My requirements are that: 1. PEOPLE HAVE INTEGRITY, ARE TRUTHFUL, AND USE QUALITY MATERIALS 2. PRICE & PRICING FORMULA IS FAIR FOR ALL CUSTOMERS: pricing cabinets should be fair and not be reduced to a subjective formula, i.e., "10% the value of your home" or such nonsense. This is criminal in my book. It's not "what the market can bear" pricing that is fair. I TRULY BELIEVE THAT IS CABINET MAKERS PRICED CABINETS MORE FAIRLY THAN THEY DO NOW SO THAT THE AVERAGE HOME OWNER COULD "DO THE MATH" AND KNOW WHAT "X" CABINET WOULD COST TO BUY OR HAVE INSTALLED, THEN MORE KITCHENS WOULD BE REDONE. There would be so much business that you could not keep up. But no, NOT ONE CUSTOM CABINET/ OR SMALLER SHOP I WENT TO PRICED FAIRLY. ALL PRICING WAS SUBJECTIVE AND CONVOLUTED. THEY WERE SIZING UP MY BANK ACCOUNT BASED ON HOW LARGE OF A HOME I HAVE. 3. TALENT & PRIDE = QUALITY PRODUCT 4. SERVICE In a nutshell, I, too, went with the guy that had been in business for a long time and had a HUGE portfolio. He was not organized with that portfolio and I even offered to organize his thousands of photos and put them online! THIS is how impressed I was about his work. Furthermore, my bro is a builder and cousin is a builder here in Jax and used this guy's shop before. MY SISTER's kitchen was done by this guy two years earlier. I was very confident with his talent. I'll bet I went to his shop over half a dozen times just to see his work because they made FURNITURE, these HUGE phenomenal stained glass windows for a church in D.C., pulpits, GORGEOUS entertainment systems, etc. This guy's bread and butter works were affordable, custom cabinets with beautiful paint techniques. His work was like buying Tommy Bahamas cabinets by Lexington for half price. THAT being said, when I hired him, I had my ducks in a row and contract very detailed. I'm not a kid, nor am inexperienced in business. I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING. MY KITCHEN WAS DESIGNED AND NOT COMPLICATED. My problems stemmed because he just flat out lost his talent; over 80% of his workers had QUIT and he did not tell me. He later told me he had spent my $10K he had for work so far and he was left to do my kitchen himself. And it was a crap shoot! He didn't do ONE, SINGLE CABINET CORRECTLY. NOT ONE. AND HE LIED CONSTANTLY. He mis-measured, no appliances fit, installed shoddy and unleveled, mis-ordered the door profile, and made me madder than I have EVER been in my 49 years of living. I HAVE NEVER, EVER DEALT WITH SUCH A NICE, BELIEVABLE LIAR. I trusted him and he $crewed us. We have had to have 30+ doors reordered because of all of the mis-measurements, etc. I am almost three years into this fiasco and got motivated to get back to it. I went to install two drawer fronts last month and they were 1" too short. I'm going to have to reorder two drawers more. It's like a case of never-ending-BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The end of this story is CabFiascoGuy changed his inc.'s name before our court case came up. He sued, we countered, I won but got nothing because of how crappy our laws are. The State of Florida allowed a thief to steal $10,000 of our money. We've put over $38,000 into them trying to FIX them. I just wish I had gutted everything and started over. It would have been CHEAPER. But no, I thought we could work this out and I had our granite installed so I'm now stuck for many years. I have a horrible ordeal detailed here on garden web. What a can of worms you opened this morning. I think Ill work on these cabinets today. IÂd like to be done before I hit the three year anniversary of when they were installed. I need to re-order two drawer fronts tomorrowÂ.

I get three phone books delivered for free each year: White pages for Long Island (two countis), Yellow pages for same and snaller local book. I keep last years little book in my car. The other three are in my bedroom near the phone. I do use them occasionally. Gnerally, if have to look up a business, I'll use Google. My computer is alkways on. So no, I don't really need to keep those phone books. Except the one in my car.

I put mine in monthly rose society raffles. Some rose societies also have a lending library. You can also give them to rose novices who still have that spark of all-things-roses excitement. Your generosity can mean a great deal to the person just getting into rose growing. I still wish all these rose pictures had a scratch & sniff feature.

I get my meats and poultry from a local farm or Butcher Box. For veggies and fruit I use a local CSA and Misfit Market. Dried goods, pasta, dairy and breads I buy at the local market. I buy seafood at the local fish monger. For paper goods, cleaner and laundry detergent I use warehouse store delivery. I stop by the local market for items I need during the week. I feed 5 adults and one child every week and my grocery costs run $350-$450 a week. Before the COVID lockdown, I went to a large supermarket every week, shopped every 6 weeks at a warehouse store and stopped by the local market for fill in items I needed during the week. My grocery costs ran $200-$250 week. The majority of our diet is organic and local grass fed/pasture raised items and wild caught seafood so its expensive. We aren't big on desserts except DH, DD and DS are addicted to Oreos. I hate them; to me they test like a pile of chemicals. The 6 of us used to dine out at a local pub once a week but have cut back to once every 2 weeks due to cost. We seldom have take-out so I cook 6-7 nights a week.