Wow, sorry you're having so many delays and frustrations. We haven't demo'd yet, just planning cabinets at this point. But I have noticed on ebay that lots of discontinued faucets are available... might be worth a search. Good luck with everything, hope it smoothes out soon!

Wine, same as you!

Seriously, do check ebay when looking for your bathroom faucets as well as other on-line sites. Sometimes you'll find exactly the discontinued model you wanted.

Keep your wonderful sense of humor; you'll need it still! But soon, you'll be able to enjoy your home and toast the misadventures. Good luck!

Sounds incredibly frustrating and I feel for you. Hang in there....with more wine...or yoga. :)

Well, at least you have a good source of wine. Your local dealers seem to be living in a time warp, but while that's bad for faucets and tile, it's a good thing for wine! I recommend deep breathing and meditation on the wonders of the universe.

On a more practical level, reconsider the soapstone. If that's a no-go, consider the trip to the granite place(s) a road trip for 2. Could be romantic ;-). Online shopping is also a good idea. In the end it will work out and then we expect some great photos of this incredible project you've undertaken!

In the same boat as you are. Also have encountered problems with discontinued items, hassles with cabinets, and design changes since the real world turned out to be different than the "on paper world" They have already gone through with the demolition and I now realize my new breakfast nook is more like a breakfast cubby hole. Not really a wine drinker but I think I am well on the way to killing myself with all the cigarettes I am smoking to keep sane. My husband keeps looking at the $$$ and saying all that money and you are still not going to be happy. Since it was his idea to move to the 200 hundred year old farm the major kitchen remodel was my prize for agreeing to the move. Everyone says it is all worth it in the end. Right now I have my doubts about that.

I had tears in my eyes while reading this....laughing yet remembering my own feeings of pain and frustration. My front door, which they SWORE would ship in 3 weeks, took 6. My builder couldn't finish the siding, which then delayed the painting.

I decided to only look at things that were in stock. I would find something i liked, and then look on ebay, then amazon. I would call unfaniliar companies to ask them re. Shipping times. I cancelled a huge lighting order as they lied re shipping, and pieced the order together from 3 different places. You'd be surprised at the things amazon sells, not from 3rd parties. Get Prime....the 2 day shipping will cut down on the pile of stuff sitting in your living room.

Hang in there, and best of luck!

You are someone who clearly researches, conceptualizes and then expects to execute a design based on orders. I am as well. But as I found out a while back, there are shortages and discontinued products in every area of supply and there has been for some time. No one wants to finance very much inventory, particularly at the high end.

This is all fallout of the burst housing bubble and it's not new. Two years ago I tried to order a sink faucet I loved, which was perfect. Major faucet company but not a single one in the entire country and the company couldn't say when they'd have one. Their solution was a waiting list. Several other things I chose had been discontinued. I waited 12 weeks for a sink grid after cancelling an undelivered grid after 8 weeks.

So my first question when I shopped online became: do you have X in stock? Sometimes they lied (sink grid) but I was able, with some compromises, to find things that worked. I also went into sequential mode -- meaning stopped trying to plan the overall so pieces fell into place at the right time. The market can't respond properly.

I had to slow down a little (it's hard because we had to be back in our place) and waited for one thing to fall into place before doing the other.

It's not a magical solution or any particular genius but the only way I found to keep my sanity and the job moving.

I'm about to embark on a small but complex kitchen upgrade. Fun it won't be.

Scrap the wine - go for something stronger and a power straw:)

The reality of the actual kitchen process is much different (a whack on the side of the head) from the pleasant but distant dreams of the planning.

Think how beautiful it will be when it's done. Cheers!

