Home...or kitchen...is where the heart is

Hubby and I have finally gotten our gluteus maximuses into gear and started with our kitchen remodel. Between designing the kitchen and purchasing the materials, we’ve spent somewhere between 8-10 hours in Lowe’s. On the one hand I’m sick of the store and feel I wouldn’t miss it if I never step foot in one again. On the other hand, though, I feel like it’s a second home because we have spent so much time in it. I feel like I know the aisles like the back of my hand. Karin, our kitchen specialist, even feels like a part of the family. Ok, maybe that’s going a little too far, but you get the gist. It’s been a long process and demolition hasn’t even begun yet!

About a month ago we ordered and purchased our cherry cabinets in burgundy. I really love the color and couldn’t wait for them to be on my walls. The order took 4-6 weeks to be processed and on Tuesday they finally arrived. Hubby took the morning off to receive the delivery. Everything was in boxes so there was really no way they could be inspected. Luckily one of the cabinets, a bottom corner cabinet with a lazy Susan built in, had to be taken out of the box in order to be brought through our front gate. It was then that Hubby noticed it – all of these cabinets were in the wrong color. The dimensions and wood type were correct, but they were buff and not stained. Hubby admitted that the description on the check-list also said buff, but he didn’t think anything of it and just figured it was the cabinet company’s custom description. Always able to think on his feet, Hubby called Lowe’s and someone was able to come by within 10 minutes of his call to take pictures and set a rush delivery of the correct color cabinets. We should receive them in 8 days. They also offered us free hardware for our trouble. Yes, please! Lowe’s wanted to make it clear that they placed the order correctly and it was the cabinet company’s mistake for processing it incorrectly. Because of Lowe’s prompt response to our problem and their willingness to make it up to us, they are not on my sh*t list. Yet. All I have to say is that they’re lucky I wasn’t the one home for the delivery. I probably would’ve gone on some sort of tangent about the money and time spent for these materials only to get the wrong cabinets. Between Hubby and me, I’m definitely the hothead. I thank my parents for that charming attribute.

I am excited for the process to begin but I’m dreading it, too. There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done by us and I’m just not in the right frame of mind to embrace the tasks. We need to paint the walls (did I mention we have vaulted ceilings in the kitchen?) and put down a new floor. There’s a reason why I never worked jobs consisting of manual labor. I’m going to be the one complaining that I got plaster under my fingernails. I just don’t like it. Me and exertion don’t mix. It makes me cranky :-(

I’ll try to document the kitchen progress in photographs once the process begins. Stay tuned for those.