It Finished With A Fizzle, But It's Fine

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​IT FINISHED WITH A FIZZLE, BUT IT'S FINE

​  My kitchen remodel, slated to be a month-long project completed by JSB Home Solutions on October 12, 2021, was finally finished the day before yesterday, January 7, 2022, when a couple of memebers of the  caulking team arrived to press the final line of sealant between the backsplash and the countertops.

      I suppose this should have been a moment of at least some excitement, some fizz, a Brand New Kitchen Moment. But nah. The kitchen wasn't new anymore, it had arrived in too many bits and pieces and over too dragged-out and exasperating a length of time for there to be any fizz left at the finish line. But in truth, at this point I was beyond needing any fizz. I was happy for the finale to come off with a fizzle.
      The caulkers showed up at my door early this past Friday morning without specific advance notice. They said they figured they'd just swing by and get this job finished up. I hadn't yet had breakfast, but it was fine. Workers have been dropping in and out of my kitchen at all hours for so long that I've gotten used to co-existing around them. 
      However, I expect I should fill in the blanks between the point in this saga where I last left off  and this, the end point.
       So, then, as recounted in my December 7, 2021 post:
   One of the countertop pieces installed back in October by Lang Stone, JSB's countertop subcontracting company, had turned out to be defective along the seam.

    After numerous unsuccessful attempts by the Lang Stone folks to remedy whatever it was that was ailing the seam, it was decided that this whole section of countertop would have to be pulled out and replaced.
     However on the day before (Or mayhaps even the morning of) its scheduled installation in my kitchen, the replacement piece of countertop was somehow accidentally destroyed in the Lang Stone warehouse. (see www.ailantha.com/blog/it-gets-worse).
     As there was not another slab of stone to be had anywhere in Ohio (or perhaps the world) from which to cut  a piece of countertop that would match the rest of the kitchen countertops, which were perfectly fine,

...I was obligated to return to the stone supply warehouse to choose a new slab from which a whole new set of countertops would have to be cut. I chose this stone, called Calacatta Brazil quartzite (see post from 12/9/2021, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/oh-calacatta),

...from which the new countertops were fabricated by Lang Stone.
     The tearing out of the old new countertops and the installation of the new new countertops happened on December 15, during which time my sister Romaine was visiting me from Oregon.     
       Having my kitchen torn apart again, this time while my sister was here, 

...​was just a weence annoying.

     However my sister and I hopped to it and made cinnamon rolls from our mom's recipe on December 14, the day before the tear-apart.

    In truth, for all my fretting over having to relinquish my old new countertops, I had to admit that these new new countertops did turn out to be prettier than I'd envisioned.

      Five days before Christmas the tile guys arrived and spent the day putting up the backsplash, which also turned out very nicely. 

     The JSB contractor then informed me that the caulkers and wood trimmers would arrive to finish up the kitchen on December 23. I told him that day wouldn't work because it was two days before Christmas and my grand children were coming and I needed access to my kitchen. The contractor advised me that if the caulkers and trimmers say they can come two days before Christmas, you grab them two days before Christmas.
      So I did. 
      However, as it turned out, on the morning of December 23 the caulkers and trimmers changed their mind, or took pity on me, or something, and agreed to put the job off until after the holidays. And so I was able to rustle together at least a few Christmas cookies before my grand children arrived.

       So it was fine.     
       On Monday, January 4, the caulkers and wood trimmers returned to finish the job. They trimmed and caulked then were on their way, I thought for the last time. However a few hours later, after the caulking around the sink had purportedly dried sufficiently to withstand contact with water, I washed dishes then wiped down the area around the sink to include the caullking only to have the melted caulking wipe off.
      It turned out that one of the caulkers had grabbed the wrong can of caulk for the job, a caulk meant for wood rather than a sealant meant for a sink area. However they returned the day before yesterday with the correct caulk and put the final finishing touch on my kitchen remodel.
      My kitchen on Sunday, September 12, 2021 

...and on Friday,  January 7, 2022.

      (If anyone is interested in going back and re-reading my kitchen remodel saga from the beginning, the first chapter was posted on 9/19/2:  https://www.ailantha.com/blog/good-bye-old-kitchen).
       Do I like my new - that is to say my not-really-new-anymore - kitchen? 
       Yes, I do. I very much like my remodeled kitchen, I'm glad it's finished, and I don't even mind that the finale was a fizzle. Fizzle is fine.
      Now all I have to do is have the kitchen flooring re-done.