I hate to say it but the part of the reno you are in was like ours and was the "good old days" compared to what came after.
We also found many glitches despite researching like crazy (and I do mean crazy!) with things not being compatible, missing parts, delayed, etc...
When our cab order got delivered, I told the guy it looked too small. He assured me that everyone said that because of the flat packing. It turned out, we were missing 13 cabinets! You can imagine what that did to everyone's timetable....
Our kitchen/den floor failed after install. Our bathroom faucet would not only not work with our sink, but someone (one of the gc's people) threw out the box with all its fittings still inside (Jado faucet, not cheap! and hard to sell without its parts). Our med cab came without shelves, which of course were not in stock. Our icemaker was installed with too short a hose (leaked for weeks until we figured it out). Our island vent fan in the kitchen works only as a nightlight after the several times the gc had to move it. The dw and sink leaked after install. Our heat went out during the winter and then we cooked or froze for a few weeks while they figured out how to make the thermostat work properly. Our counter guy made the piece on each side of our stove the wrong size and said he'd be back with new ones, in March, it is now Aug and they are still missing. The cab installers drove a screw through the back of our island's cover panel, in March... it got fixed 2 days ago. The cement floor in our new screened in porch cracked down the middle. The door to the screened in porch is sinking like the Titanic. Our soffits are sagging badly. The new roof leaked in 2 places after last night's rain. The pocket door for the new laundry went off the track a few months ago. We have too many nail pops to count inside our skylights and on our highest ceilings, which were exactly the only places we paid to have professionally painted. We have tape failing and cracks in the sheetrock in other places.
And the cherry on top...... the gc installed the keystone on our eyebrow window after being told it was not fully painted yet, and put it on crookedly to boot! Every time we come home or a guest arrives, that is the first thing that is seen from the street.
We are taking the gc to small claims court if we don't get relief from the consumer affairs dept. We owe the gc $1800+, but the work to be done is wayyyyy more than that.
I hate to be so gloomy about it all, but it piles up and when we think we can't take any more, there's more bad news (like last night's roof leaks)....
I hope your issues settle down and the wine holds out!

Oh honey, yes you probably are going to have a nervous breakdown... I think that is par for the course for any kitchen remodel. LOL!!

Just load up on the wine and a mild anti-depressant may help also!! You'll get through this, I promise. :)

You need some laughter tonight.
Can you go to the movies? See a comedy? Renos are rough
and can be frustrating.
Hoping you find some humor in your situation to get
through the challenges.

And of course a Chocolate Martini can help.
~boxer

I can totally identify. The error rate in the remodelling professions ( and I use the term generously here) is unusually high, I have found.

For us clients, who pour hefty doses of assets and emotion into remodeling, the ineptitude and unprofessionalism of the remodelinng industry means most dream houses come with a distressing quota of nightmares...

I ordered all my bathroom fixtures from csnstores.com when my local dealer couldn't perform. I was very nervous but my whole order came in two different shipments in three days! Also in perfect condition! I ordered Jado, Grohe, Toto.

