Kitchen Renovation: Week !!

My dream kitchen is nearing completion. It is so close…

but these final tasks may leave me certifiable.

Monday, the final touches on the cabinetry were completed and our contractors crew returned to the charge. 

They would continue their checklist of tasks throughout the week.

There were holes to be drilled, a vent, knobs, trims... 

Tuesday was the day we had waited for for so long! The delivery of the Appliances! 

It felt like the best Christmas ever. (For us anyway… for the crew having to lift the hundreds of pounds worth of stealthy appliances? Not so much.)

But for us it was glorious. And they even got it all unloaded between the storms!

It seemed almost unfair that we would all have to wait until one by one, it was their turn for installation.

me & my wolf

Wednesday, the storms took their toll & the granite crew had to delay until Thursday.

When they finally arrived Thursday the chaos was only about to set in.

Happy it all made the journey safely. 

(We would need a second delivery for the remnants aka outdoor kitchen of the future)

My contractor had questioned from the beginning how this granite company was planning to do this job without templates for cutting. 

BUT, 

they insisted the guy they sent a few weeks earlier to do measuring had taken care of everything.

HE HAD NOT…

So, time was lost in search of materials to create the cutting templates for the oven and sink that should have been created weeks earlier.

templates for sink & stove cuts

The ogee edges were lovely, yet each piece needed shaving and filing because the measurements were all a bit off. 

But the foreman is a true artisan and piece by piece he was making things fit.

our driveway and garage became a "granite studio"

desk & backsplash

They worked until 9PM that evening and were then forced to spend the night at a motel.

Desk top

centering for backsplash

desk assembled with backsplash

china cabinet

They had to carry in every piece to make sure it fit 

and then prepare templates for cutting

They resumed work this morning at 7AM.

The had to maneuver the granite through the house maze

each individual piece had to then be lifted off dolly & centered

My word of the day: "BOOKING"... 

referring to how Granite Slabs are 

Cut and Polished... Angled... and Mirrored- allowing the Marbled Flow to look like a Stunning Art Quilt.

The cutting back at the shop matched like an open book... but that was before 

the edges and extended ogee were removed

 and the edge trimmed correctly to actually merge.

AND... 

THEN...

Let's review:

As I said, Our “L” corner appeared on delivery to have  Perfect Booking … 

... but- several measuring errors were made:

and Inaccurate Length was Cut at Factory on this central piecing… 

ARGHHHHHHH!

It was 4.25” too long even after the shave to merge the joints was completed… 
this left it unaligned with center island. 

To Cut...

To Shave further...

To disreguard inaccuracy from architectural plans of those Inches-
in spite on my Contractor Advising us it SHOULD be done right… 
especially for what we were paying!?!?

(Or in quilters terms… do I just pretend I never noticed the poor piecing and keep quilting, regretting it forever more... 
or should I spend hours with my seam ripper so I know it is pieced correct & can be proud of it...) 

Are there granite police out there the way we have those irritable quilt police? 

(And have I become one of them?)

(I feared I might be overreacting?)

I needed to take a step back.

I took a lunch break while my husband and contractor figure things out. 

He went back to the office...

and the garnite team went back to their work.

And then-

I returned home less than 1 hour later.




I tried to be patient & not overreact... (fighting back the tears and rant) as soon as I returned to the kitchen and saw it.

MY 

PERFECT 

BOOKING 

WAS 

GONE.

It was disjointed, mismatched, and undeniable.

And the disturbing truth, I had no choice now but to say aloud:

I 

HATED 

IT!

my "V" bookmarked flowing illusion was gone 

Honestly, I was so upset there are no words.

All I could see now in that entire kitchen was that SEAM, taunting me.

.

It looked like a fox's face that had been flattened by speeding truck!

Other things were happening all over the kitchen... 

but all I could see were those seams :(

And by now... all knew how upset I was and knew it looked bad.

In the mean time:

The stove had to be removed so they could cut out its space.

He did so my creating a "tube with plastic sheeting"- 

completely surrounding it and him ---

 cutting it with his template right there in place!

afterward it was pushed back in place... it fit just right!

My husband came home from the office as soon as he could to work with my contractor and the garnite foreman for an idea.



... and HE figured out the math to repair the angles and make the "booking' look better.

We were forced to lose 2 more inches of granite...

BUT

his mathmatically angled layout let things work again--
so it wasn't so disjointed visually.

And the granite team foreman was able to fix things on site...

avoiding the long delays that might have been ahead if the company had to send other equipment & artisits- perhaps weeks away- in the future.

A true artist... in blue

He created an adhesive "palette of mixed colors" that he then

 painted them in over slab joints... 

saving the beautiful booking 

I had been memorized by and loved previously... (Thank you Eddie)

It has been a very long 2 days, but the amount of work accomplished this week has been remarkable. The granite crew stayed past 10:30 PM! Their dedication will never be forgotten.

...There is truly an end in sight... 

This is a pic my husband took of the sunlight reflecting 

on to our islands granite slab before installation & cutting!