A New Kitchen - Oh Dear

After the site meeting, the fitter suggested putting the worktops onto the base units so I could see what the whole thing looks like - A good idea. It hadn't been possible in the showroom when I ordered. I had, however, pointed out in December that the edging strip, which was either a grey / beige stripe, (awful), or just a dark grey, (also completely the wrong tone for the warm, glittery, gold flecked top), wasn't good. The beige colour in the striped one was much better if I could have it without the grey stripe. Anyway I never got a response, so ordered & hoped it would work because I really like the "Galaxy Dove" worktop itself.

The edge just didn't work with the warm sage colour of the units & the exposed wood which the wine rack is made of also made the edging look worse. So we have to have a plan B. Fortunately Wren will take the worktops & upstands back & I can chose something else & pay the difference. It just means more delay because they will have to be made specially. Now it's down to choosing the colour for the walls & the glass splashbacks. The sage coloured glass the designer had suggested wouldn't look right. You can't just have clear glass with the wall colour behind, because apparently flies can get behind the glass & expire in full view!

Decisions, decisions. But I have got 3-4 different worktops to chose from & I have been out to get some matchpots of paint. Just waiting to hear from my electrician & decorator now. Supposedly the appliances will be fitted by the end of today, a temporary worktop will support the sink & hob & the rest of the base units will be covered by cardboard sheets. There is no shortage of that!

A new Kitchen - Site Meeting.

I rang and asked for a site meeting with the showroom & installation managers this morning, after I discovered from the fitter that there are 2 documents which I've never seen, never mind had copies of  - An installation Summary, about joinery, plumbing, gas & electric installation etc & a Guide to Supplimentary Works Charges. A copy of the Initial Assessment had also not been given me. Most of the issues which have arisen would have been avoided if I had been given these in advance. I would have known exactly what Wren's responsibilities were & what I should arrange privately.

A "full and frank discussion" ensued about all the problems I've had. A lot of stuff came to light as well as the documents. So now, hopefully, Wren, the fitter & I all know what's got to be done, who's got to do it & who's paying. (Not me).  It probably won't be finished before Thursday. Then my decorator has to come in before the final cornices & splashbacks are installed. At that point I will have a beautiful, new, designed by me kitchen - Maybe.

It's all about giving information in a timely way, communication & oversight / project management. Especially when Wren admit that it's a bigger, more complex kitchen than they normally fit. I've been flagging up the problems all week in writing. As they say - it's not "rocket science". The thing is I've ended up being irritated, frustrated & inconvenienced because I didn't have enough information to be able to ask the right questions.

Apparently, on some paperwork, which I didn't have, someone anticipated that the job might take 7 working days. I've always thought it was 5. So there is built in aggravation there & Wren don't do a schedule of works / timeline like most builders I've worked with.

It's such a shame, because I think the product is good. I actually think the fitter is experienced & does a good job. It's the admin / organisation which is rubbish & when you are camping out, eating take aways, in a mess, anything which prolongs that is bad news. But then, "no pain, no gain".

A new Kitchen - Day 4

Today my lovely electrician has arrived to do the electrics. It is so good to have someone reliable who comes when he says & does a good job. What I didn't realise, because it wasn't made clear, was that he has to do all of the re-positioning of sockets & switches, putting in new ones, as well as the downlights & the cabinet lights. I thought all he had to do was move the sockets at floor level up to above the upstand & put in the downlights. Because the fitter didn't turn up on Monday they couldn't have a conversation about what exactly was involved & Rich has got a job he has to go on to.

This follows on from an email to the CEO, the Area Manager, & the showroom manager, because the fitter didn't turn up till 9am on Tuesday & after 10am on Wednesday having said he would be here at about 7.30. Then he was off site for over 2 hours on Thursday because he was called into the showroom for a discussion with a new installation manager & had to go and buy a plinth heater which he knew I wanted from the planning stage. Today both fitters have just left saying that they are just in the way of the electricians. Consequently, surprise surprise the job will overrun into next week.

This follows on from other issues.

