kitchen changes part 1

[cellio]

We replaced out beat-up laminate kitchen counters with quartz. When I mentioned plans to do this, someone said "pictures or it didn't happen", so...

There's a seam in this next one, which they did a good job of placing and toning down. Yes they cut that at a slight angle; not what I was expecting.

And there's no seam here, to my relief. I was worried that they would insist on two straight pieces and wouldn't be willing to cut that "L".

There's also a small cabinet opposite the dishwasher, next to the wall oven. In the previous picture, I'm standing in a doorway with the wall oven to my left, and the cabinet is beyond that. We did that one too. It never had a backsplash and we would have had to do something about that electrical outlet, so we skipped it here.

You might have noticed a counter behind and to the right of the coffee maker (that's part of the microwave in the picture). That's still laminate; it's just a counter with a post at one end and mounted to the wall on the other end. It was probably intended to be a small eat-in area, maybe. It doesn't have strong-enough supports for quartz and we decided that was ok.

The result is very nice. The process of getting there started out ok but had some major aggravations in the middle, and I'm waiting to see how they resolve it before I file a review with the Better Business Bureau. The project was poorly managed, with key people not talking to each other at the right times and with some finger-pointing among the various folks involved, and it cost us extra money along with delays. Their ineptitude should not be our problem; this is why we hire a company and expect them to sort out the details. And I expected more transparency than we got; "they're on the way" seems to have really meant (multiple times) "we've sent them a text message that they might read eventually telling them to do your job next". Yeah, no.

Three of the five people who visited our house during installation (two installers and a plumber) did excellent jobs and went out of their way to clean up the mess caused by the first two installers and the inept managers.

Comments

[magid]

The results look nice!
I hope the aggravations don't turn into major headaches/they make you closer to whole for the job.

(My brain is breaking a little because there's not an oven underneath the stovetop, which is apparently where I really really really want there to be one....)

[cellio]

I'd never had a wall oven before we bought this house, so my initial reaction on seeing it was the same: where's the oven that should be under there! But looking at the space, the access would be terrible (especially for those of us with shorter reach). A conventional oven wouldn't work anywhere inside that "U" except where the dishwasher is, and then the dishwasher wouldn't work anywhere else it could be plumbed reasonably. The inside width of the "U" is 54 inches and a conventional range (stove + oven combo) is 30 inches last I checked. (And I don't want a narrower oven; the house had a 24" wall oven when we bought it and that was too limiting. We eventually figured out how to replace it with a 30" one without having to redo too much cabinetry.)

It turns out that having a wall oven is nice, especially when I can take something out of it and set it on a counter without having to first stand up from a squat or bending over. This is especially helpful with heavier or awkward items.

[luscious_purple]

Nice! Every time I see a U-shaped countertop, I think back to when my parents had their kitchen remodeled in 1972. The guy who came to measure for the Formica countertop was so busy yakking with my Dad that he wrote down the wrong measurement for the long/middle part of the U. When the fully formed countertop arrived from the factory, it was 10 inches too short. So the dealer had to pay for a new one with the correct measurements, at no cost to my parents. Meanwhile, I had to do the dishes in dishpans on top of the dining table for a miserably long time (in a 12-year-old's mind).

[cellio]

And naturally, they rip out the existing ones before carrying the new ones in to see if they fit. Yup. How long were you without a kitchen?

[ellenmillion]

Niiiiice!

[cellio]

Thanks! Part 2 is replacing that floor, which I never cared for but is now coming loose in places. Alas, there might be asbestos under there, so we're paving over it instead of pulling it up, thus losing the chance to find out what's underneath.

(Part 3 is lighting. And then, finally, plaster/caulk fix-ups from parts 1 and 3, and painting.)

[hudebnik]

Looks spiff, and quite practical.

[cellio]

Thanks!

[sine_nomine]

Yay pictures! Ugh so sorry for challenges and incompetence. Glad it sounds resolved and you are happy with it!

On to the next steps!

[cellio]

Thanks! Yes, on to the next steps. We're waiting for our flooring to be delivered, which according to the original estimate should be in a couple weeks but who knows? The person who's doing the lighting isn't available until early July. We'll get there. :-)

[kyleri]

Oooooooooooooo, that looks GREAT!

[cellio]

Thanks! I really like it. Need to get some trivets to keep near the oven (should be here in a couple days).