Lynn T Don't worry, I have to admit I have bought a few super cheap body bag roses. Two are doing good (finally), two more heard about the shovel and decided to get busy, one is maybe in a bad spot and the last....well it vanished. Those were all bought when Mom said she wanted roses and I did not want to work on caring for them-I had all the rest of the yard to clear out. Mom ended up not caring for them much so now I have most of them in prime spots so I figured I had better do something with them. I also bought some cheap potted roses for places that were bare and I wanted something while the $$ roses grew up. And a couple are in places that if I had to have the plumber or some other work man, I would not hesitate to prune to just above the rootstock. One is about to be loaded with big pink scented blooms.

@jwillhouse - Your plumber has a vested interest in convincing you to buy things with a markup. I can assure you that the same part numbers are the same no matter where the faucet is ordered from. As for your contract with your plumber, is it a time and materials contract or cost plus contract? Your post notes that your plumber lists retail, wholesale, and a 15% markup. If it is a time and materials contract and the 15% is the mark up from wholesale to retail, then it is on the low end of markups. If it is a cost plus contract then the markup is on his actual cost less any rebates, so the 15% should get added to what he actually paid not the listed wholesale price. In a cost plus contract, the 15% is likely unavoidable as it is still a cost even if you buy it somewhere else. Many contractors in a time and materials contract don't allow you to supply your own items. --- While it is absolutely true that you can benefit from sourcing products cheaper from sources other than you plumber, we should recognize that to some extent it is a zero sum game. Most plumbers are not getting rich off a single family home, they are just finding alternative ways to present the profit they need to make. So while adding profit to a faucet may seem like a ripoff, if all the faucets were bid at cost the plumber would likely just charge more for the installation and you would be in the same position. It can still be an advantage to you to get your faucet at a cheaper price if your plumber allows, but don't fall into the trap of thinking you are getting ripped off just because the plumber adds profit there instead of somewhere else.

$350 to crawl up under a sink, remove the clips, break a rusty one, and then tease the silicone out from between it and the counter would be high. However, you also have to shut off the water, disconnect the supply lines, and disconnect the drain lines. All without cracking the old brittle pipes or breaking the old shut off valves that no one has exercised in a decade and are almost frozen shut. Then there is unplugging and disconnecting the disposal, which has a pinhole leak in it because it's a cheap Badger model that the grind chamber is rusting out, and the homeowners Wouldn't be "conned" into replacing something that theY "never" use. The DW drain hose is like iron instead of the flexible plastic it's supposed to be. The new sink has to have the faucet installed too. Then there is the reverse process, which is made MUCH harder because the new sink is deeper than the old one. And the homeowners don't want to replace the waste arm that is almost level now instead of sloped downward. That means the sink will drain slow, because water doesn't really go uphill. But they'll blame the plumber for doing a poor job. And that is just for replacing a plain top mount sink. $350 is not "high" for someone to do that. Not if you want that someone to have proper training and assume the major RISK that working with piping entails. If that's a charge for an uNdermount sink cutting and mounting, again, not high at all. I imagine that very few of you have been to a fabricators shop and seen the $10 million piece of equipment that it takes to do the job well and accurately. CNC equipment ain't cheap. Neither is doing it by hand, if your fabricator is just a small shop with a bridge saw. How long do you think it takes to hand polish a sink edge? Hours, if done properly. That $350? Well, we charge $500 for an undermount sink cutout, Polish, and mount. And my guy doesn't have errors. But, maybe he did in the past, and he knows that $350 doesn't cover the price of him buying you a whole new slab of stone. BTW, the $500 undermount charge still needs the $350 plumbing charge added to it, or call you own More expensive plumber. An average DW, disposal, sink, faucet, whole shebang unhook and new hookup, well, you're not getting that bundle for $350. More like $500, and I'm in a cheap labor market. But, we don't usE or recommend handymen. Just licensed plumbers who have insurance when that Original cheapo kludged saddle tap for your DW line starts pouring water out onto the floor. And this is why it makes no sense to choose the cheapest possible materials. Labor is the expensive component. You'll pay the same $350 to install that $49 23 gauge No name sink as you would a $700 18 gauge Blanco sink.

I don't particularly rely on a store to provide me with repair work except for the immediate delivery of a product. I have Bosch appliances and I would contact an authorized Bosch dealer in my area or KA. Similarly my Apple computers and other devices are serviced by Apple or Apple service people once they are out of warranty - I've bought them from numerous places including mail order back in 1991 when I bought my first Apple Performa :-). @Lizzie - Hi there! My kitchen is finally finished but construction continued around me until fairly recently as odd stuff would happen - my washer dryer was a bit too deep for the closet so that had to be reframed. My hood was the wrong size and so that delayed finishing kitchen for a while because they didn't want to install cabinets on either side until the hood was put in - and didn't want to finish the backsplash etc. etc. etc. I am still not completely finished as they have to come back for various items on the "punch" list but it's livable except for the boxes which are still in the living area as I was a pack rat and I am still slowly going through stuff - and I have furniture I can't use and nobody wants :-( Apologies for hijacking the thread by responding to Lizzie but here are photos of the kitchen and dining area. I am really happy with the way it turned out and spending time (SO MUCH TIME) on houzz asking questions and reading threads helped me so much in terms of getting the best result possible. I worked with a very knowledgable designer but thanks to houzz, there was stuff that I asked for which she had never heard of like my toe kick step stools. It truly is correct that having the luxury of living in a space gives one a better understanding of what doesn't work in the space and what would make it work better because almost everybody has certain constraints that impact the design of the kitchen. In my case, I was working with a small urban kitchen in a high rise - the kitchen is 8' x 10' so I needed to expand functional storage. @Lizzie - here are a few pictures of my finished kitchen. To the left of the cooktop I have a Bosch side opening wall oven with a microwave drawer below it and a VERY shallow tall cabinet with shelves. It is in front of a concrete support beam so it is about one can deep. This is the area behind my dining area. The tall cabinet to the left can be seen in the first photo. There is a door on the side and so the KA mixer and Cuisinart can just be slid out when I need it. The tall cabinet to the right is my broom closet. Excuse the mess on the counter as this was taken just when I moved in. This shows the tall cabinets in my dining area better in terms of the appliance storage and how it relates to the kitchen counters. I had the interiors painted blue but the shelves are clad with blue laminate and the sink cabinet is also clad in blue laminate for easier cleaning. This is the sink wall. The kitchen sink is disproportionately large (36" for the space) but because it's a ledge, it is super functional since the grad which you can see to the right of the sink gives me very functional "counter" space. I can store it on the bottom of the sink and I also got the cutting board. There is a sponge caddy to the extreme left which is a narrow removable shelf which is handy for sponges and other wet stuff. My KA refrigerator is on the right peeking through. It is counter depth but not integrated but I "cheated" the look by having my lower cabinets made slightly deeper than the standard 24"; having a panel on the left side and having the cabinet maker clad the sides that protrude with matching wood. With a counter depth, you need to have it protrude slightly so the hinges are clear of obstructions but since I had those parts clad in matching wood, it fools the eye. Not part of my kitchen ha ha but this is one half of the wall unit in my office/den area. Since I have an open concept space, it relates to the kitchen cabinetry in terms of color as well as having slight Art Deco style elements. This was my sad kitchen prior to the remodel. Again apologies for taking this thread in a direction completely unrelated to the original question.