First, a recap. Here's the old cabinet finish and design.
So let's get started on getting us a new look.
So a couple of weeks before the cabinets were ready to be finished, Bob stopped by to listen to our ideas and offer suggestions. We showed him examples of stains we loved, such as our French antique dining room chairs, other antique furniture and our entertainment center to give him ideas. We gave him extra wood from the cabinets so that he can stain. The plan is that we would then have a chance to see the different samples, mull over and decide. Bob is a very personable guy who has given us the confidence that no matter the schedule, he will do a good job.
Fortunately, the stain won’t really delay other contractors working on the kitchen. The granite guys are coming over to measure the cabinets tomorrow. It will take a week or two for the granite to be fabricated once that is done. (More details in the Countertop Phase). It is easier for Bob to finish the cabinets without the countertops installed. If Bob and his crew are still finishing the cabinets once the granite or Caesarstone it is really to their detriment. So I figure it would be an incentive for them to finish on time.
Today is Monday. Bob and his crew were supposed to start last Wednesday or Friday, I don’t quite remember. But no call from Bob. So over the weekend, I asked Max if he will be calling Bob to confirm if and when he is coming Monday. Max said he would be taking care of it, knowing full well that if he gave me the green light, I would be “riding herd” on Bob if needed. Around 10:30am when there was no sign of Bob, Max called. Bob just has so much work and he is finishing up another job.
Bob claimed his crew will be here after lunch to start the prep work. They must be used to late lunches, because Gustavo and Carlos arrived around 2pm. They worked for a couple of hours and then left for the day. Most of what they did today is to take all the doors and drawers out of the cabinets. That is why the cabinet guys didn’t do too much final adjusting to align the cabinet doors. That will be part of the final touches after the finish and paint has been done.
Gustavo and Carlos said they will be here every morning at 9am and work until the job is done,
which they anticipate will be the end of this week. Here’s Gustavo and Carlos who had been warned ahead of time by Max that I would be pestering them to have their picture taken as part of our blog. 
So let's get started on getting us a new look. Cabinet Finishing
Our finishing guy is Bob Dovico and his company is Dovico’s Refinishing in Laguna Hills. We
found him through a friend of ours who loved his work. She warned us that he is slow, but he is an “artiste”. So be patient, the wait is well worth it. Okay, based on the punctuality of the construction crew who were simply awesome, we figured we would lower our expectations. His bid was significantly lower than another bid from a finisher who did another friend’s kitchen cabinets. We saw both kitchens and the finishers did great jobs. So the deciding factor was the much lower bid.
Our finishing guy is Bob Dovico and his company is Dovico’s Refinishing in Laguna Hills. We
found him through a friend of ours who loved his work. She warned us that he is slow, but he is an “artiste”. So be patient, the wait is well worth it. Okay, based on the punctuality of the construction crew who were simply awesome, we figured we would lower our expectations. His bid was significantly lower than another bid from a finisher who did another friend’s kitchen cabinets. We saw both kitchens and the finishers did great jobs. So the deciding factor was the much lower bid. So a couple of weeks before the cabinets were ready to be finished, Bob stopped by to listen to our ideas and offer suggestions. We showed him examples of stains we loved, such as our French antique dining room chairs, other antique furniture and our entertainment center to give him ideas. We gave him extra wood from the cabinets so that he can stain. The plan is that we would then have a chance to see the different samples, mull over and decide. Bob is a very personable guy who has given us the confidence that no matter the schedule, he will do a good job.
Fortunately, the stain won’t really delay other contractors working on the kitchen. The granite guys are coming over to measure the cabinets tomorrow. It will take a week or two for the granite to be fabricated once that is done. (More details in the Countertop Phase). It is easier for Bob to finish the cabinets without the countertops installed. If Bob and his crew are still finishing the cabinets once the granite or Caesarstone it is really to their detriment. So I figure it would be an incentive for them to finish on time.
