Cienza--I am doing the exact same thing! I think about the kitchen 24/7. But I say embrace it! How many things do we get to look forward to with childlike excitement as we get older? I was thinking about that today...there aren't always things to look forward to, so why not enjoy this time and visit the granite and all that? :) Elba--I cannot believe that! We must be on the same wavelength, but just missed each other! Isn't MP the best? They are so great to work with and have such an awesome selection. Yes, I am getting the Rohl Country pullout too. :) We decided on a Julien SS 30 x 16 x 8 sink. I brought it home last night--it's HUGE! What are you getting? I can't believe that this is actually all of my stuff sitting here in the living room with me...it's like a dream. We got Colonial Brass hardware from them as well--great prices. Will definitely ask Kathleen to show me your slabs; I've never even heard of quartzite before! And soapstone...I'm jealous. It's so beautiful. :) Enjoy that light for your sink--it's the first step to all the great new stuff that will be in your home before you know it. :) Tomorrow we empty out all the cabs and DH starts the painting process. I also lose all countertops and my kitchen sink tomorrow for a whole week...wish me luck!

Sorry this post is so long, but... It is my firm belief, and I have experience on both sides of this (I am a homeowner and a general contractor in the San Francisco Bay Area), that the seeds of budget disasters are invariably sown during the sales, quoting, and contract process. You need to be obsessive about the details and about exactly where the money is going. If your budget is super-tight, I'd prefer as a contractor to get everything out in the open at the start of the project. You need to be prepared to add several sheets of specifications to the contract. The good news for you is that when it comes to contractor's services, it's a buyer's market right now. 1) Unknown items - termite damage, dry rot, in-wall damage to electrical system. Rot and termite damage are potential budget-busters, but they can be investigated beforehand, by crawling around under the house, poking holes in your interior walls and maybe in the exterior siding and seeing what's there. This can often be investigated for not much money. You can ask a contractor where the problems are likely to be found, and you or a handyman can poke some holes in the walls and see what's there. Most handymen can do a good job of covering up the holes if you find trouble that will drive you over budget. In many neighborhoods, contractors know what to expect: termites and dry rot are very often endemic to an area. If you find problems, get a clear statement of the extent of the problems into the contract, and a firm statement of the contractor's requirement to fix or work around those problems. You may have to decide not to do your project. 2) Unsurprising surprises: "The city says we need to add a new branch circuit for the new space, and ....". Specify in the contract that you are paying for all necessary work, including rough, and finish work, to deliver each of the items in your contract. For example, you are not paying for the installation of 3 new receptacles. You are paying for all electrical work, rough and finish, including any necessary upgrade of existing electrical systems, that is necessary for the installation of 3 new receptacles. Ditto for roof, HVAC, drainage, plumbing, etc. Even if you don't expect there to be changes in interior plumbing fixtures, make sure that the contract covers any plumbing changes required by structural changes. None of these things are really surprising to the contractor or the subs. 3) Changes in plans: changes in layouts require new plans, new permits, and an opportunity for the contractor to charge you for additional costs. Decide what you want and don't change your mind. 4) Unspecified details: Specify every single item you can imagine, specifying if you can exact brands and models of electrical receptacles, outlet covers, lights, types of switches (old-fashioned toggle or Decora-style sliders), exact flooring brand and quality and finish brand and quality, brand, color, quality and gloss level of paint, and whether it should be sprayed, brushed, or rolled, and on what. Specify window types, drawings or photos of window and door trim, for every window and door, and get exact window and door trim samples, and any base or crown moldings. You should investigate every single detail of every single item you can think of, by visiting stores and looking on-line. You or your potential contractor should buy samples of trim ahead of time. Every single detail should be written down and initialed. 5) Ask for a detailed schedule of values and payment schedule for the project, including labor and materials values, relations between those items and the payment schedule, and including the contractor's planned profit. The contractor should anyway be using the SOV to make his quote, and should be comfortable describing built-in contingency and profit percentages. These things aren't big secrets. 