Kitchen moving along SLOWLY....but moving.

Replacement cabinet doors and drawer fronts have been made and will be fitted next week (see prior post about finishing error that required rebuild). Bonus: I did a small design adjustment since I was re-building anyway, so I love them even more! They were worth the wait!

Countertop has been templated and fabricated (honed marble-have been petting and cooing over the sample excessively). We are holding off install until cab doors come in and everything is painted the lovely BM White Dove.

Estimate to finish is now approx end of August. Will be double the time originally planned, largely due to the cab maker errors I have reported on previously. Luckily I am a single professional so while it is a PITA, it is just me and 2 cats and we can live with it.

Lessons learned:

1. When they tell you the project will run long and you will spend more than you planned, believe them. Mentally prepare for it, will make the bitter medicine a bit easier to swallow when that time comes. Make sure to keep 5 - 10% in reserve, you will need it.

2. Use your GC's subs whenever possible. I did not go with the GC's cab maker (for valid reasons). The cab maker I selected sub contracted the finishing out to a 3rd party and the 3rd party screwed up in a major way, requiring cab doors to be completely rebuilt. The GC has been wonderful about the whole thing and we got it remedied but it was a major speed bump.

Now to the splurge. I reported previously that I donated to Good Will all my old pots and pans when I packed up the kitchen. So I did some major research on this forum on what to replace then with. I purchased 2 Le Creuset dutch ovens in varied sizes. The latest addition is a Falk Culinair fry pan. Am coveting it and cannot wait to purchase a few more and fire up the new gas range to use them! I decided I did not want to christen the Falk on my single burner stovetop in the bathroom like Le Creuset - just did not seem right. I recently completed my estate planning documents and think I might need to update it to include my Le Creuset and Falk! :) They are so well made, I think they will outlast me!

Thanks to you all for your suggestions and support - it has been so appreciated! Will keep you posted.