May praises her kitchen supplier
May I have a moment?
“And your kitchen guy thinks he can manage all this?” My contractor looks at me in disbelief. I nod. “He says he can, and I believe him too.” My contractor kicks a loose stone aside. “Also the quartzite?” I nod. That ‘slap’ (pronounced ‘slap’, I’m learning all sorts of new words lately – pyrolysis, that’s another one). Also the quartzite. “And the fridge?” “Yes, that too.”
We are in the middle of renovating our kitchen and where I had thought this would be the smoothest and fastest renovation ever, things have also gotten complicated here. And the kink in the cable was there too. Then the usual cause-effect and it’s-not-our-fault game often happens, but for that gap, my kitchen creator (I don’t think ‘kitchen guy’ quite covers it) was hard to pin down.
“But the oven then. You want a Gaggenau, right? There’s a waiting list for that, isn’t there?” Our contractor is a gem, and I believe he really wants me not to mind that I have to wait a month longer for a steel cage structure (also not his fault, our house is 123 years old and so are the load-bearing beams) because there are often waiting lists for kitchen-related items too.
Not at Paul Bolleboom. The secret? Aside from the fact that Paul is a professional who has been practicing the trade for years and has climbed all the rungs of the ladder, he only makes kitchens in the better segment. That’s why he has the shortest possible line with the royal suppliers of kitchen builders. So there’s always a Gaggenau oven or a piece of quartzite from Verona on the way and Paul knows how to get his hands on it first. He has taste, is nice, not too proud to come and take a look or advise, and doesn’t lose his cool when you – you know how it goes with renovations – suddenly can’t see it all anymore. It’s just that he already has a job, otherwise I would say: Paul for president.
I’ll show you our little gem that I’m still happy with every day. With a shoutout to Els Rooduijn who came up with the entire design and is definitely in my top ten of the nicest people I’ve met in recent years. It’s almost a shame that it’s all finished. Quickly think of a new project!
Not sponsored, just a happy person.
Photography: Myrthe Slootjes and Bolleboom Keuken
