The salesman for the cabinets I was about to order stood in my kitchen a few weeks ago, looking worried. Normally, he would wait until after a contractor had gutted my kitchen to take final measurements, because these semi-custom cabinets ordinarily take three or four weeks to arrive. Now, because of pandemic-related delays, they would take 13 weeks, maybe more.

He suggested my contractor preemptively take a sledgehammer to my soffits to make sure no wayward pipe would undo my cabinetry plans. My timing headaches didn’t end there. The next day, when my contractor showed up to punch those holes in my walls, he told me to order my windows as soon as possible because who knows when they might arrive. Appliances, he said, would be even harder to get.

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