It’s amazing what can happen in a week. Last Friday the cabinets arrived, and boy did they. We had boxes everywhere. In the kitchen, dining room, living room, sun room. I almost put some in our boys rooms, but they wouldn’t be happy with that. I was able to get the kitchen painted prior to the cabinet delivery, and then again after they arrived. The color that was agreed upon turned out to be a little too blue for my wife. She was looking for a greener color and what was on the wall was not that. After a last minute review of the color chips we had, a new color was selected and by the end of the weekend, my painting was done, (at least everywhere cabinets touched), and a few of the cabinets were unboxed, and staged to be installed. My wife happily helped do a little of that, just so she could get a glimpse of her new cabinets.
While we have entered week 4 of construction, and consequently dirt and dust everywhere, Monday was the day we were waiting for. It was the day we started to set cabinets. It is the proverbial home stretch. According to her, it was the equivalent of my wedding day. Apparently Sunday night I appeared anxious, constantly fidgeting with the cabinets, unboxing what I could and moving them around. By Monday morning, I had set up an area that had all the different hardware we would need (screws of varying sizes, washers, shims, tape, pencils and markers, etc). I also grabbed some drinks and snacks to munch on while we worked. I guess she was right, what has been months in the planning comes down to the day that cabinets get installed. Of course running through my mind is all of the details and little things that I hoped I accounted for when I designed the kitchen and ordered the cabinets.
They guys showed up and after unloading the tools, we got to work. It didn’t take long to find our groove, and we made pretty good progress. By the time we stopped for lunch, on section of the kitchen was finished and my wife was jumping up and down with excitement. She was sky high, and we had only just begun. By the end of the day, all of the cabinets in the main part were installed. The funny thing about installing cabinets is that it is truly and art and skill. Yes, anyone competent enough with tools can do it, but it truly takes a craftsman to install them the right way. Sometimes the cabinet goes in rather quickly without any problems, and sometimes it doesn’t. The key is it’s not about speed, but precision. If you take the time to make sure each cabinet is level, it makes installing the next one that much easier. And it shows in the final product. Sometimes the best thing to do is stop. We hit that point Monday afternoon with our oven cabinet. It was late in the day and we had to figure out a way to stand it upright. It would have been easier if I ordered the cabinet the right way, but we were able to solve the problem. After everyone left, I swept the floor yet again, and we had a picnic dinner on the kitchen floor. It was actually the cleanest place in the house at the moment. That night our oldest son played with some of the boxes, and even had a “restaurant” that he served us our dinner from.
Day two got off to a slow start, but once everyone got there, we found our rhythm and kept moving. At the end, we had installed all of the cabinets and the kitchen looked good. I could see the design come together and now the space was really defined. It’s amazing how in two days we went from having an empty room to what looked like a kitchen again. While everything went in right, I did have a few oops moments. I ordered two wine cubbies too tall (part of that had to do with the ceiling and floor not being level) plus an accessory here and there that was in the wrong spot.
Overall, we are happy with how it’s turning out. It will take a bit to get used to the fact that the kitchen is a little smaller, but nothing time won’t take care of. My wife is anxious to start putting things back into the cabinets and start to clear out the living room of boxes. However, we informed her they were not her cabinets yet. We still had work to do and until the doors and drawers were back on and the moldings installed, she wasn;t allowed to put anything in them. She’s waited this long, what’s a few more days.
Hopefully by the next update, we’ll have countertops on. Stay tuned.
Go to the photos...
- Andrew