• When the units were delivered first thing last Friday all the worktops were marked to follow. I queried it with the store about 9am & was told the laminate hadn't been available for a long time & they didn't have any date for new stock. I would have to have something else & pay extra. The manager chased it up & discovered that they were being made & would be ready to be couriered to me, arriving by about 4.30. They didn't arrive until early evening, around 7pm. I only just made it to an evening out.
• When the fitters arrived on Tuesday they discovered that the wine rack was missing. Eventually Wren said it would have to be fitted next week, but no one told the fitter. He went to the store to check what was happening, which was a complete waste of time.
• The glass splashbacks were not delivered apparently they are custom made to the specific measurements after the units are fitted. That's fine, but no one told the fitter who said he had never fitted them before.

The impression I am left with is that communication isn't just poor, it's non existent sometimes. It's not unusual in anything to do with building. Mine is quite a large, costly kitchen even at the sale price. I expect a quality product & a quality service for that. The overrun into next week, means I will have been camping upstairs for over 11 days. (I made life a lot easier for Wren by having a fitter take out the old kitchen before the new units arrived. If I hadn't forseen the problem, which Wren didn't, there simply would not have been room for the new units.)

Wren has a good product but I think they are expanding too fast to be able to deliver the sort of seamless, joined up, service discriminating customers expect. This just means that no one is happy. Not the customer & certainly not the designers, fitters & admin people who get it in the neck when things go wrong. This really needs sorting at the most senior level or Wren will get a bad reputation by word of mouth, not to mention today's modern communications.

I've waited for this kitchen since the end of December. That should be a long enough lead time to get it right. Now I just want my home back and a beautiful finished kitchen. Hopefully it will all have been worth it.

A new kitchen - customer dissatisfaction.

This may turn into a marathon rant!

I texted the fitter last night to find out what time he would arrive today. No response till quite late when he said his current job had overrun, he had just finished & could he come this afternoon. I said OK. My electrician was scheduled for today to move sockets & put in downlights because the fitter said he didn't want to do it & it should happen on the first day. Too late for him to change jobs, so he arrived on time. But he couldn't finish because he needed to liaise with the fitter, so had to leave.

When the fitter hadn't arrived after lunch I texted again. He hadn't finished the last job & was still working there. Said he wouldn't now arrive till tomorrow. So Electrician messed about, I missed an appointment waiting in at lunch time, and the job put back a whole day. This probably means it will go into the weekend or next week, which will be a real pain. Camping upstairs isn't fun & eating take aways quickly palls.

Jobs do overrun. The unforseen arises. I accept that. What I don't accept is that I'm not informed of the delay. When was someone going to tell me if I hadn't texted? Why don't people who provide goods & services realise that good communication is the key to customer services & satisfaction? An awful lot of aggravation could be avoided & in this age of communications technology I really don't think there's any excuse.

As it is, I'm really p.....off. Not a good start to a dream kitchen. I hope Wren get their act together, because if this pattern continues I'm not going to be at all happy.

A new kitchen - delivery complications

Good news, the kitchen arrived, as promised, first thing this morning. Bad news, there was barely enough room to get all the boxes in the kitchen / diner, despite the fact that I had arranged for a fitter to dismantle the old kitchen and take it away yesterday. Some boxes are in the sitting room which was already pretty full of the contents of the cupboards. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had left it to Wren to dismantle & remove the old kitchen. There simply would not have been enough room.

Worse news, all of the worktops were missing. The delivery men said to chase it up with the Oxford store. When I did, they said that the worktops had been out of stock for some time & they didn't know when / if they would be coming in. The scenario of a beautiful but unusable kitchen at the end of next week seemed highly likely. What I don't understand is why I'm having the problem now, a couple of days before fitting? Why had no one told me? Then the manager got back to me and said the worktops were being made today & would be couriered to me by about 4.30. Relief - I really liked the worktops I'd chosen. It's now 5pm & they haven't arrived yet - not holding my breath. Just had a phone call, they will be here by 7.15. (The fact that I'm going out this evening makes it all a bit close to the wire, but Wren doesn't have to worry about that).

On the other hand, really good news. I have identified the floor tiles that are in the whole of the ground floor. This is crucial because I discovered, when the old kitchen came out, that the existing ones don't go fully under a boxed in area which is going to be removed. The chances of finding the right tiles, still in stock, somewhere in Oxford, seemed pretty remote. But, hey, something has to go right for a change. The staff at Manoli tiles are wonderful. It's just so nice to have people who put themselves out for you. The wonderful lady, whose name I don't know, patiently went through all the orders in 2006 to find the one for my house. I can't check properly to see if they are right, because I can't lift them out of my boot. But I'm reasonably confident.

Hey Ho another day of chaos & fire fighting.

