Pandemic, Tendon, Renovation – Part 3

Ah! Kitchen cabinets. The original cabinets probably dated to when the house was built, 1957. They were solid wood and painted white, and dated. In 2001, I decided to replace the cabinets and remodel the kitchen. A good friend, Rob Nathans, came up with the design and went with me to Home Depot for the final design.

I selected Kitchen Maid cabinets in natural maple. Back then, the purchase and installation price was $8,075. The cabinets worked wonderfully, looked great, and seemed to resist wear and tear – except for the pull out garbage bin. I’ve replaced the bin pull out three times.

Robert of Baxter Restoration went to Home Depot to see if they still had a record of my purchase. They did not. He then called Kitchen Maid and yes, they had the original order and measurements on file! He ordered a brand new set of lower cabinets.

It was a six to eight week delay because the cabinets were custom made. They arrived on 17 August. Robert wanted to come take a look at them. Boy were we surprised!

Apparently maple is notorious for changing color as it ages. At first, Robert and I thought Kitchen Maid had sent the wrong cabinets. That is, until we opened the inside of the cabinet and realized the piece of wood on the left matched the inside of the old cabinets. I can’t believe they discolored so much.

Baxter Restoration worked for three days tearing out the old cabinets and putting in the new ones (again cooling the city of Fort Lauderdale with my A/C). Tearing them out was a problem because of the design of the kitchen. Rob designed it in such a way that there was one table/counter top in one large piece for the western lower cabinets. Then there is the problem of the sink and plumbing for the eastern lower cabinets.

The plumbing was also problematic. It had been worked on numerous times and it had attachments for both the water for the refrigerator and water for the dishwasher.

In any case, they were able to get it all removed and install the new cabinets.

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If you look at the last photo, you’ll see one of the doors does not close all the way. Kitchen Maid miss-measured that one door. The good news is all the new cabinets come with soft close doors and drawers. The bad news is they did not include pull outs for the cabinets. That was a specific design request in the original cabinets. Rob insisted I get those. It allowed you to pull out a shelf so you could access anything in the back of the shelf. I told Robert (of Baxter) I insisted they correct that.

So, what are my choices for the color differential for the upper and lower cabinets. The company could try to refinish the uppers to look like the lowers. They could also stain the lowers to look like the uppers. Neither seems to be a good idea. The team putting in the cabinets told me they were really painters. They said they would have a very hard time refinishing the darker uppers to match the lighter lowers. Another problem with that is the discoloration penetrates into the wood and they would have to sand down too much material to get to the natural wood.

The other problem is matching the lowers to the uppers. They would have to sand down the varnish on perfectly new cabinets and attempt to match the stain. My contact with Citizens called yesterday and informed me that neither option was ideal and Citizens has decided to replace the upper cabinets to match the lower cabinets!

The one good thing that has happened with this whole mess is that all the cabinets will now be replaced. Of course, that means another 6 to 8 weeks while the uppers are built. Then I have to go through the tear out and re-installation of the new uppers. However, I can live with that.

Right now, I have kitchen materials scattered through the living room, utility room and my computer/bedroom. When I cook, I have to wander through three rooms to get what I need – utensils, spices, etc. I can live this way a little longer as long as they complete the job eventually – say Christmas?

I also insist on pull out shelves for the lower cabinets. Citizens has agreed. I have to admit Citizens has bent over backwards to try to make this as painless as possible. The Citizens representative checks in with me every two weeks (and often more frequently when the need arises). I wonder what my new rates will be come December?

My real concern is all these people in my house during a pandemic. They are good about masks and when stuff is delivered to the house, those people also wear masks. A new dishwasher came today to replace the old one and they were in and out quickly, but I keep getting exposed to more and more people. Even Baxter has had different people come out so it is not always the same team. I just keep my fingers crossed.

The saga continues!