Year End, Last Post

It's been fun, but this is the last post to the Kitchen Blog.

We did get a replacement fridge delivered before Christmas, but one of the doors hangs slightly askew and is about one-eight of an inch higher than the other. We've had two attempts to get the Jenn-Air technician out to adjust the doors, but have had to reschedule the visit until next year. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this is going to be a straightforward fix.

The Viking hood situation is not resolved either, but it will be.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Richard and Margaret

Almost Done

We are almost done with the kitchen remodel. In fact, strictly speaking the construction is done.

The City of Albany building inspector visited on November 8th and signed-off on the construction. Then Justin from McCutcheon came by on December 7th to complete the open punch-list items. He replaced a pair of hinges on one of the cabinet doors, fixed the broken baseboard by the pantry, and touched-up a couple of scratches in the floor in front of the stove. For this latter, Justin used something called "Tibet Almond Stick" made by Zenith Chemical Works. This is truly amazing stuff. I have no idea how it works, but simply rubbing it on the scratch makes the scratch disappear! It remains to be seen whether the repair holds up under the normal traffic in the kitchen.

As Margaret's previous two posts indicate, we still have not resolved the freezer and stove hood problems.

A new freezer is promised, but as of today we have no further word on when the replacement will be delivered. We don't expect to get it until the New Year now.

The stove hood fix is in limbo. The damper still rattles and although the grease filters are installed (and more importantly can be removed easily), the solution is a complete hack. I'm trying to get Viking to send a different repair company, but so far to no avail.

The very last task will be to get window coverings. After much deliberation, we've decided to get wooden shutters. We found a company on-line that does custom shutters and can paint them to match the trim color we have. They're called Horizon Shutters, and, based on the interaction we've had with them so far - including them sending us a sample shutter, we're very impressed. We plan to get the shutters ordered this coming week and have them installed early in the New Year.

Richard

Bleedin' Vikings!

Our quest to have the issues with the Viking stove hood has taken on the proportions of Monty Python's quest for the Holy Grail.

The technician has now visited THREE times and is no closer to solving the problem. On his last visit he claimed to have FORGOTTEN to put some of the parts on the truck, and the part that he did bring was damaged. So he has to come again!

This is just another example of 'fichering' and it drives Richard crazy! He's called Viking several times to try an get another service company to take over, but so far to no avail.

Now we wait for the lumberjack song... and a resolution!

Margaret

A New Fridge ...

… Is in our future!

A fourth Maytag technician came to look at the fridge this week.

We explained the problem and the history of the problem. He had some suggestions about how to fix the problem, but we said we did not want any more suggestions. We had paid for a new fridge that was proving to be second rate. How many more technicians were to come to fix the problem?

Fourth technician agreed he would be the last. He called his service department and requested a replacement fridge for us!

Viking hood parts are scheduled to be installed next week.

Bridge Painting Company will start painting the outside of the house on Monday, November 27, weather-permitting.

Such good reasons to celebrate Thanksgiving, even though I twisted my ankle and we won't be going away as planned.

And today, I got another reason for celebrating kitchens in general.

My story, Scottish Hospitality, has been published in Lallans, the journal of the Scots Language Society.

I micht be a Scot, bit I'm nae a bubbly jock! (fit’s a bubbly jock?)

Happy Thanksgiving,

Margaret

Latest Kitchen News

We thought that we were going to get the stove hood fixed this week, but ...

The appliance technician came on Friday with new parts which were supposed to correct the problem. Once they were unpacked though, they were exactly the same as the ones already installed! So, the guy took them away and promised to escalate the problem with Viking. We'll see what happens. Separately, we will harangue Viking to see if we can't get an alternate repair company involved.

The Jenn-Air technician is scheduled for Monday (20th) to look at the icicles. New Century are also supposed to be here on Monday to patch the grout and seal it, as well as polish the counters.

Apart from that we're enjoying the kitchen. Margaret bought a large griddle that fits over two of the burners on the Viking stove.

This makes for a splendid surface for all foods that need a large flat cooking area.

Mingus continues to visit and make himself at home.

In this case, draped over the satellite TV box in our bedroom. It's hard to imagine it's very comfortable, but it is presumably nice and warm.

Richard.