I feel your pain. I was a teetotaler until the bathroom remodel. I was sitting on the deck sipping two three four sea breezes that non-frozen concoction of OJ/Graprfruit/Cranberry with a generous portion of vodka and a twist of your choice. There would be a glass with a straw even in the morning just after the contractors would pull up. After two weeks I decided this has got to stop. LOL!!! Haven't had a drink since...but not before I gained another 10 lbs. Now I'm on any type of junk food you could think of. I suppose it's somewhat better than the vodka but funny thing when I was drinking the sea breezes I really wasn't all that hungry. Ok, so just want you to know I really know what you mean. Like I said, I never used to drink...
I don't even know where to start, except the nail hit the coffin when last week one of the non-English speaking contractors was in the bathroom sanding down my brand new travertine floor with a hand sander #3 grit paper because of a flaw we had noticed and he had dispatched to fix it. I don't mean a little place I mean two or more huge 18 x 18 tiles. His buddy said the tiles are defective and were all streaky from some sort of sealer put on at the factory. He said he would have just taken those tiles out but there is heated floor underneath which BTW, no one even knows if it works since we tested it and it took hours to heat up and only got a little warm. I've had it before and know that it will run you out of there in short order. They just shrug and say it has a manufacturers warranty and we will get those papers to you, that was a month ago. The other punch list items they said they simply can not fix and left. They had my credit card number and paid themselves the final payment. I'm thinking of contacting a lawyer as this is only part of what is wrong. The other thing the shower glass surround has a gaping 1/4 to 1/2 inch space and water spews all over the floor that I must wipe up after every shower. This sub is a mess. He is always telling me his problems, he seems to wait until he gets here to do his morning business if you know what I mean in my brand new toilet that now has me so turned off I can't even go in there. Whenever he leaves the WC fan is running and there is still a little something something in the bowl. Where is that bottle of vodka???? The bathtub was set in place before the tile guys grouted and so there is no grout under the tub. There is water all over the place after you use the handheld shower in the tub, a side effect I had not planned on with a freestanding tub since I had a built in one before. So water lies on the floor and I am freaking that it is seeping under the tub even though it is sitting on a pedestal that is supposedly sealed with clear sealer but hey I know these people soooo...I am honestly up for moving now. This was supposed to be our last house, we built it 13 years ago with that in mind. They have definitely taken the shine off of it for me. Especially the Memoirs toilet. Nightmare... My husband travels so I was here by myself because the so called project manager was NEVER here while work was being done, he would stop by once in awhile but I was the one here to supervise as if I know anything or had any sway to make them do anything anyway. They plead the no English thing anyway. The PM is always on time and Mr. Happy and would win Miss Congeniality easily when he stops by to get the payments. He is so casual about anything I have we complaint about, hey that's no problem I'll send out so and so to fix it. I no longer want any of these people in my house. They do more harm than good when they show up and I hate them I mean I strongly dislike them. Sorry, doesn't that sound awful??? Sorry, novellas tonight for me...Gads...I'm starting to feel like I need one of those sea breeze things again just thinking about all of this. My bathroom is half finished and we have spent $10,000 more than we started out to spend. I feel sick...did I mention the painter used the wrong paint and painted the ceiling and the walls the same putrid color? That there were to be absolutely NO SEAMS in the made made product in the shower and there is one that is 79 inches long because they installed it upright instead of sideways to prevent that? I am not in the same boat as some of you -dear Lord the kitchen remodels sound horrid!!!! This is a large master bath if it ever gets done I'll be a new person but probably in rehab and at a fat farm.

I wish there were more caveats written in some way that made this knowledge more accessible to more readers at an earlier stage in their reno planning.

I don't know where or how to say it.

All this talk about alcohol makes me want to buy shares in AA or some pharmaceutical company that makes a pill.

The problem is that pre-reno, I'd read horror stories and think that the person must not have been careful while hiring, or must have given off a "take advantage of me" vibe or just had really awful luck.
Of course, this could not happen to me because I will hire people so carefully and will have done so much research that nothing will go wrong.... until EVERYTHING went wrong with our project.... It was not bad luck, it was carelessness, lack of work ethic, lack of morals, lack of experience, lack of caring. Almost every person who walked through the doors of our house did a major blunder, and some did many. I am not talking about subjective aesthetics, but things that broke, were installed incorrectly, or not finished. We had trouble with delivery people, online retailers, local people... you name it... We did not choose the cheapest labor, we did not use cheap materials. The only less expensive stuff we used turned out the best for us (our Ikea cabs, vintage sink, vintage hardware and lights). Everything else was difficult.
For example, when our master bath floor was installed, it worked out to perfectly make it with how much tile we had... until they broke the most prominent half tile in the middle of the floor. So, then we had to order another full case of tiles to get one half of a tile, which of course, meant a delay in getting it and having the tile guy come back for one piece. And so on.....

Don't take the power company for granted either...we thought we had submitted a work order to bury our utility cables but it turned out to be stalled for reasons I won't go into here.

We've just installed a roof which will have to be redone in Oct in one corner where the old electric connection mast still stands--we've been told it will be changed out in September sometime but meanwhile we had to do the roofing because we couldn't leave the roof half-done while we waited for the Xcel Energy crew to show up.

Same goes for local code inspections--gotta be sure they're scheduled and all the parties are onboard or they won't happen. And when they don't happen, well none of your plans is worth spit.

Have fun stormin' the castle!

Thank you all for so many candid responses. I guess it is true that misery loves company. Not so much that I am glad others are suffering, but glad I am not the only one at the same time.

Soapstone is definitely out. It is too hard to get here, and did not look as nice with my cabinets.

