Windows on my mind.

The new kitchen moves around the entire layout of the area and because of this many of the windows need to be removed or replaced.

There are 4 windows in the kitchen area, 2 bay windows that are kind of older and sagging a bit and two brand new windows that were replaced a little over a year ago, long before we decided to re-do the kitchen.

These new windows are great. The ones they replaced were awful, they were the old metal casement windows, plenty drafty and made the room cold. The new ones are triple-e glass, with enough Kryponite gas between them to stop Superman. When I put these in I decided to get really good windows since the room was cold already because it is over the addition to the house and not well insulated.

The unfortunate part is the new kitchen is smack dab in the middle of these two new windows, as well as one of the older bay windows and as such need to go.

This pains me greatly, because a) they're new and b) they were expensive.

The only upside to this is that my wife has contacted Habitat for Humanity who not only will take the windows and re-use them but also find new homes for our refrigerator and stove.

Faucets, the long and the short of it.

Apparently faucets come in various sizes shapes colors and functions.

Personally I never gave much thought to the faucet, and I guess most people don't, mainly because, well, it's a faucet. But since we have two of them in the kitchen not only does my wife have to find one that she likes, she needs to find a complementary one to go with it.

She began this quest online and spent a great deal of time pouring over Google and the home sites to find something she liked. When she did, she dutifully went to a local home store to see it for herself. What she found is that you do not have any concept of size on the Internet. Without seeing is that the thing is big.

Lets put aside the problem of finding a complementary one, which appears to be a concept that faucet makers don't quite understand.

So if looking for a new faucet, remember the old adage: Items may appear bigger (or smaller) than they appear.

Tile Floors

The tile floor in my current kitchen is one of the main reasons we want to redo the kitchen. As you can see from the images on the right the floor stinks. This floor was never put in correctly in the first place, but we bought it this way.

Apparently the previous owner's wife had the floor put in while the husband was away on business, and was too meek and mild mannered to complain about the shoddy workmanship. This was strange given she was always very outspoken in our dealings with her.

This floor was put in so poorly that there is mud (tile mastic) along edges of the room, big globs of it (image on the left side). The tiles were laid on an uneven surface, leading to the poor specimen on the right, where tiles crack and break. This occurs in numerous places on the floor.

Now, if the husband or relative had put in the floor and it turned out like this, I guess you pretty much live with it to keep peace in the household, but a contractor? No way. I would have been on the phone with the better business bureau before the grout had set if I couldn't get resolution.

If I could find out who these people are, I would certainly credit them for the work, but alas I don't know any more than I have said.

I've laid tile in the past, and truthfully it can be a big pain in the butt, especially cutting them for the edges. It takes a lot of work and scrubbing to make sure the tiles are clean of mastic and grout before it sets, but if you don't the tiles will look dingy and dirt will collect where you don't want it to.

Kitchen Layout

One of the most dramatic things we are doing with the kitchen is revising the layout. I've included the new layout to the right (click on it to make it bigger).

My wife tortured the folks at kitchenscapes to get just what she wanted.

The kitchen is big. As you can see from the layout there is an island that four people can live on for a month (given enough water) and a wrapping L shape that contains all the counter, cabinet and appliance space.

What you don't see from the layout is where the kitchen currently is, which is the long empty space on the right. Yes, we're not just moving the kitchen we're sending it out of town.

This isn't as bad as you think. Back in the late 70s there was a kitchen addition added to the space which dramatically opened up the space. If you picture a vertical line right where the left side of the island is, that's where the original kitchen stopped. Everything to the left of that imaginary line is part of the addition, to the right was kitchen. So it made perfect sense having the kitchen stuff along the top left, with the bottom left being a formal dining area.

Our new layout is a semi-formal dining area (the big chunk of white space on the right 1/3), which really means "no walls". You can see from the kitchen to the dining area to the living room (to the right of the entire layout that you can't see).

Hopefully this won't be a problem for my wife who is the consummate pack rat, messy person (Messypersons of America, member #0067, Long Island Division), and piles of crap don't start to appear on the various counter tops and on her desk area which is in the bottom center of the cabinet layout.

The order of things.

The contractor was supposed to start on the new kitchen on Monday and I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what exactly they are going to do and in what order.

I say, "was supposed to start on Monday" because as I began writing this blog I got a call from my wife saying that the cabinets are delayed by two weeks, and I don't understand fully how that impacts them starting on Monday.

By my estimate this is how I think it will go for the 3 months they say they are going to be around:

1. Demo the space
   Remove all the existing cabinetry, appliances wallboard, existing floor tile.
2. Add Framing
   Since we're moving the layout around a new structural beam needs to be added and some walls need to be moved around.
   
3. Run Electrical/Piping
   Rough in all the stuff that's behind walls and under floors.
   
4. Size the floor
   Make the floor flat, getting rid of existing mud and putting in plywood floors to work on.
5. Replace the windows
   Some windows are going, some are being added.
6. Lay radiant heating
   Since the radiant heating is going to be under the floor tiles, this needs to be done earlier than later.
7. Lighting
   Put up new lighting options for recessed lights.
   
8. Sheetrock walls
   Cover up all of the stuff to get ready for cabinetry
9. Tile Floor
   I assume this gets done before the cabinets are hung.
10. Install Cabinets
    Rough in the cabinets and make room for appliances.
11. Install Appliances
    This all needs to be in to do the counter tops.
    
12. Install Counter tops
    Stuff needs to be measured for the appliances and the actual room.
13. Tile Backsplash
    Now that the counter tops and cabinets are in we can do some cosmetic stuff.
    
