Two days after Thanksgiving of 2007, I was in Columbus, Ohio for the Mid-Ohio Con when my house sitter phoned to say that water was leaking through the ceiling of my kitchen and dining room. This is just what you want to hear when you're far from home.
A hose had broken on an upstairs toilet. I instructed her on how to turn off the H2O and when I returned, I called in the insurance people…and I must say, they really delivered the way you want insurance people to deliver but always hear they never do. The Claims Adjuster lady was here in less than 24 hours and the next day, specialists in water damage were dismantling my cabinets and doing a full-on removal of mold and possible contamination. Then all efforts turned to reconstruction…and I've been happy with 100% of the craftspersons and contractors who work with the insurance company and — best of all — are paid by them, not me.
But of course, I am paying some of it. Insurance writes the checks to put everything back more or less the way it was, and if you want to seize the opportunity to upgrade or redesign a little, you pay the difference. I asked the contractor what percentage of "victims" decide, like I do, to reconfigure their living quarters in these situations. He said, "Damn close to 100%." My architect (who works for me, not them) however told me — and he seems to be right — that you get a great price this way. You might expect the contractors to gouge you for the extra work since you kinda have to let them do it and not go get competitive bids…but no. The contractor in this case gets so much business from the insurance company that the last thing he wants is for me to complain to them about him ripping me off.
So all that is peachy. What isn't is…well, you can guess this part. It's more than ten months later and the work still isn't completed. Through no fault of the contractors — my work and travel schedules, including my trip to this year's Mid-Ohio Con, have been a partial impediment — I've been sans kitchen for most of '08, reduced to a refrigerator, a microwave, a toaster, a lot of paper plates and a little pile of menus from restaurants that deliver.
Last week, they finally painted and installed the new countertops. I know you're all dying to know what I picked so here are some swatches. The walls are this color…
It's called "Marmalade." The countertops are DuPont™ Corian® in their "Festival" pattern, which looks a lot like those cookies I used to love but no longer eat. Here's a taste of it…
I don't know how well they'll go together on your monitor but they look great in my kitchen. Now if I only had a stove, a dishwasher, running water or lights in there with them. Mostly, it's a matter of getting everyone here in the proper sequence. The painters couldn't do the final touch-up until the floor was in…and the floor couldn't be put in until the cabinets were in…and the cabinets couldn't be put in until the electrical was in…and the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone…
Nevertheless, we keep hope alive. As I sit here blogging, my spirits are buoyed by the sound of burly men down in that room at this very minute, laying that new floor. Then my plumber — who is not named Joe — is due by this afternoon to fix stuff that has to be fixed in conjunction with that new floor. (He has to come back later to hook up the dishwasher after I get the new dishwasher, which I couldn't have delivered until they finished with the floor.) Maybe I'll even be able to cook in there this Thanksgiving. If not, the one after for sure…