The Fatality of Half an Inch!

While waiting for the verdict on the toilet, let me tell you about another surprise! After just a month of dealing with this project, I can assure you that renovation is a synonym for unpleasant surprise!

Just 10 days ago I was quite pleased with the beautiful new soffit in the kitchen. It looked nice and the ceiling is leveled, gone is the 3 inch height difference corner to corner. The next day the electrician was in to put in the socket for the recessed lights. Things are really moving.

New soffit and leveled ceiling

Recessed bucket installed.

Aside from the ceiling, all electrical wirings in the living room are done. There is a pipe in the concrete trench leading from the kitchen island to the main panel.

So all is well but did anyone forget to measure the height? Apparently so. The cabinets and fridge require a 84" clearance. The soffit was built down to end up having a 84" height between floor and ceiling. That's exactly what happened, but the floor is not in yet, the carpenters forgot that the cabinets are to sit on top of the floor!!! Once the 0.5" floor is installed, there is only 83.5" in height. It's half an inch less than required.

In the mean time the frames and most of the cabinets are done. I posted pictures of those a few weeks ago. And guess what, they are 84". This half an inch is essential, so either the cabinets have to be chopped, or the soffit needs to be rebuilt and the light sockets need to be reinstalled. That's 3 or 4 days of work and materials. Who is going to pay for all this? I don't think it should be me. But even when you've been reassured that that's a mistake and it won't cost you, how do I really know? It's quite hard to say as everything is an estimate after all. This half an inch is very costly.

Are you worthy of custom cabinetry?

Do you know that one of the major expenditures of most renovations are spent on cabinetry? I actually didn't realize that until I started getting estimates from different contractors. Of course you can go with Ikea and save loads of money with some very good looking cabinets. But your room better be of certain height, build around the dimensions of the cabinets and if you don't mind that the base cabinets are built with particle boards. Besides, you also need to factor in the time you spent designing your own kitchen with not much help and finding someone to assemble it. Don't get me wrong, I love Ikea and the modern design, but for this big renovation, I think I do want something more custom made.


Recently my friend Karen just finished building her most amazing net zero energy home with beautiful cabinetry throughout the house. I was reluctant to ask for her cabinetry maker as I assume that it will be way above my budget. So originally I went with some semi-custom cabinets and was more than shocked by the absolutely not so frugal price...So I started working with Noor Adabachi of Spirla III Design of San Bruno.


I am going to use the same plyboo plywood throughout the house. Plyboo is sustainable and green certified which is part of the reason I chose it. I also like the interesting side details of the bamboo.

Another challenge is to choose the right finish! Stained to which color? Bleached? Less grain? More grain? I practically went through at least 6 finishes before narrowing it down to 2, and eventually to the one after at least 3 weeks of contemplation. I kept telling Noor that I like the "unfinished" color, basically the most natural color to me, but with the sealant and the stain, apparently it's almost impossible to get the same natural hue. I do like the eventual color that he was able to make for me. I sure do hope that it will look good in the finish cabinetry.


On Friday I went to Sprial III design workshop to look at the progress of the cabinets, and they do look good so far. It's getting to be quite exciting.

the inside of the cabinets

Noor holding up the exterior plywood to one of the base.

Drawers interior. FYI, drawers are the most expensive elements of cabinetry.

The double ends are necessary to cover the interior layer.