Kitchen Remodel Plans Progress
Greetings All !
Well, we decided to “fire” our original designer, from “Gabbys, LLC”… aka Gail Schwandt. We just got the impression that this was her FIRST whole-room remodel… and she was in over her head. I particularly don’t like it when somebody says they’ll get back to us by such-and-such a date and they don’t. Now, I can understand being late by a day or two with a phonecall, but not a week or more.
And so, my wife and I are now working with “MasterCraft”, a Kitchen remodelling company over in Kansas City, Kansas. (Their website is at http://www.mastercraftkitchens.com/.)
What happened was, I saw one of their flyers in the Sunday paper a few weeks ago. I had hung onto it, mostly because they advertised themselves as “doing it all”…. they would manage the entire project and would guarantee your satisfaction.
So, I approached my wife about this company and she made a mental note. Then, one of her friends, without any mentioning of the company by use, told us that MasterCraft had replaced their kitchen cabinets and they were very happy with them!
Well, we both decided to give MasterCraft a try. My wife called them two Monday’s ago. They were out last week Friday to take initial measurements. Then, my wife made an appointment for us both at their showroom yesterday.
We went in and discussed the overall plan.
For some reason, my wife really wanted to be able to “see” the finished project on paper (even though we didn’t really have the details of our project figured out yet)! Maybe she watches TOO MUCH HGTV !!
Well, MasterCraft had several computer drawings showing how our cabinets would look and how they would be positioned. They had even put in a rough drawing-to-scale of the fancy reproduction stove (see www.elmirastoveworks.com ) that my wife and I are purchasing! (By the way, that should be here in as little as two more weeks!)
Those drawings were enough of a “spark” for my wife to get her mind going about this kitchen remodel.
We had our hearts set on white kitchen cabinets, mostly because our current cabinets are so DARK. However, we also like the color because it is a bit old-fashioned.
Unfortunately, this left us with only a limited selection of cabinets to choose from, IF we were to stay within our $15,000 budget. MasterCraft had guided us to the KitchenCraft brand of cabinets… and when it comes to WHITE… I mean a pure white, not some washed-over wood where the grain shows through… your only choice really comes down to this “ThermoForm” (I think that’s what it’s callled… can’t even find it on the KitchenCraft website!) stuff. “ThermoForm” is apparently a pressed wood with a baked-on paint finish. It’s suppossed to be highly-durable and easy-to-clean.
I’m slightly skeptical. I wish we could afford to “step up” and perhaps get some other options.
However, the bill for these cabinets (NOT including tear-out of the old ones) is going to be $10,000 already! And my wife didn’t order any fancy do-dads like Lazy Susans or slide-out waste-baskets. About the only fancy thing we asked for is a cabinet to cover the refrigerator.
My Lord! Cabinets sure are priced high, aren’t they ??
At least the cost includes all the hardware and installation.
Personally, I’ll be happy to have a silverware drawer that doesn’t fall out on me! …. something with actual TRACKS !!
We’re suppossed to put a deposit down on Tuesday, then a general contractor for MasterCraft will come out and perform a second measuring, just to be sure. Then they’ll order our cabinets.
We still haven’t decided on tile for a back-splash, what to do about the floor and the ceiling, and what to do about lighting (there won’t be any under-cabinet lighting, though)! Plus, we’re going to need a new dishwasher. And I forgot to ask about where the microwave is going to go in this Master Plan !! (Heck, we probably will have to buy a new microwave too!)
And, I hate to say it, but with that stove purchase, we’re already over our original budget!!
(Sigh….)
And we STILL haven’t replaced the gutters like I wanted to at the start of the year !!
(My wife’s hours at work have been cut to just one day a week, so we’re having a bit of trouble coming up with ANY extra money!)
Well, there’s one bit of good news for me: I managed to find a solid brass coat rack for our front hallway… cheap !!
We were visiting what can be loosely called an “antique mall” down in Grandview, MO. It’s a place called “Joe’s Town”, though it used to be called something else with “Antiques” in its name.
This is a fairly big place, but every time I go, I get more disappointed than the last time. I really don’t like it when an antique mall starts “playing loose”… and letting people sell a lot of new stuff…. things that ARE NOT collectibles… out of their mall. (I mean, one of their booths actually contained only one thing: A display for a company selling siding !!)
But this time, I was a very happy customer!
They had this solid brass three-prong coat-rack… the kind like you would expect the foyer of an old house to have… for just $72 !! Now, granted, it was practically ALL-GREY with tarnish !! But I just knew there was solid brass under there, as this thing was HEAVY!
Now, my wife argued with me as to whether or not that was brass tarnish… or whether it was actually PAINTED to look like brass and that paint was coming off ! Well, I had recalled passing a booth that sold some brass-polisher. My wife (God bless her) asked a mall employee if we might use one of those brass polishing rags on the coat-rack for a minute, just to see if that was REAL tarnish and that it would actually come off.
To my surprise, they said they would! I gave them a package of the rags from that other booth. They opened it, started rubbing, and sure enough: the tarnish was coming off !
(I was surprised that they did that, since it was effectively opening up some other business person’s product and using it without buying it! But then again, maybe the mall itself ran and owned that particular booth!)
So, I bought a large container of these brass-polishing rags for $20. I think I’ve spent about 2-3 hours polishing it. It’s still not as perfect as I’d like it to be, but I went through all of my rags and I really don’t want to buy any more. Plus, I’m probably just being a picky perfectionist. It looks pretty darned good right now!
Here’s a photo!
Now we’ll finally have a place to hang our guests’ coats !!
Thanks for “listening to” (reading) my updates !!
-= Dave =-