A few nice items

After postponing for 2 1/2 weeks, the contractor was here today. As I feared, it is getting harder for him to pull himself off of his new jobs and finish mine. It's a really common problem for anyone dealing with a contractor. Fortunately, he is a good and honest person, and I don't think he's blowing me off to be a jerk.

He dry-fitted the cooktop, and I'm thrilled with how it looks. I was debating getting stainless steel or black and I choose the black because it has a porcelan surface that I thought would be easier to clean and I liked it better for the cooktop. I'm so glad I choose black (although I would have liked the stainless too, I'm sure). He couldn't finish installing it because of course nothing is simple. The cord isn't long enough to reach the outlet we have for this purpose, so the electrician will have to rewire it to make a longer cord or move the outlet.

Here is a shot of the cooktop. All the stuff on the countertop is installation stuff for the sink and cooktop.



After much todo and fiddling, he finally figured out what the oven problem was. It was leaning to the side and taking up the space for the dishwasher. We thought it just needed to be shimmed and bolted, but he tried this and it didn't work. It turns out the electrical was in the wrong place and the oven was sitting on the conduit. He told me how to tell the electrician to fix it. Fortunately, the electrician is here tomorrow.

A very nice surprise is that we now have doorknob on the bathroom door! It sure beats the balled up papertowels we had in the hole. I love the way the knob looks. It is brushed nickel, which matches the other finishes in the bathroom and goes with the contemporary look we have all over. The handle functions really well too - it closes and locks smoothly.

Here is a close up of the door handle. I bought the same one for the bathroom and all 3 bedrooms. All of the hinges and the hardware on the future back door match this brushed nicke finish as well.


Here is how the door looks with the handle on it. We are leaving the doors with a clear shellac finish. It still needs to be trimmed.



We also got the first few drawer and cabinet handles in the kitchen. What a treat after using fingertips to pry them open everytime. It's funny what you take for granted when you've never lived without it. I've found myself on the way to the bathroom sink several times to rinse food. I'm just not used to having all these luxuries - a sink, doorknob, and drawer pulls!







Late tonight I made my weekend trip to Home Depot. No weekend is complete without it! I had to buy patching materials because the electrician has to move the closet lights and the holes need to be patched before the inspection on Tuesday.