What a difference 10 days makes:

All the cabinets are in, and the moulding is going on tomorrow. The Corian guys came in today and made measurements, and will have the coutners done Thursday. Two day turn-around. Not too shabby. Once the counters are in, Jim can put in the plumbing (read: sink) and the rest of the appliances. That's a good thing. It's tough using the bathroom, the garage, and the grill to make dinner. Later in the week is electrical and gas. We're in the home stretch.

As an aside: I'm so very glad I didn't attempt this myself. There's nothing being done outside my skill range, but Jim (our installer) has access to knowledge and parts that make the job 10 times easier. I would have done a fine job I think but it would have taken 3 months. Since our kitchen has completely weird dimensions and lots of hidden mysteries (which is probably why the last guys got the cabinets refaced instead of torn out like we're doing), every time Jim turns around he's got to put on his "craftsman" hat -- which is a hat he wears very well!

If we'd have had the guys who did our kitchen in San Diego do this one, we'd be screwed. Totally screwed, blued and tattooed. But we lucked upon a guy who spent 23 years in the Navy as a carpenter, and does this as a semi-retired job. The guys takes pride in what he does. Can you imagine that? A person who cares about doing a good job, because he's the person doing the work? What a completely novel concept. Jim makes even the stuff nobody will ever see very presentable. The guy cares about his workmanship. He even cleans up after the other contractors. Pride in what you do is a good thing, especially if you do it well.

We were talking the other day before he took off and I had a long discussion about craftmanship. He was shrugging it off, but I insisted that what he does qualifies. He's not just "hanging cabinets", he's designing and fabricating stuff. He's a carpenter, not an installer, and I told him that meant a lot to use. He's doing what we can't do to "make our house a home". It sounds cheesy, but Jim had a smile on his face in the end. Because I think now he knows that his skills and efforts are appreciated.