A New Kitchen - Prologue

It's all begun to happen. Almost everything in my kitchen cupboards has now been moved into the sitting room. It's now half full with boxes & bags. I had help from my daughter & a good friend or I would have probably had a heart attack!

Despite the fact that I only moved house 6 months ago I realise that I still need to get rid of out of date stuff, (herbs & spices which have probably lost any flavour or aroma). Not to mention plastic containers, which I have never & will never use. Also why do I have enough saucepans & casseroles to feed the 5,000 when I am single? Do I really need 2 complete china dinner & tea services? Must remember the mantra "less is more".

A pathway has been cleared across the sitting room so the old units can be taken out & the new ones brought in. A fitter is coming tonight to start removing the old units & appliances. He has to clear the kitchen by tomorrow evening because the new units could arrive any time from 7am on Friday. The doomsday scenario would be if the new units arrived before the old ones had gone. There is no room for both.

From tomorrow I will be camping out upstairs with a kettle, a toaster, a microwave & a small halogen cooker. A portable fridge would have been useful because I won't have managed to eat everything in my freezer. A cool box will have to do, although the ice blocks will melt long before all this is over. The main problem will be washing up in a small bathroom sink.

Saturday & Sunday will be the "calm before the storm" because the fitters don't start till Monday. They say they will start around 7 in the mornings & go on till about 7 in the evenings for a week. They obviously don't know that I'm not a morning person. It will take a superhuman effort for me to be up, dressed and fully functioning at that ungodly hour.

My lovely electrician has been primed to move the sockets which are too close to the upstand for the plugs to fit in. (What dimbo installed them like that I wonder?) He will also put in the new down lights in the dining area. A decorator says he can do the painting after installation by cutting in & is confident that he won't mess up my new units. I can't choose a paint colour till the new units are in situ. I have to have faith & believe.

The only imponderables are:-

• Will the boxed in area that needs to be removed come out OK?
• Will the existing floor tiles have been installed over the whole of the kitchen floor under the existing units & will they be in reasonable condition?

It's a bit nail biting, but I am optimistic. I don't have a plan B.

Fast Food Killers - Hunger & Greed

I'm reading a very interesting book called "Fat Chance - The Bitter Truth About Sugar" by Dr Robert Lustig, published last year. It's the most comprehensive & informed look at the diet of the developed world that I've come across. It's full of the most up to date research on our food & how what we eat adversely affects us. It's not particularly difficult to read, but it's not a novel, so requires your full attention. I recommend you to read it if you want to avoid obesity, diabetes & heart disease etc & live a longer life.

Basically, the book confirms what I have long thought. We eat and drink a load of crap & it's not doing us any good at all. In fact it's killing us. Processed food is addictive because of the sugar & salt the manufacturers add & the fibre they remove. Even when we think we are being healthy we aren't because the food industry doesn't tell us all we need to know on the labels. If you think drinking a smoothie is one or more of your 5 a day think again. It's pure sugar, more than in a Coke for example, because all the fibre, which you really need is removed.

I remember going to America years ago & seeing obese people for the first time. I was appalled & disgusted that anyone could be so greedy and stuff so much food down that they became a grotesque parody of a human being. Until I read this book I thought that obese people were just lazy & didn't exercise. Not true. Our relationship with food & the modern diet has messed up the complex mechanisms of our beautiful bodies to the point that they can no longer function effectively. We really don't know what hunger is. We have lost the ability to know when we are full. Think addiction, like smoking, drinking or drugs & you are closer to the truth.

A lot of this has been known for some time now. We know when we are eating rubbish, but it's quick & we are time poor. It's also cheap, so the disadvantaged relied on it most. However, now it's appeal has spread to the middle classes because they are too busy to cook good food from scratch. Especially when both parents work. How many people regularly cook a meal from good quality, raw, ingredients nowadays, despite the plethora of TV chefs?

Then there is the all powerful food lobby. Cheap ingredients, mass produced = massive profit & greed. They aren't going to let scientific fact about the danger & damage they do get in the way of a very healthy bottom line. They are one of the most powerful lobby groups. Add to that the billion dollar diet industry, which promotes the fallacy that they can make you slim  & there really is very little hope that this epidemic is going away anytime soon.

We are lemmings rushing over the cliff to suicide. Me too, I could do with losing a stone. I'll just have that last chocolate biscuit first!