Sounds to me more like you are being very accomodating to a crazy contractor. Is the KD part of the company? It would seem they are the one who messed up.

How would swapping out only the one cabinet impact things for you?

You've invested 3 years and a boatload of cash. Why should you accept the wrong kitchen? How does wanting it done correctly as you had entrusted them to do make you picky?

Do what you want, not what they want. Don't fall for their pressure tactics. They know you don't like to be a pita and they will play it for all it's worth. You are paying for it; you will be living with it.

Who would consider such huge errors acceptable performance and being picky? They should be apologizing to you, not vice versa. Yes, they do sound pretty amazing!

Are you going to be resentful every time you look at the microwave on your countertop? If so, make 'em fix it. If not, you deserve compensation.

I understand you're anxious to continue, but you're going to be staring at that microwave for a very long time.

I'd absolutely have it fixed to match the drawing...

It's an odd question but, was an outlet for the microwave actually installed?

I actually think what is installed looks nicer then the drawing...but if you are set on having it installed like your drawing it is not a huge deal to take out the one cab and put in a shorter

If you have confirmation in writing, then they fix it. You don't need to do anything other than point ths out and ask them how soon the reorder will be there. I'm assuming that they forgot the electrical outlet in the cabinet, because they surely would not have covered up an outlet with a cabinet against code--------so the redo is pretty involved. Tough. IF your change was in writing and you have that documented. If it wasn't in writing, that's a whole diferent scenario.

"The contractor is being very accommodating but he's also giving off the vibe that he's generously making good for a crazy-picky client (rather than doing what we had agreed to.)"

That doesn't sound very accommodating to me.

There's nothing accommodating about doing the job wrong and then acting like they're doing you a favor by fixing it. Make them fix it, your kitchen isn't big enough to lose that much counter space to a MW.

My cabinet maker made two mistakes. When I pointed them out, he looked at the plans and said "Yep, you're right - we'll get that fixed!" Then he proceeded to fix the mistakes, willingly, cheerfully, and quickly.

I can not think of even a hint of a small reason why you should settle for anything other than what you signed for in your plans. You asked for it, paid for it, and the contractor/KD agreed to it - period.

I do understand not wanting to be a pest, or a PITA. I felt guilty about making my cabinet guy redo two cabinets. But you've had at least 3 professionals on this thread tell you to get it fixed. That should be encouragement enough that it's the right thing to do.

Good luck, and I'm looking forward to a final reveal!

Um, it's not just one cabinet they've screwed up as far as I can see. In your drawing there is a long door, a short door and a long door, whereas in the installation there are four long doors. So I'm thinking the widths of the cabinets are wrong and it won't be as straightforward as shortening one section of the upper cabinet- it likely won't be wide enough.

But I'd still want it fixed. As has been said, you'll be looking at it for a long time.

The KD ordered the wrong cabinet configuration and sent the wrong schematic to the GC. So now you just need to figure out how you want them to fix it. Having a small space myself, I would prefer the mw up and off my countertop. I do like your original plan with the mw wall cabinet, and the double door upper cabinet.

I am not sure which mw model you wanted. But I remember that the ge spacesaver can be mounted and hung from the bottom of a wall cabinet. This preserves some countertop as a landing spot. But obviously it's not useable countertop. It will breakup that countertop and you will not have a long span of useable surface. It can impact your ucl plan.

Even if you accept hanging the mw, where do you plug it in without sacrificing power for your countertop/ small appliances? You would have the same problem just plunking a countertop mw on a countertop, where to plug it in?

Find out from the GC where the mw was on his plan. And did he put power for it there? In my experience, you don't want to steal a countertop outlet for the mw. You really want the GC to run a dedicated outlet for the mw. No matter how the mw placement is fixed, it needs it's own outlet rather than stealing a countertop outlet.

I would keep the cabinets as is and put the microwave on the counter. It's a visual thing. Also, a 12" deep counter will probably be used mostly as a landing pad and so it's a good place to put the microwave. I confess though that I am a little phobic about having to reach up to get hot stuff out of a microwave!

Hmmm. Actually the off center layout, if they had actually built it as your image shows, bothers me. But I don't like having it on the counter either. Could it be framed in if left on the counter so that it looked built in somehow?