Today is Monday. Bob and his crew were supposed to start last Wednesday or Friday, I don’t quite remember. But no call from Bob. So over the weekend, I asked Max if he will be calling Bob to confirm if and when he is coming Monday. Max said he would be taking care of it, knowing full well that if he gave me the green light, I would be “riding herd” on Bob if needed. Around 10:30am when there was no sign of Bob, Max called. Bob just has so much work and he is finishing up another job.
Bob claimed his crew will be here after lunch to start the prep work. They must be used to late lunches, because Gustavo and Carlos arrived around 2pm. They worked for a couple of hours and then left for the day. Most of what they did today is to take all the doors and drawers out of the cabinets. That is why the cabinet guys didn’t do too much final adjusting to align the cabinet doors. That will be part of the final touches after the finish and paint has been done.
Gustavo and Carlos said they will be here every morning at 9am and work until the job is done,
which they anticipate will be the end of this week. Here’s Gustavo and Carlos who had been warned ahead of time by Max that I would be pestering them to have their picture taken as part of our blog. Max told me that earlier they asked if they could play music. We thought they would be playing rock or cantina music like the other workers. Instead, they listened to The Wave. Interesting, only in California, huh?
Choosing the color of the Island
ST came over last week Monday to bring over color swatches to decide on the color of the island. The cabinets will be stained, but the island will be painted. So when we ordered the cabinets, the island was made of paint-grade material. I learned that we could have ordered the island to be all maple and alder like our cabinets and still painted it, but it would have been a waste of money.
We pulled one of our Murano lamps to match with the color swatches. We were looking primarily at different hues of blues to match the different colors in the lamp. But I was beginning to become concerned about how a deep blue would look. I guess it could be a bold statement, but I don’t know if I was ready for such deep blues that we were looking at. ST agreed that it could detract from the rest of the kitchen, so after much discussions, we decided on matte black. It would go with the black iron railing, the Absolute Black Granite and other black accents in the family room. It sounds so elegant, especially with the colorful lamps overhead. The island countertop is Caesarstone which will match our Travertine floor. See Countertop for details.
Preparations for the Staining Process
They basically cover the ceilings, floors and surrounding areas. As you can see, the doors have
been removed and the space is protected from accidental staining. The frames are stained onsite, but the cabinet doors were removed and will be stained at their shop. The plan is that when the doors have been stained, they will be reattached. Then the cabinet installers will come back to adjust the doors to align properly. The preparations started on Monday and by Thursday they were done. During this time, Bob was supposed to drop off stain samples for us to review. Thursday, Max calls Bob to warn him that we still need to see the sample stains before I go on a business trip to Denver. Then I’m on another business trip the following week. So if Max is force to make the decision on his own, then I don’t like it when I return, Bob will be in a heap of trouble. Max too, just by association.
So Bob drops by the next day with a couple of samples and we place them in different sections of the kitchen at different times of the day to get an idea on which one we liked.
ST came over last week Monday to bring over color swatches to decide on the color of the island. The cabinets will be stained, but the island will be painted. So when we ordered the cabinets, the island was made of paint-grade material. I learned that we could have ordered the island to be all maple and alder like our cabinets and still painted it, but it would have been a waste of money.
We pulled one of our Murano lamps to match with the color swatches. We were looking primarily at different hues of blues to match the different colors in the lamp. But I was beginning to become concerned about how a deep blue would look. I guess it could be a bold statement, but I don’t know if I was ready for such deep blues that we were looking at. ST agreed that it could detract from the rest of the kitchen, so after much discussions, we decided on matte black. It would go with the black iron railing, the Absolute Black Granite and other black accents in the family room. It sounds so elegant, especially with the colorful lamps overhead. The island countertop is Caesarstone which will match our Travertine floor. See Countertop for details.
