Buttoned-up part 2 - Unbuttoned

So we had been optimistic too soon. Meeting with the contractors late last week, we talked about some cracking in the ceiling, some scab boards that they had put on the joists for additional strength, the fact that our joists were 2x6 and not 2x8 or 2x10 to support the island cabinet configuration and some ceiling bowing in general. The options were to pull it all down and put up new drywall or to seam it together and hope that it didn't crack later - despite the progress we had made, we opted to do it right and get the entire new ceiling.

Of course the road to hell is paved with good intentions - and we found that the reason the ceiling was cracking was because of a couple of weak, and one completely cracked, joist - incidentally the joist that the cabinets would have been secured to. 

When asked, by my brother, what I would have done if we had gotten to the finish point and the ceiling had falled down, I told him that I just would not have had words for it. We're all better off having done the work up-front. Though our kitchen looked like a cellulose insulation bounce-house...