6) Commence the whole project, including asking for bids, by letting your candidate contractors know exactly the level of detail and nickel-and-diming that you expect. Contrary to what at least one other poster says, let the contractors know your budget for the project, but giving them the number that is 75% of the budget that you have in mind. Some of them will opt out right away. Do some homework ahead of time, searching for typical remodeling/addition costs in your area. There are books on remodeling costs, that include some total project costs, with adjustments for areas. They're not perfect, but they're a start. If you are firm about budget, and it appears that your project is strongly constrained by budget, most contractors will try to figure out how they can find efficiencies so that they can do your job, and will not be figuring out how to pad the job to spend all your money. 7) Get the documents on-line that most states have for property owners. California has great documents for homeowners, explaining how home improvement contracts must be written, what your rights are, etc. 8) Your contract should state that all changes, including details of the work, effect on payments and schedule, must be signed. California provides a good model. 9) Most contractors will hate all this, and will protest that you are making them feel untrusted, it's unprofessional, it's not how they do business, it's not how anyone has ever done business, how can you be friends, etc. etc. Ignore all that and continue to stick to the details - the contractor really doesn't want to be your friend anyway. Many if not most of the contractors will not be able to provide the quality of quote that you need, but you should be able to get at least one or two good quotes. Those quotes will be for significantly more money than they originally estimated, as there should now be fewer changes later in the project, and more of the risks of the project are now shifted to them. Additionally, under the pressure of providing a firm quote, they should have gotten firm quotes from subcontractors, rather than just making an optimistic guess. Don't ever let a contractor bully you by saying, "Don't you trust me?". The answer is always, "This isn't about trust, because of course I trust you, which is why I am hiring you as my contractor. This question (or item, or spefication) is just the way I do business (and this is a business relationship, isn't it?): by being obsessive about the details. I'm sure you can understand that." Some contractors really like to play games. Be very wary of contractors who throw in freebies - "I like you so much 'll give you a driveway for free." Well, no, it isn't free. It's either irresponsible and careless on the contractor's part, or it's an attempt to distract you from some other item. 10) As you compare quotes, make sure you are comparing apples-to-apples. If items appear in one contract but not the other, ask that they get added into the other. Make your documents part of the contract. Home improvement contracts may have plenty of legalese, but the description of exactly what work will be done and for how much money should be absolutely clear, to professionals and to non-professionals. This isn't to prepare for legal problems; it's to avoid misunderstandings. Be careful about asking a contractor to compete against a specific price from another contractor. If the contractor responds with a lower price, understand that something has changed or been taken out. 11) Go over the contract, and add more details. 11.5) Ask the contractor to specify in the contract, all the items that must be paid directly by you, NOT to the contractor. For example, the law may require that the homeowner pay some special inspection fees relating particularly to safety - for seismic, welding, or other purposes - in order to avoid any conflicts of interest. Those fees may be in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. 11.6) Get information from your city about permit costs, which may be significant. 12) Add 25% to 40% to the number that the contractor gives you, and if you've been obsessive about details, you may be in the ballpark of what the project will cost. There will be some true surprises (the pin-holes in the existing gas plumbing, the rattle-snake nest under the addition, etc.). You will also make some changes in finishes and other choices, either because you really must, or because you can, because you have a cushion. 13) Do some due diligence - reference checking, a little bit of work on the internet - to see if your contractor has the resources to do the job or has visible money or legal problems. Many projects go overbudget when the original contractor fails or disappears, and the project must be finished by someone new, always for more money. Requests for money in advance, including money for materials, are red flags. Contractors should be able to fund their work; in California, except for a small advance, contractors can't bill homeowners until work is done or materials are delivered to the site. Understand that you are taking a very large risk if you hire a contractor who doesn't work entirely legally. If things go bad - for example a worker is injured and the contractor doesn't carry workers compensation insurance - the homeowner will be the one to pay in the in end. Check licenses, insurance, and if you have an older home, EPA lead certification. Licenses and lead certification can be checked on-line. Insurance companies issue notices of coverage every day. Any reticence on the part of a contractor to provide documents should be considered a huge red flag. The risk with lead - apart from the health risk - is that if the contractor doesn't do it right, and a neighbor complains, the costs can escalate into very big numbers, very fast. All these comments about working legally are coming from my perspective, because I work legally. Your contract with someone unlicensed or uninsured may be cheaper at first, but with potentially huge financial penalties if things don't work out. Figure out your personal tolerance for the financial and legal risks. 