I love Amazon.com and have already ordered one Lloyd toto to see how we like it.

I was trying to support a plumbing supply company that had a showroom, as well as a local appliance store. These people really need to realize that the only thing they have to offer is service. I was willing to pay more in order to get that service, but if you can't provide the service, forget it, I will order online.

I have already found and ordered my Grohe faucets, barclay claw foot tub, Lloyd toto toilet, and Danze potfiller.

I have a lot left to find. Thank you all for your suggestions.

I have too many other problems with this remodel to even list. My brand new wood floor has sweated out, warped, and is currently molding upstairs. The fireplace company went out of business before finishing our install and did not provide all the equipment we paid for, nor did they finish the install.

We had to tear out and reframe the entire main floor when it was apparant the floorplan was off by a foot and a half. But the main floor is actually the second level, so it wasn't initally visible.

I spent 10 years of my life planning this addition so it would not look like an additon. We spent 15 years saving for it. It has cost us 3 x more than projected and we aren't finished yet.

I do love chocolate martini's. I occasionally have bloody Mary's when I can get my DH to make them.

I have eyed the dogs xanax with envy. I did recently develop what the doctor thinks is stress related hearing loss, hoarseness and dizziness. The doctor prescibed a mild antianxiety med, but it knocks me completely out. Sometimes that is a welcome relief, lol.

Boxerpups, my nearest town is population of 2300 people. No movie theater, not much in the way of entertainment at all. We tried going away for a few days, but then nothing gets done, no one shows up.

Dianalo, Greenacres, Gr8day, I am so sorry this process is just as bad or worse for you. Thank you for sharing your stories, it helps me feel better, and not so foolish.

Gr8day, thank you for your story. It is so similar to mine, except that I am still drinking, lol. I also eat "comfort food" and a lot of it. My husband came in the other day and said "are you drinking already?" I said yes, and I don't care if you join me or not. I now buy my wine by the case. For the first time in my life, the guy at the liquor store recognized me. Good grief. I will need those meetings when I get through.

I am turning into a generally unpleasant person. I really want these people out of my house. They have no respect for anything.

Wow. I'm pre-reno, and so glad that I read this thread. Thank you for sharing your stories; I will use them as sound advice. I send great sympathy for all of the suffering.

Well White River when I went into the bakery the other day everyone stopped, looked up, saw it was me and acted like they had just won the lottery. The bakery where "everyone knows your name". LOL!!! I think they were humming that chorus "here she comes again" doo be doo.

Oh my word. I am truly sorry for all the unbelievable calamaties that are happening to so many of you. I am pre-reno also and am now truly terrified. The last remodel I had a hand in was my mother's over 20 years ago. It wasn't perfect but nothing like the above happened. After reading everyone's trials and tribulations, I'm praying that I won't be beating a well worn path to the neighborhood liquour store myself! It's just sad how very little pride some people take in their work these days. Getting work done on your home should not be like playing craps in Vegas.

Sorry for that! We ordered our appliances 7 months in advance LOL. They said they would guarantee the better price, so we did it, but then they promised only a 2-3 day notice to get them out of wharehouse and deliver and we ended up needing 2 weeks! which pushed off granite. I wouldnt have cared as much, but my contractor had to go away for 2 weeks, so it has been a bit stressful to say the least.

good luck.

Wine, whine...and then more wine! I'm sorry so much has gone wrong for you as well. Back in May, when they came to demo our kitchen I excitedly chatted with my neighbor about how it should all be done in about five weeks. She watched with envy as the cabinets were unloaded from the truck and the kitchen was on it's way...right? She was still in the middle of master bath reno that was on about week twelve or so and the end was not even in sight.

Sooooo, fast forward to August and we are still enjoying our makeshift kitchen in the basement, cabinets (custom) doors were remade and repainted, pullouts could't be fully accessed and had to be redone, corner cabinet opened into range hood (thank you kd), and then as we finally got the cabinets on track, the sink came cracked...twice. Wine. No problem..order another...oh wait backordered until mid to late August?? Whine!! Decided that maybe we should switch to another type...oops fabricator templated on cracked sink and granite is cut. Wwwwine...

