Cabinets

Wow! Cabinets are known to be the things that holds up a closing date. I have never heard of cabinets being on time.

I thought I was going to be a lucky one. I had everything picked out and was trying to find a maker. Finding one was not hard, but finding one for the right price was. My builder had a cabinet guy that could do awesome work at a great price. I had been warned that he took a LONG time and held up jobs, but I knew that I could get him to perform. However, getting him to meet me was a challenge. He stood me up three times! Literally stood me up, where we agreed on a date/time and I show up and he doesn’t. Twice, he just wouldn’t take my calls and once he answered but said he just couldn’t leave the shop. I moved on… actually, I ran. That was already off to a bad start. 

During the early stages of building, lots of contractors leave their business cards around. I found one for cabinets and laughed out loud. But after being stood up, I gave them a call. They were so nice and professional and strived to give me what I wanted. I didn’t want to appear too picky, but he made me at ease. The price was great and I was good to go. I signed a contract and paid a 50% deposit on May 1^st.  On May 19^th, I was already getting invitations to browse at an online photo album of my cabinets as they were being built. 

So much progress had been made, that I knew we were going to be ahead of schedule. They said six weeks, which set us at June 18^th. However, we were not ready. Trim had delayed paint, and we really wanted paint before cabinets. I really wanted flooring before cabinets, but I needed to get cabinets in, so we had them set the cabinets and we would tile up to them.

On May 22^nd, the rep at the cabinet store informed me he was leaving the company and I would be in good hands with his replacement. I was hopeful, but that’s where it went downhill. By June 9^th all cabinet boxes were built. They started painting them on June 18^th. I had picked out a door style for the cabinets back when I signed the contract, but on June 22nd I was asked to pick out a door. That was not a good sign. This meant my doors had not been ordered, let alone built and painted.

I picked out the door based on a picture only. I never saw the door in person. This made me nervous but I had confidence it would turn out okay.

On July 9^th, the cabinet installers wanted to install the white cabinets. I again, was not ready and held them off. However, in hind-site I wish I would have. I thought if I waited, they would have everything ready and deliver at once. That was not the case.

Delivery was then set for July 20^th. They were a no show. When I checked in, they said they were waiting on a crown piece and they wanted to paint it first. I was semi-okay with that. The white cabinets were delivered July 23^rd. No crown came with that delivery, so their excuse was bologna!

I was still excited to see it all. I have a lot of white cabinets, so that was a lot.

After meeting the actual cabinet maker, I started contacting him directly and avoiding the middle man. Bad idea, as this upset the owner big time. I called the cabinet guy to check on the door delivery. He said they were coming Monday and he’d paint them and be back out. When I called that Tuesday, he was still waiting on doors. I pushed him a little to say I wanted the job complete by July 31^st. He couldn’t commit. But said he could be completely done by August 4^th. 

On Friday the 31^st, the remaining cabinets were delivered. The green cabinets are in the boys’ bathroom. 

And the kitchen cabinets were delivered. I was so excited to see them! I saw the doors on the island and was instantly relieved. I loved them!

The boys loved playing in the cabinets.

That weekend, I put the appliances in. 

The electrician and plumber still had to hook them up. I used all the old appliances. They are black and they actually aren't bad. All we had to do was buy a dishwasher.

I was still waiting on doors and drawers, but they were finally delivered on August 12^th. 

We were still missing Mom’s bathroom cabinets. We needed them so that the countertop people could take their measurements. 

But those came on August 12^th as well. Just at night. 

The cabinets are everything I could want. I had the hardware picked out a long time ago too, because I was warned that they would charge me for a separate trip to install them if I did not have them ready. I was limited by their choices, so I picked my own and didn’t go through the cabinet maker. 

The hardware really finishes it. I am so happy!

But the cabinet guy messed some holes up! (see picture above). He took the drawer fronts off to the five drawers that were messed up and patched them. You can't even tell now.

Our cabinets did end up being the long-lead item. I had all the boxes in, but it was difficult for me to get them back out to finish the job. They needed to do things like adjusting doors and adding hardware. My mom ended up doing the hardware. They were very disorganized. Things were piece-milled and it's not how I think it would have been most efficient.

The cabinets were not officially complete until September 14th! We had seven doors left to install. Four of those doors had wire inserts. Again, I picked these based off a photo. I took a chance, and they are so pretty!

I think we could have closed with those doors still missing, but I'm just glad we finally can say we are through! YAY! This has been the longest "Six Weeks." Felt more like 18.