Them: "See where this tile is? Where we would have to cut might cause a problem with the other tile on your wall. It would be better to just do the whole bathroom."
Them: "Do you like this wall in the kitchen? Have you thought of taking it down?"
Them: "Would you be open to taking down this soffit? Then the cabinets would go to the ceiling."
Them: "If you get countertops, you will need a new sink."
Them: "Would you be up to moving your refrigerator?"
Them: "This kitchen is not functional."
Uh. I've been functioning in this kitchen for twenty-three years. It's frustrating. Not only do companies not get back to us with an estimate, but they also don't come back with what I wanted in the first place. I told one guy that I did not want a lot of choices and his estimate came back with 1,000 different choices for knobs on the cabinets. Are you kidding me? A thousand choices? Jeez, did he narrow that down from 10,000 choices?
Then there is the husband issue. Tom decided that we would split the two projects. He would take the bathroom and I would take the kitchen. He has had a couple guys out that he found through various co-workers and friends recommendations. Meanwhile, I have expanded in the kitchen to include some cabinets in areas that I don't currently have cabinets. I have a baker's rack. I want to get rid of that thing. It's old. It's dusty. It's no longer efficient. When I mentioned that to the husband in retelling my experience with a contractor....Whoa.
Tom: "What? Why would you say that?"
Me: "Because I'm tired of that piece. Cabinets above and cabinets below with a countertop here would be way better."
Tom: "That's a walk area. People will be bumping into open cabinet doors and injuring themselves."
Me: "What? How many times do we leave the cabinet doors open? Are you kidding me, right now? That's a ridiculous thing to say."
Tom: "You leave this thing open all the time."
Me: "The pantry? Uh, no. That would be you. You leave that open like you leave the garbage door open."
Tom: "It's open right now. See, I'm having to close it."
Me: "Uh huh, and what is that in your hand that you are eating? It came from the pantry. Please. You put me in charge of the kitchen. I'm throwing out some possibilities."
Tom: "Well, just close those possibility doors, would you?"
Since that conversation, I have taken to sending him pictures. Every morning he gets one of the open pantry. On Saturday he got one of the entire trash bag pulled out and on the floor by the dog who then ripped holes in it just for grins. I'm in bed during all of these times so we know who has been leaving open the cabinets.
We finally, on the recommendation of my next door neighbor who remodeled her own kitchen, went to Lowe's. Mary, the designer, sat with us for two hours and we came up with something that we thought might work. She sent us home to look it over. I'm not sure now that it will work. I sort of see now, after having researched this topic like a crazy woman, some of the problems of our kitchen. That being said, I'm not sure that I want to put in the money it will take to redo my kitchen to make all these designers and construction people happy.
Today I found a picture of what my kitchen looked like when we bought the house. It was in two sections; one was the seating area and the other the actual kitchen. We ended up gutting the entire thing, reduced the length of the windows, and created the kitchen I've functioned in for many years. We have one more designer appointment to see what they come up with and then we have to decide. A chain store? A neighbor who makes cabinets? A construction crew that wants more than I do?
Bottom line? What makes me happy? Stay tuned...
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