Rae- DH does most of the work- I have been banned from touching walls because of all the cracks I put in the plaster walls in our last house when hanging pictures. I forgot to mention even though the job is a DIY- because of time constraints DH hung the drywall but we paid some handyman friend of my cousins to do all the taping and patching. We ended up paying him like 1300 bucks to get the job done before my 4 year old's birthday party in November- money down the drain since it has to be done again. I'm glad we didn't paint in there yet though. Years ago before we had kids- we would be fixing up and working together, now its mostly him because of the kids, they are still really little, and they need a lot of attention. Thanks for all your support- I'm really just hitting the wall w/ this renovation. I will never move again! We moved here in May and the whole house needed to be redone- not one upgrade since 1959! It was twice the size of our last house, and the property was 3 times the size, and we wouldn't be able to ever afford it if it had been in good condition. I think we are just in way over our heads- but there is no turning back now. Mo sgal- I really know what you mean by S...L...O....W Rmkitchen- I'm still laughing at the "vent" joke pcjs- thanks for the webpatch tip- I will tell DH Thanks everyone- I think DH will thank you too since I didn't wine to him this time- this GW thing might just be good for my marriage! LOL

The granite portion of my kitchen remodel has definately been the most aggravating. Ok, I too faxed my layout that included all of the cabinet sizes to 3 different fabricators. I then chose my fabricator based on the bids and had him hold the granite I spent 6 months looking for. So after I sign the proposal and give half down, they send their guy to measure. Then I get an email telling me that I owe them $1500 more because they went by my cabinet dimensions and their original quote didn't include overhangs. My husband always goes out and previews jobs before he takes them. This protects the customer and us. We know what we are getting into and we can give them an accurate price. And we don't base our prices on the value of someone's house(but I am still always worried people are doing that to me). I asked this particular fabricator to come and measure and he said it was his policy not to do that until the proposal is signed. I am wondering if this granite fabricating business is just a shady business. It's not like I could go find someone else. I don't feel like fighting to get my money back. I would probably lose more than I gain and to top it off they know they have you because they are now holding your slab. I wouldn't hesitate to have anyone bid based on the actual job site. You are under no obligation to go with his bid. Even if he does his bid based on your house value, you will figure that out when comparing bids. Make sure your bids include the square footage of each slab they are using. I noticed that all 3 of mine just said something like perimeter countertops:$5000.00 with no sq. footage. I hope you have better luck than I did!

I am looking strongly at Kobe, Electrolux, and also some others such as Zephyr, Faber, and Windster. The Windster is quite affordable. The Faber and Zephyr brands have some ones that have some 'rounded' design elements on the pipe area and front of the vent that look sort of nice. Gives a bit of personality to the hood, but not too much. Lots of my hem hawing has to to with what 'style' but the spec thing adds to the confusion. I look at them and try to imagine them over my stove and in conjunction with the other elements in the kitchen and after a while I am so addled that I shrink away from them all! I think that when you are in a remodel, all the decisions that you have to make begin to wiegh on you after a while and even little things can make you 'tilt'. I love my E-lux gas range - it was a find - a small scratch made it very affordable. Love my micro - an LG that looks like it was made to go with the range. Fridge is 'panel ready" - a challenge in my design where stainless would have made it easy. We will probably do something over the top like making leather or cowhide panels for it. We train horses for a living and as the saying goes, if you dont know what to do with it, cover it with cowhide. :) That is a challenge for another post and another day. Using rough slate on the floors - a natural and easy choice for us since we have a slate porch and lots of leftover tiles. Very interesting stuff and very tough. For now, however, the decision is about the range hood. It is gonna be focal, so has to be pretty. Cirone - you mentioned here that a 36 inch hood was put over a 30 inch range. How does that look? I have heard that it is recommended that the hood extend three inches out to give better capture area, but am not sure I would need to worry about that since I am not a major cook. I have ordered from Overstock and they were easy to deal with - made it right when my sink came dented. Ironically, Dianalo, I just talked to a sales rep at a Sears outlet yesterday and they have one chimney style Kenmore there with a scratch that makes it affordable. Long drive for me to check it out since I am in the middle of the woods but may have to go look. Would like to order online to make it quick and easy. Sparklekitty - Havent heard of Eurostoves so will have to look at them. Sounds as if they were good to work with. Artemis - which Kobe did you get? When it comes in, you will have to post about how you like it! Happy that you got your decision on that behind you as I know how hard the choosing can be! I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has gone round and round over this - thanks for all the feedback. Makes it 'feel all better'! :)

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