New kitchen

Two weeks ago our kitchen was ripped out ready for a new one. The designer filled us with positive thoughts regarding the smooth transition from an old kitchen to a brand new one, a modern kitchen that will give us much more working space. The fact that there could be problems once the work started didn’t come into our conversation. Firstly the ceiling was warped so an extra cost was quoted for a new one. The mess that ripping out a fifty year old ceiling makes is incredible, there was dust throughout the house, black dust that stinks of old plaster. Anyway, the ceiling looks good now but will need painting. The next thing to go wrong was the plumbing; a man turned up to connect our new oven and discovered a leak. The old cast iron pipes buried under the house has a slight leak so the gas pressure is a bit low. Modern health and safety nonsense says that will not do, so the gas was cut off until the pipe work in the kitchen had been renewed, that meant an emergency phone call to a plumbing company. This resulted in the gas fire in our living room being cut off, so we now have no gas fire. (More expense for the future). After that the electricians came in to carry on with the electrics. At great expense they put in a box of tricks which separates the kitchen from the rest of the house, further modern legislation. They discovered, apparently, a fault in the house wiring, so going around each room they tested the plug sockets in the walls. Some years ago we had extra sockets put in; this was in the days before crazy health and safety legislation anyway, one of the sockets is apparently wrong. The electrician was supposed to contact us last evening to discuss the problem, but he didn’t, so this morning the chap running the job was going to have a stiff word! Having a new kitchen was supposed to be a wonderful thing, we have camped out in our living room for the last two weeks, kettle being boiled on a tray on the floor, washing up done in the bath, the fridge freezer whirring away next to my armchair, and the dining room table piled up with essential stuff. The rest of the kitchen lives in boxes in the spare room. Hopefully this weekend will see an end to the madness and we can use our new kitchen. The only thing that I wasn’t aware of was the decoration, or lack of it. The kitchen fitters have not allowed for decorating in their quote, so I will have to make good all plasterwork and paintwork, oh yes, and I have to paint the ceiling. There have been times during the last two weeks when I haven’t wanted to go home for fear of what I might find. Moving house is supposed to be stressful but this has not been a good time. Hopefully when its all done life will once again be jolly!