The good news is that it looks like a new sink should be here tomorrow, granite can go in on Wednesday and we might just have this thing done by Labor Day! Sadly the excitement and luster of the project has certainly waned over the summer, but everyone says it will be worth it in the end and I'm sure it will be. Even though I had researched obsessively, I realized that these projects do take on a life of their own and you just have to roll with it.

Soooo, lift your glass, take a deep breath and know that you are not stressing (or drinking) alone!! Cheers! ;)

What is sad is that the cabinet guy finally returned and replaced the back cover panel on our island they damaged (took 5 months for this one fix!) and I got excited because the damaged cover panel will work as a makeshift counter on the front side of my island better than the loose shelf I have been using on one side of my not-hooked-up-stove.
The counter guy has also left us hanging for 5 months, but we don't even know when that will be done. It is amazing how much lower our expectations are at this point. To call us burnt out is a major understatement. It is pathetic how psyched I was to have a better piece of "counter" to work on and help cover the other top drawer from being wide open at top.

Hmm. After a bath reno I meticulously documented here last year--featuring a daily shower standing on a broken leg in a gutted room that looked like the delousing station in a concentration camp, all because the senile town inspection clerk lost my permit--I thought the worst was over. Today my house is surrounded by metal scaffolding with no workers on it, and it is taking five days to replace a three-foot strip of shingles from ice dam damage in February that Travelers did not cut a check for until May. I am told that these scaffolds are excellent electrical conductors, which I plan to test during the upcoming solid week of lightening storms.

While my experiences with contractors in the past year have been wretched, so have all my other experiences with hiring people, buying things or just generally spending money. My expensive new china cabinet arrived with warped doors and a moldy smell so strong it was like the attack of the killer grandmas. One of two matching metal coffee tables arrived bent, a wooden end table arrived cracked, the supposedly "high performance" Robert Allen fabric on one of my chairs instantly self-destructs in the presence of any moisture whatsoever, even a bead of sweat, and when I sent away some silk fabric to get backed for dining room chairs, they kept it for five or six weeks and then returned it--forgetting to put any backing on it. What made it suddenly occur to them that this pile of fabric that they hadn't touched was ready to be shipped out? Did it have a lonesome facial expression or something?

At the moment when a contractor placed a Windex-soaked rag and an open razor blade on the seat of my brand-new velvet chair I decided that the unemployment rate is too low. About 2/3 of American workers are completely incapable performing any job function whatsoever, and need to be kept in small dog crates where they cannot ever, ever, ever have anything to do with my house ever again.

I had to post again...misery loves company, and I felt slightly better reading everyone's stories in one nonstop thread. My tile guy was 108 square feet off on his measurments. This is for an entryway and a powder room. Did he eat the tile? Sell it on craigslist? What?!?! So far, 45 sf off on master shower wall tile, and it's NOT a double shower. But I have 4 boxes of extra kitchen backsplash tile...maybe he couldn't find a buyer for that one...

It's not just psychological stress...I had a patient with high blood pressure for the first half of the prgnancy. Strange, since she had no history, was young, thin, healthy. One day, she mentioned her remodel was finally done. I kid you not, from the next visit onwards, her blood pressures were absolutely normal.

yup, i can relate. remodel that was supposed to take 8-10 weeks is now going on 15 weeks and we need another 3 probably before it is done, assuming no other issues arise between now and then. the train collision occured when cabinet maker totally screwed up the finishing of cab door and drawers which required a complete rebuild. which then threw off the painting schedule, and the countertop schedule. in the middle of it all i needed to go on an international business trip which delayed things further....

today a new crisis has developed related to the crown moulding and seriously crooked ceiling and how to address it. i said lets think about options and talk tomorrow. and proceeded to take a good book to bed to rest.... i can't deal with it right now!

Marcolo you make me laugh so hard...you should write a remodeling blog. That should cure most anyone of even the slightest desire to do any home improvement whatsover! It does amaze me how much poor workmanship is out there. I started out feeling like I was just so picky, but realized that it isn't my standard that is so unreasonably high, but there's a lot of standards out there that are pretty low...sad. :(

Marcolo, please don't think I am laughing AT you.....but you do have a way with words. :)

I'm really sorry you are still having so much trouble - but you gave me quite a giggle anyway.