14) If the contract amount works for you, sign the contract. During the execution of the project, continue to be involved and obsessive in all details, including adherence to payment schedules, including not paying a contractor ahead of work done, for materials not yet delivered, or ahead of the payment schedule in the contract. 15) Be fair: if you find a contractor who can work with you this carefully on costs, pay promptly and without complaint, and when the occasional surprise happens (the rattlesnake nest under the addition), accept the additional cost. Speaking as someone with experiences on both sides of this, I don't know why any homeowner would be any less than obsessive about costs and details, for a project of any size. Even if you're not strictly limited by money, I believe that being obsessive about costs and details at the beginning of the project helps elimination misunderstandings and helps set expectations. If your contractor is willing and able to be thorough and careful about the details in the sales phase, he or she will likely be the same during the execution of the work, and you have started the project correctly. Sorry for lecturing. I've seen too many projects that were started on the wrong path at the moment the contract was signed.

Remodeling is always a can of worms in regard to finding suprises when walls are opened. I find it much easier to control prices with new construction. For that reason, I usually try to have the remodeling budget come in about 18% less than what the customer can afford. If all goes well, there's money at the end to upgrade, and we tentatively plan for those upgrades in the begiining. New construction, and in some remodeling, the biggest sin I see is inadequate allowances. And it's usually the fault of the builder. You get $8000 for flooring. That sounds like a lot, but on a 3000 sqft house? That's $2.67 a sq ft, for materials and installation. Right! Same for all the other categories. I highly encourage people to quantify their budget by qualifying their taste. See where you and your family fit in on everything from flooring to ceiling fixtures. Find what you like, what you might like, and set your budget on that. Find something slightly more expensive for a treat in case you can afford it, and something less expensive as a budget saver in case things collapse elsewhere. Also, up front, find out from your builder if the allowances include labor for installation. Some do, some don't. Really nail down that electrical plan. Electricians could possibly charge $40-$75 per extra box or per box moved. Hope this helps. Mongo

Steph2000 - lol - my house is 1700-1900 sq ft total and that includes 4 beds/2 baths. All the rooms are fairly small. My "formal dining" is about 10x9. FL is, I think, 15x11? That said, please realize that we DO use the FL. Not as much as the den tho cuz that's where the tv and xbox live. The dining room, ok, not used as much. But I love having one! As for the photo, I saw this elsewhere in the forum and really liked it. It is similar to what I am thinking of doing in the bkfst nook. But because the space is shaped differently, I am toying with having the table jutting out from between the cabinets, with bench seating on one wall and moveable chairs on the other. Guess I've been practicing that look in my current space (sans cabinets) and compared to other layouts I tried before it seems to work well. My son and his friends sometimes plop there to talk while I'm in the kitchen (if it's not their turn on the xbox!)I like that the arrangement makes them feel comfortable talking to "just the mom". I feel like you all will perceive me as just closed minded and be annoyed. But I do appreciate your thoughts and the input. Over the years I've considered - moving the family room to the FL space and putting larger dining into the den so that the kitchen/bkfst could be all kitchen. - losing one of the two car spaces in the garage and expand the kitchen out there. - moving the door to the DR over a bit and building a galley kitchen - flipping the bkfst and kitchen spaces -removing the peninsula and using the den as a LARGE family/eating area - removing the peninsula, losing the bkfst area, and put a table where the peninsula used to be and the den furniture besides/in front of it to indicate a separate space. One issue is the cost because a lot of those ideas really need that stupid beam removed to not look stupid. And I simply am not that rich, do not have friends/relatives who are GCs, and am no good at DYI. sigh. Now I'm depressing myself. Maybe I should just sell this house and move.