almost forgot to mention that the electrician brought this on Friday. It covers all the work, including electrical and plumbing.

Painted the fan

This is the fan that was in the kitchen. The electrician took it down on Friday. Today I sprayed it white before it gets installed in the second bedroom. (I used Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch. Good stuff. No runs or spatters.)

I also removed the ring of caulk that had been applied around the base of the fan and which had stuck to the drywall. In the process, I damaged the drywall--the paper tore away in places. So I bought some contact cement at Target to glue the paper back to the ceiling. Then I spackled that area and will sand it tomorrow with the electric sander (more dust). Then the whole, square recessed area where the fan goes has to be painted with kitchen ceiling paint. (The handyman who created the ceiling used regular ceiling paint, which absorbs grease.)

'Rough' electrical installation complete

The electrician arrived shortly before 10:00 (i.e., right on time) and left at 5:23. He worked all day long without lunch or even a glass of water (unless he had some water down in his truck). Very nice guy.

There was some confusion over where to install the outlet for the microwave, which is going above the stove. The general contractor had made rough, pencil drawings in two places on the drywall (a few inches apart) and (roughly) crossed one of them out. That's where the electrician put the box (X marks the spot, right?). He said he'd move it if necessary. I wish he'd asked me about it, but it doesn't seem to be a big deal to him. So I'm not going to fret about it. Maybe it'll be fine where it is.

This was just the "rough" installation. I didn't know anything about that. The wiring is done but the new receptacles (the guts) and switch for the disposer have yet to be inserted into the boxes. The wiring has to be inspected first. Then he comes back in and finishes everything. Then it's inspected again.

He also took down the ceiling fan (see below), which they're going to re-install in the 2nd bedroom, and will replace it with another one for the kitchen (see early post). I'll spray the bedroom fan white so it will recede into the white ceiling (right now it's brushed aluminum--nice but too much of a statement in that room). The new one for the kitchen is also brushed aluminum and will match the finish on the cabinet handles, sink and faucet.

Since the cabinet above the fridge will block one of the recessed lights, he removed the light fixture and wired the two adjacent lights to each other. I'll have to do some repainting around those two fixtures when I finish off the rest of the ceiling, which will be easy to do now that the ceiling fan has been removed.

He said I'll also need to get a new plug for the stove, since the 220 outlets have changed since I bought the stove (a year and a half ago(?)).

I didn't have to fork out any money today.

P.S. The stove is now inoperable, so there will be no more cooking chili for a while.

Progress report

Yes, progress. Vozzcom called me at work yesterday afternoon to confirm that the electrician will be coming in today. The electrician is here now, doing what he has to do.

Good news

I got three calls from Home Depot today about the kitchen renovation. The first was from Home Depot's electrical contractor, saying they were ready to come in and start their work (they'll be here Friday morning between 8 and 10).

The second was a voice message at work from my "case worker" in Home Depot's Atlanta office, saying she'd heard from the District Services Manager down here that they were still waiting on approval of the general contractor's permit from the City of North Miami. She was very apologetic about how long this process has taken.

The third was a voice message on my home phone from the District Services Manager, saying pretty much what the Atlanta person said, adding that they're waiting on the "fire approval" and that that should happen very soon (any day now). He also said that he had the contractors on "stand-by" to come in and do the work they need to do.

I called the lady from Atlanta back after I listened to her message and told her that I'd heard from the electrical contractor an hour or so earlier, and that they would be coming here on Friday. She didn't have anything to say to that. I assume the electrical contractor is perhaps jumping the gun a bit, but that's OK with me. They want to do their work and get paid, and I want that work done so the general contractor can come and install the cabinets, which have been sitting out in my living room for well over two months. (Afterwards, the counter people come in and make a template and then fabricate and come back and install the counters. Then I can have a sink and dishwasher again--along with ice in my freezer--and counter tops! Then I can really cook.)

Anyway, I notified work that I'll be taking all or part of Friday off (work knows about this project, of course, and it was already discussed that in lieu of vacation I'd taking time off for the kitchen remodeling).

Update

After leaving his message on Monday, the Home Depot District Services Manager was supposed to call me back last week to confirm what he told me in the message (that something would be scheduled for next week, when they had the permit in hand). (That would be electrical work.) I didn't get a call back or a message.