After reading these posts, I think I am crazy for even thinking I want to build again! Bless you all for enduring your stress of your projects....and bring on the wine!

My problems have been relatively minor so far. Demo started last Monday. On the first day, the power went off in my neighborhood for two hours. Not my GC's fault. This was, however, an omen.

I had told the GC that I wanted the wall oven lower because I'm short, and he said he'd keep it at the same height as the current one. But, in fact, he raised it 6 inches. That one I caught in the framing stage, so he's fixing it. I think he forgot.

Then he asked me as he was heading out to buy lights, did I want black or white UC lights. He recommended white, I'm not good with quick decisions (why I read GW for months) and said OK. Before I could tell him I really thought I'd rather have black, the white was installed (it was the same day - at least he's quick). That wasn't really his fault - I should have asked for time to decide.

But we did discuss where to place the recessed lights, since the joist ran right where they should go, so they could be too close or too far from the cabinets, and I'm quite sure we had decided on too far, but he installed them, instead, too close. If this was due to a decision on his part, shouldn't he have mentioned it to me? I think he forgot again, and it was the same day. But I didn't notice until the ceiling drywall was done, so too late!

The most recent thing is not really his fault, except indirectly. I'm donating the cabs and metal stuff to Habitat for Humanity Restore. They said they would be selling the oven for scrap, which was a shame, but at least it wasn't going to the landfill. When the GC demo'd, he put the oven in the driveway instead of the garage with the rest, and I reminded him that it was being donated (I'm seeing a pattern of forgetting here). I knew it was very heavy, so I told him that it was OK to leave it there - it was up by the garage, behind the dumpster, not easily visible from the street, and it didn't matter if it was rained on, but I told him to be sure not to put it in the dumpster. That was last week. Habitat comes tomorrow. Today, while my teenage daughter was home alone, a man and woman in a pickup truck came up the driveway with a dolley and took the oven, wheeling it between the dumpster and our Buick Rendezvous. My DD called my DH, who doesn't ever listen to me when I tell him what is going on, and he told her it was OK if someone could use it. She was afraid to go out and say anything to these people anyway - she's only 13. So my beloved oven was stolen by scrappers. I understand if something is at the curb, it's fair game, but no one should walk up your driveway and spend 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get an double oven into their pickup truck. I'm really PO'd.

So it's been only 7 days of remodel, and I can't wait to see what's going to happen next. From now on, every piddling thing is going to be in writing. Still, my stories are nowhere near as bad as all of yours. Clearly, no amount of planning - or wine - is ever enough.

A string of situations like this is why most of my renovations will never make it onto GW for any big reveal.

I seem to be able to research/interview contractors right down to the worst possible guy.

I CAN tell you who NOT to hire if you live near me.

My answer has been to take the George Kastanza route...do the opposite of my gut. (Seinfeld???)

Anyway, I started hiring the LEAST expensive in every case figuring it COULDN'T BE WORSE.

And really it's been okay so far. Well I like my roof. :)

Let you know next year how the baths go.

I appreciate each and every one of you. This thread is making me feel better, just knowing so many understand and sympathize.

The good news today is that my wolf range is being delivered tomorrow, and one of our toto toilets arrived.

We are at least starting to see the end of the tunnel.

Marcolo - you do have a wonderful way of expressing yourself. I enjoyed your story, but sorry that you have had the experience.

I have to totally agree that it is a lack of caring and pride. People don't seem to care about quality anymore. It is sad.

I am glad I lived during the times that I did, and I am glad I won't be around too many more years.

Dianalo, I hope you will eventually get some resolution to your situation. It is really sickening to spend the money and TIME on these projects with mishaps, delays and problems, but it is really sick when you end up with something totally unuseable.