Preparations for the Staining Process
They basically cover the ceilings, floors and surrounding areas. As you can see, the doors have
been removed and the space is protected from accidental staining. The frames are stained onsite, but the cabinet doors were removed and will be stained at their shop. The plan is that when the doors have been stained, they will be reattached. Then the cabinet installers will come back to adjust the doors to align properly. The preparations started on Monday and by Thursday they were done. During this time, Bob was supposed to drop off stain samples for us to review. Thursday, Max calls Bob to warn him that we still need to see the sample stains before I go on a business trip to Denver. Then I’m on another business trip the following week. So if Max is force to make the decision on his own, then I don’t like it when I return, Bob will be in a heap of trouble. Max too, just by association.So Bob drops by the next day with a couple of samples and we place them in different sections of the kitchen at different times of the day to get an idea on which one we liked.
One of the samples matches one of our French antique buffets located in our family room, so that swayed our decision to pick the one on the right.
So while I’m gone to Denver Bob and his crew stain the frame and crown moulding. Here's a site with more pictures of the preparation and actual staining. 
By the way, here's Bob working on the kitchen.
By the way, here's Bob working on the kitchen. During the time I’m gone, I call home to ask Max how things were coming along. He says it is fine and it will look really nice once everything is done. I get home Thursday night and the first thing I do is squeeze through the plastic zippered opening to see the progress. I sorta kinda like it, but I wasn’t thrilled. Max says it is because the doors aren’t on and the focus is on the portions of the cabinets that have a dark stain to it. Another area of the kitchen looked very nice, but then there were other areas that were darker, as if they didn’t wipe it off right away or cleanly.
Another night while I was in Denver, I called for a status. I asked if Bob was coming by Friday so that we can discuss how to lighten those darker stained areas. The last thing he still had to do onsite is to paint the island.
Max said, “Uh…Bob isn’t coming.”
“Oh…why not”, I asked. I could almost sense Max cringe at the other end.
Earlier, Bob had called to say that he was so busy with other clients that he was running late. Max said he sounded so harried and felt so sorry for him. So he told Bob to just take care of what he had to do, then just come on Monday. Bob sounded so relieved, Max thought Bob was going to cry. As Bob thanked Max for the break, he said he would do whatever he could to make it up to us. So Max said to me that now, he will ask Bob to do whatever he could to fix the areas I didn’t quite like.
So I will be in Valley Forge this coming week and I’m anxious to see what is done while I’m gone.
End of August
Well, I’m back from Valley Forge and the major changes are that the drawers and shelves are in the cabinets, the island is painted and the plastic has been torn down. Mainly, the areas we didn’t quite like on the frames have been fixed and lightened.
So far, it is now the 4th week of finishing work that originally was to take 5 days. We didn’t know that those 5 full days of work would be spread out over many weeks.
Another night while I was in Denver, I called for a status. I asked if Bob was coming by Friday so that we can discuss how to lighten those darker stained areas. The last thing he still had to do onsite is to paint the island.
Max said, “Uh…Bob isn’t coming.”
“Oh…why not”, I asked. I could almost sense Max cringe at the other end.
Earlier, Bob had called to say that he was so busy with other clients that he was running late. Max said he sounded so harried and felt so sorry for him. So he told Bob to just take care of what he had to do, then just come on Monday. Bob sounded so relieved, Max thought Bob was going to cry. As Bob thanked Max for the break, he said he would do whatever he could to make it up to us. So Max said to me that now, he will ask Bob to do whatever he could to fix the areas I didn’t quite like.
So I will be in Valley Forge this coming week and I’m anxious to see what is done while I’m gone.
End of August
Well, I’m back from Valley Forge and the major changes are that the drawers and shelves are in the cabinets, the island is painted and the plastic has been torn down. Mainly, the areas we didn’t quite like on the frames have been fixed and lightened.
So far, it is now the 4th week of finishing work that originally was to take 5 days. We didn’t know that those 5 full days of work would be spread out over many weeks.
As of September 3rd, here are more pictures of the current state of the kitchen. It is taken at night and combined with the flash, the stain looks darker than it really is.
