If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might recall that we are still living without a counter top in our kitchen. You didn’t miss its arrival or anything like that – it still simply is not here.
We ordered granite counters from an Italian guy named Dino who we haven’t really been able to complain about much. He cut us a really good deal on the tile we laid in our kitchen and bathroom and, after a bit of complaining, finally made he 45 minute drive to us to measure the kitchen for the counter. But we have now waited over a month for our counters to arrive from Italy and we’re getting a bit antsy and perturbed. When it was our fault for not taking the measurements or just simply wanting to wait until things had settled a bit, that was ok. But we’ve now put in the order, he assured us it would be two, maybe three weeks…and now we’re going on five.
Apparently the Italians cutting the granite are to blame – or at least that is what Dino and his secretary are telling us…and we don’t really see why he’d have a reason to lie. He’s got our stove top sitting in the middle of his warehouse and doesn’t like it being there, so he has just as much reason to want this finished as we do. He asked if we wanted to come pick it up but we figure leaving it there at least continues to remind him that we’re here. Plus we still have half of his money which is another good motivator.
The story is as follows:
First there was a delay on the Italians cutting the granite. Now there’s a problem regarding space…The middle section which will top the island is roughly 2 meters by 1 meter (3×6 feet). Because our stove top is rather deep, we have elected to go with 4cm thick counters versus having to lose one of the drawers under the stove. And it turned out to be cheaper to glue together two pieces of 2cm thick granite versus going with 4 cm thick. But the granite cutters are saying now that they have everything cut (as of this past weekend…why it took them a month to cut 6 pieces of granite I do not understand) but do not have the space to lay it out so it can be glued together. It’s all a bit suspect to me. What sort of place that cuts granite doesn’t have a space this large available??? They must have trucks or forklifts to transport these things…so can’t they just park one elsewhere while they glue this stuff? Perhaps they just felt like taking it easy. I don’t know.
The latest update we have from Dino’s secretary is that the Italians are supposed to finish it up this week and it should be at Dino’s before the week is over. This doesn’t mean that it will be installed, though. So we are waiting and hoping and praying that it will arrive tomorrow perhaps? And then could be installed on Friday? Or Saturday? Thursday is a holiday here although I would think Dino would open for something like this if he knew they were coming…we just have to wait and see.
We told Dino’s secretary yesterday that if it’s not here by next week we’re going to start taking €30 off the price every day. Of course she can’t make those kinds of decisions but we’re pretty sure she’ll still communicate it to her boss and that should get him going a bit. We would really, really love to have the counter here by Saturday since that is when the party will take place…and the boxes on the tops of the counters are starting to get a bit funky…but our hopes are starting to fade.
