Ok-

Maybe not BETTER than chocolate (But I already bought tonight's treats so I'm covered), but definitely better than flowers...

The Carpenter came today! Yippee! You know how comforting it feels when you are talking to someone who so obviously knows what they are talking about? How reassuring it is to be dealing with someone with experience, expertise and a high demand for quality?

He brought a helper to write down EVERYTHING that needs to be done- shrink wrap and mark each door- and he continually checked that he had written down EXACTLY what he said.

When all was said and done, he very contritely said , it's going to be about two weeks before it all gets done... I send one of the doors to a lab so that the stain gets matched perfectly- OK well it won't be matched 1000%, but you won't be able to see any difference! (His exact words :>), that alone takes 5 days. Then when I trim the old doors and make the new doors/drawers, I send them out to be professionally stained- I don't do them myself. Some guys will just try to stain them themselves and it will never look right.

When I asked about the vertical dividers for the tray cabinet over the fridge- he said I use 5/8" thick plywood, none of the cheap stuff. ( Thank you , thank you, thank you )

Since I won't need all the pantry pullouts that I originally ordered (bought a Lee Valley side mount unit for the broom closet), I asked if he could build me a trash pullout in another cupboard. Sure, sure, I'll build it 15" high, so you could just put a bag in there if you don't want to use a plastic container. (I was just hoping for a 6" high pullout).

My DH thought I was pushing it asking for that, I also asked for a slideout shelf for another cupboard- hey he can only say NO. But he said Yes, Peter, write that down...

I really can't quite believe it. I've been waiting since May for these cupboards. They were finally installed in October, and we've been WAITING since then for all the mix-ups, missing parts, and wonky doors to be dealt with.

So, when my Carpenter says, sorry it's going to be two weeks, he has no idea, how that is music to my ears! :>) Now I can start thinking about leaded glass designs for the inserts- what a nice problem to have!