Kitchen, A Work In Progress

Lessons Learned From Our Kitchen Remodel

1. You Get What You Pay For With Discount Kitchen Suppliers
We decided to buy our wood floors (5" Wide Brazillian Teak Hardwood), cabinets (antique-white finish) and granite (Giallo Vicenza) from Philly Home Supply where Chelsea promised us a good deal. Where we did save TONS on our purchases from her, it came with a bucket of complications - so was it worth it?
An idea of the stressful moments:

• We picked up our hardwood and unloaded into the house ourselves (1200 lbs of wood equals 14 trips to the car and back which is not fun at 8pm on a Tuesday night).
• One small Chinese man came to deliver our cabinets which were large and heavy and suggested I help him carry these several hundread pound which spurred a spicey conversation with Chelsea over what Delivery Fees should cover.
• Two cabinets were unfinished on exposed sides and two finishing pieces were damaged, send 'em back!
• The granite installer had never seen our sink-type before (which leads to next lesson).

2. Farm (also known as Apron) Sinks Are Pretty but a PIA
Our handyman Dan called me when it arrived to tell me it was beautiful but really really heavy (~150 lbs!). The sink was twice as high as a regular sink as well which means you order custom sink cabinets (which we didn't) or it sits above the counter top (what we opted for). The sink has rounded corners so when cutting out cabinet fronts or granite you have to hand cut the round edge. Our handyman handled this much easier than our granite installers.

3. Everything Takes Longer Than Expected
My original time-line (complete with well thought out project plan) had the kitchen lasting three weeks. HahaHAhaHa. I was so naive.We are now on week 5 and easily have two more weeks to go.

4. I Have Great Design Sense

I'll allow the finished product to speak to this but along the way I am learning to trust myself because the in progress already looks fantastic.

5. Contractors Are Messy People
Cigarette butts, messy toilet seats, 7-11 coffee cups and dirty paper towels are now a regular staple throughout my house. YUCK!