14. Install Fixtures/Water
    Once the counter tops are in, the task of connecting all the parts begins.
    
15. Finish Electrical/Lighting
    Put boxes in where the roughing was done for switches and appliances.
16. Lay Wood Floors
    Part of the space has wood flooring in the dining area.
    
17. Paint Walls
    This is my part of the whole job, and will save about 3 grand from the construction price if I do it myself
18. Finish floors
    After all the construction guys are gone, it is our responsibility to get the wood floor finished. This is an additional few hundred dollars that are not in the estimate.

So, the question becomes, if the cabinets are step 10, why is there a delay in starting, and what can we do to minimize other delays.

To Pod or Not to Pod

In order to redo your kitchen you need to first move all the crap that is in the current kitchen and either throw it away or put it somewhere.

If you have a garage, this is relatively easy, just haul it out there and you're good to go. But if you are like me and your garage has been converted to living space then you must consider other alternatives such as a pod.

For those of you unaware, a pod is mobile storage unit that they put on a flatbed truck and they bring to you. This saves you taking your boxes and furniture to the local storage place, which requires a truck anyhow, plus it is a real pain in the butt to move your stuff anywhere else.

Now, the problem with a pod is the expense. For 3 months of on-site storage it will cost a bit under $1000. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a big nut, but since it is one of the only things I have control over right now, I am trying to avoid this thing.

Doing this requires me to take all of my stuff and put it somewhere else in the house or leave it with relatives.

The boxes of dishes and cookware are mostly in the attic, a glider/rocker is going to my sister (for good) and the current kitchen table/chairs which we won't need after the new kitchen are going to my mothers. This leaves a big couch and chair, dining room set and assorted crap which now goes from 3 rooms down to 1 (the living room) which is not going to be touched.

So, right now no pod for me, and $1000 back in my pocket.

Financing your kitchen.

Through the miracle of modern technology my lovely spouse submitted a virtual application for a home equity loan this morning. At this point however it makes a better story to back up a about a month.

One month ago:
The wife was bothering me about getting the home equity line of credit to pay for this new kitchen, so I relented and walked into the local CitiBank and asked to speak to a representative, because of course, this is what you did when you wanted a loan, you walk into a bank and say that you are a good person and you promise to pay them back if the give you the sack of cash with the $ on the outside.

I thought this was true, and most of all my wife thought this was true.

Apparently CitiBank does not think this is the way things work anymore, because they were really happy to give us the line of credit, but for the best rate you needed sign up online.

We felt really bad for the guy in the bank because his honesty lost him a "sale", but 1/2 point is a big deal when you are borrowing a chunk of cash.

Additionally, you get 1/4 point reduction for the first 2 months you use the line of credit.

Now, I don't know but this seems a little dysfunctional. I need to sign up at home and not plan on having the loan until the last minute, because by the time we start to use the line of credit it will be about the time of construction and wouldn't want to waste the 2 month discount.

In a normal world you would think you line up the credit long before you need it, and can do it on a handshake.

The end of the story is that you STILL need to fax your signature over anyway, because eLoans only goes so far, but now at least we have a loan.

Why does a kitchen cost so much.

I don't know why a kitchen costs so much.

You get yourself a drink, make a sandwich that's pretty much it. Apparently though it costs a lot for the mayo.

But seriously, I was as crazed as you for the cost of getting a kitchen done. The first time I heard the 80 grand number I though they were kidding. Then I thought they thought I was a sucker and promptly walked out the door. But then I did some research. I started pricing things out with different people and places and the number from the high end place I walked out of was eerily similar to Home Depot, Lowe's and the contractors we spoke to.

I was stuck. But for you appreciation I'll break it down a bit in cost order.
I'll also revise this as time goes on:

Labor & General Supplies: $40,000
There's no getting around it, its expensive to have people rip up your walls, put new ones in and move plumbing around. This is also where a large part of the differential is for replacing in place and moving the kitchen layout around.

This also however includes general supplies such as 2x4s, wallboard, tape & joint compound, plywood, grout and mud for the floors and piping stuff.

Counter tops: $15,000ish (still unknown)
Depending on what materials we use, this can increase the cost of the job. Stone or a composite materials are our choices.

Appliances: $15,000ish (still unknown)
There are a host of appliances including a stove, double oven, microwave, two dishwashers (it's a kosher kitchen), small drink fridge (my only part of the kitchen), 2 sinks, and 2 garbage disposals.

Cabinets: $17,000
Cabinets are where we saved a bit of money. While 17k is a lot, we also have a very big space. Kitchenscapes which does semi-custom cabinets was a great find. Because they are semi-custom (not true custom) it can be mass produced at a good quality. (Not the 80's crap that is in all the kitchens today).

Windows $5,000ish (maybe less)
Its unclear if the new windows and skylight is included in the cost especially the Pella windows my wife wants and not the Anderson windows the contractor wants to put in.

Floor Tile: $5,000
Not included in the general supplies. We have yet to pick it out.

Fixtures: $1000
Also not included are fixtures for sinks and knobs for drawers.

Grand Total: $98,000.00

The new Kitchen.

A number of months ago I relented in letting my wife get a new kitchen.
At the time we had a number of options including:

• Leaving the kitchen as is.
  This was not a popular option but it would save me the most money.
• Re-doing the kitchen in place.
  This was the most cost effective option. It would get me a new kitchen at about 1/2 the cost of the last option.
• Moving the kitchen layout around.
  The most expensive and time consuming option.

Now, if I went for the sensible option, we were talking about 40-50 grand (close 'dem mouths, this was the GOOD option), if we went with the most expensive option, then it would be 80-100 grand.

From my perspective my choices were pretty clear cut. If I go for the less expensive option then my wife would not be happy, and in the long run I guess I wouldn't be. The more expensive option was about 50 grand more, but at least she would be happy for a long time (so I hope).