I don't know if the recession has made people lose their minds and forget about referrals or recommendations. I don't recall such blatant incompetence/uncaring/shoddiness/scamming even 2-3 years ago here. Sure, people had their mishaps, but not to the level of what we are experiencing now.
A few years ago (in our first house), the contractors were all so busy, the homeowners would be lucky to get a call back and even luckier to get a completed estimate. One masonry guy, left his notebook at our house, which seemed to be filled with a lot of notes for all his business. We called that day to let him know we had it. Our project was to be approx $15k of work, btw... Not only did he never give us an estimate, but he abandoned his notebook! We had had approx 7 people in for an estimate, all without discussing budget or limits, and only 3 got back to us in the end. We had a similar experience about adding another level for a master suite on that house.
When the economy started to go bad, we figured at least homeowners would now get appreciated since remodeling money was not as plentiful. It seems to have gone exactly opposite that. I think they know that no one will bring them back the next year for more work, since we are all spending what we have to do current work and future money for projects will be a long way off. In any case, prices do not seem to be lower than before and yet completed projects are not turning out like they used to.
I don't know exactly what the fix is, but I sure hope that everyone is posting about their experiences locally on Angie's list and on other review sites. If consumers all did this, it would help weed out the bad apples and keep the decent ones on their toes. It is important to post for the good ones as well as warn about the bad ones. The good guys deserve all the praise we can give and deserve to make a decent living. The bad ones should rot in hell....

As a kitchen designer, I am focused on something you said in your first post... You knew your appliances. Why weren't the cabinets ordered to properly accommodate those appliances? Just had to ask!

I don't know if the recession has made people lose their minds and forget about referrals or recommendations. I don't recall such blatant incompetence/uncaring/shoddiness/scamming even 2-3 years ago here. Sure, people had their mishaps, but not to the level of what we are experiencing now.

I had a contractor here today (don't ask) and we discussed this. He thinks part of the problem is cost-cutting. Rather than hiring a mason with twenty years of experience, people (including GCs) instead hire an immigrant for a fraction of the cost. Nothing against immigrants, but a lot of the people doing the hiring are just going for the lowest cost, so they pick someone willing to work for peanuts even though their only skill is having a pair of hands.

marcolo, I agree absolutely about hiring the guy on the corner who'll work for $20 a day. Great work ethic, but iffy skills at best. Living here on the border, I see a lot of that - if only the guy next door actually paid attention to how his house was built! Interestingly enough, sometimes a worker skilled in stonework will show up who has skills not found much in the US anymore. That's a treasure.

Remember when people used to apprentice to a master craftsman and worked their way up the ranks until they could call themselves a master? If you hired a master electrician as certified by whatever union that is, you got a guy who knew his stuff. Mike Holmes would never have to be called in to undo the incredible rat's nest of wiring in some poor homeowner's house. Now you say "union" and people get the vapors - and hire the guy on the corner and complain about the quality of work.

Kitellie - Yes, all the specs were given to my cabinet builder. The only change was the Wolf changed to open burners rather than closed. This was in the middle of the cabinet build, but the appliance people did not tell me there was a difference in size, and this was during the visit when I showed them the proposed cabinet design. It could have been changed. My fault on that for not asking, I guess.

My cabinet builder did mess up the height of the Advantium. It is way too tall. He did however get those instructions off the website. The appliance folks explained how that mishap occured, but I don't remember now what the heck they said.

Today, the plumber came to install some gas lines. I had him look at the toto toilet I got yesterday to see if one like it would fit in our small powder room. He now informs me that the rough-in is wrong for that toilet.

I picked out all the plumbing fixtures back in February at the insistance of my GC. I picked them from the place my plumber uses. Everything he installed was wrong from the shower to the toilets. Now my husband's fancy wood panelled wall got torn out today to move the water supply.

We really are not going to survive this. They want me to die, I am convinced.

Just remember Scarlett O'Hara, as God as my witness I will never go hungry again and she didn't!!! When this is over I want you to say that same thing and cook up a storm in your brand new kitchen. Great day in the morning, I cannot believe all that has been happening to you. It really will end one day. I am going to say some prayers for you. I really do want you to survive and thrive once this is over!!! May be time to fire some people or at least if you do have the nervous breakdown, make sure you have it in front of them so they will all feel like a worm.
Hugs, Miss D