Kitchen Remodeling, Potential Problems, and Little Time – Thoughts from October 18, 2025

It’s been so long since I wrote a Thoughts paper, I don’t remember what I was talking about the last time so I might repeat myself. The biggest event in Patti and my life recently has been the kitchen remodel. For Patti’s birthday, one of her gifts was going to be the kitchen remodel. I took about two weeks off to do it. We had to rip out the existing cabinets first, which we did section by section so we could still use part of the kitchen as a kitchen. We had to move the microwave around several times to accomplish this.

I’ve always been a measure three times and screw into the wall once kind of guy. I need to understand what I’m doing before I can do it. This philosophy did not sit well with Patti at first. She wanted to get it done as soon as possible. My planning was just a waste of time in her mind. I had to watch how I brought up potential problems to her. If I said something too negative, she would hear me saying we couldn’t do what she wanted. Telling her that what she wanted was impossible was not an option. I had to present all the workable solutions for her to choose from, which meant I had to come up with multiple solutions in my head first.

Most things were straightforward. We could only fit things where they would fit. One future problem that I saw was a lack of drawers among the cabinets. Eventually, I brought this up to Patti, and she admitted it was true. As it is, we have the old drawers piled up in various locations around our living room. We set our regular set of spoons, knives, and forks on top of the pile of drawers so we could get to them. Does it work? Barely. It just became the new normal. This could be just the incentive we need to get the kitchen done sooner. Actually, time was the greater need.

Near the end of the two weeks off, we both knew that we would not be finishing before I went back to work. We patched and painted where we could, but my “vacation” was over. One of the main reasons for this was that some cabinets would not be available until I was back at work. I finished what I could and went back to work that I would get paid for. On my days off, I would put up any new cabinets we got in. I got exceptionally good at taking out my tools and putting them back at the end of the day. I’ve seen too many work areas that were left in shambles for days. Our house would not be one of those work areas.

Even when we finish our parts of the remodeling, we still need someone to come in and put the counters and floor in. Patti said from the beginning that we wouldn’t be doing that. We did that once in our old house and knew we didn’t want to do it again. Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we want to do it. People at my work have asked me to work on their houses. I remind them that I can do many things that I don’t enjoy doing for other people. Even getting paid to do the work would not be enough of an incentive. Besides, I have no more time I can take off from work. I’m sure Patti wants to take a real vacation at some point. Retirement has only made her desire to get out of the house stronger.