And yes, I think an outlet is required!!
Diane

I have the Spacemaker II and you do not want it mounted under the cabinets as they are now. It would not do anything for you and look wrong. They need to make this right and install the electrical behind the microwave. Remember to give them the template and install instructions.

I think it would look fine if you just have them replace the 24" cab next to the fridge with the shorter one that should have been ordered in the first place. This gives you a more usable 24" cab rather than two 12". But, if that is not what you want have the KD redo it to your agreed upon specs.

Do not accept it. I was in you position a couple months ago and understand how you feel. You're so happy to be getting your kitchen done you feel like you don't want to "impose" on the contractor by asking them to get it right. I got the courage from this forum to ask to correct it and I am SO happy I did. Not only do you have money invested in your kitchen, more importantly, you are emotionally invested and make sure you're happy. Better to change now than suffering silence forever.

In my case, I was imagining this big argument on getting it right, but as it turned out, the KD and installer agreed it wasn't acceptable and they fixed it.

It's an easy fix, just ordering the right cabinets and moving them around, so you should definitely get it fixed. However dropping the MW down like that looks pretty weird. I'd have that cabinet made with an appropriate hole for the MW and keep the bottom edge the same all the way across. The trim kit for that MW then makes it look nicely built-in.

Not sure if this would work or if you would even would like it but I will just throw it out there.

Would it be possible to take the door off of the cabinet, put the microwave on the bottom shelf so it looks built in and cover the rest of the cabinet with a new, shorter door?

Thanks everyone! I had a very unpleasant conversation with the KD (who kept insisting that there must have been some miscommunication, despite the fact that I had all the emails.)

After some back-and-forth, the contractor just put a stop to it and said that they would order the cabinets as agreed and replace.

Apologies btw: the description I gave above was off. Right now there are 2 33" cabinets on the wall, and we'd agreed to change it to a 24" short cabinet for the microwave with a double door, abutted by 2 21" cabinets. Which means it's not so simple as just pulling one out - they will have to pull both, and replace them with the three as in the drawing.

I definitely need the microwave off the countertop - my kitchen space is only 7.5x14 (with the last 2 feet running into a 12x12 breakfast room.) I wanted the narrow-depth cabinets for lowers as well as uppers so that the aisle could be a full 48" - unfortunately this is a main traffic path from the front to the back of the house. We spent a lot to get that width, and I thought it through the function really carefully to allow multiple uses of the kitchen at the same time - something that wasn't possible before!

The electrical isn't an issue because the room behind that wall is a utlility/laundry room and the walls are open. The plan has always been to run any additional wiring for ucl and a switch for a to-be-installed chandelier for the adjacent breakfast room once all the cabinets were in.

I really appreciate all the bucking up here. I don't think the contractor was trying to steam-roll me; all he keeps saying is that he wants me to be happy and he'll "eat" whatever costs to get it right. It's my Irish guilt-ridden nature that I feel terrible about that, and that I hate having to put the workers to any more trouble - they have been miracle workers over all. (Beyond the load-bearing wall and trenching the slab, they also did a heavy-up a few weeks ago, moved our hot water heater and installed a new one, all in record time and all while keeping our fridge and gas range in service throughout.)

I think the KD is the weak link here, and told the contractor that, but ultimately I have to leave it there.

all he keeps saying is that he wants me to be happy and he'll "eat" whatever costs to get it right.

Why is the contractor "eating" anything - this appears to have been the KD's fault and h/she should bear the expense of fixing it.

I've done plenty of kitchens where the back and forth changes are numerous enough to not be so clear as to which version the customer wants as a final version. Ultimately though, that's why the design drawings are there at the closing meeting, showing the choices, with the measurements. And both the customer and I sign off on those documents so that what is being ordered is very clear. Every KD learns the hard way to do this sooner or later. The hard way is that they don't have the actual final signed off on, and then they or their company has to eat the correction. I don't care what promo is happening that the order just must be finalized for in time for it to expire. If you can't be there and review the design and documents, the order is not gonna get placed.

Hopefully, your KD learns that lesson. If this person is the sole proprietor, then I'd bet that the contractor doesn't deal with them again if they cost him money by not coming through with the correct cabinets. If this person is an employee of a firm, then talking to the owner is likely to get the situation straightened out without cost to your contractor.

Now, if for some reason the contractor is the firms customer and not you, the chain of command is entirely different, and signing off on the final design was up to him. So, it would be appropriate for him to eat the cost of the redo then.