i have a new dewalt sawsall... much easier to work with as compared to a chainsaw ... do spend the extra 8 bucks.. for a TREE SAW ... it really makes a difference ... i found... that i can cut enough with one battery charge ... that by the time i clean up what i cut.. the battery can be recharged ... BUT... if you use teh battery too long.. on too large pieces.. it heats up..and it wont charge.. until it cools .... otherwise.. i borrow a second battery.. and charge one while using the other ... get this.. at lowes... $100 bucks for ONE extra battery ... or.... $100 for two... whats that all about ... idiots ... watch for a sale.. where they might offer two batteries and a flashlight or some such ... a package deal ... those sales are usually around fathers day.. etc ... for anything under 3 inches or so.. you will never pull out the chainsaw .... ken

joann23456 - thank you for the picture, I don't think that is one I have come across yet. Funny, that grooved edge, fluted I think they call it, has been one of my favorite looks. I wonder if that is stock molding at the big stores? live_wire_oak - I am not sure I follow the "skin" idea. You mean something just to the extra 3" sides? (I have end panels to finish off my fridge area, but I don't think that is what you mean) These are 26 yr old cabinets. Is the skin item something I could get at a big box store off the shelf? (not beadboard though, it won't tie in with the feel of our kitchen) PERFECT idea to use a valance for the feet area! I never would have figured that out on my own. I was looking everywhere for feet for the edges and trying to figure out how to tie them together for a finished look...... duh! Anyone else? Especially if you solved this design area with something off the shelf at a big box store. I am afraid I have searched too long and now I have run out of time and severly limited my options (among other mistakes I am sure I have made)

I started my kitchen budget at about $40,000. Then we realized we really wanted the master bath done so we went up to $75. Then we talked to designers and realized we should pop it up to $90....then we started getting bids and pricing appliances...and we're now at $200,000. I'm not going above that dangit! heh heh We did increase the size of the job, and unlike you we have no major exterior work, but we are re-doing every room in the house. I'm in the process of interviewing contractors and find the bids to be wildly varying. I expected a range of $60,000 to $75,000 given my research (I'm buying EVERYTHING but the stuff you put on (sheetrock) or inside of the walls). One of the guys I really liked, I mean really wanted to hire right there said I was very light on the budget...sigh...I expect his costs to be about 65% of the hard item costs, which will put him over $250. So....I began the interview process again. This sucks, really sucks, so I understand where you're coming from, but keep it up. And don't settle for one guy who does come in at your goal if the balance aren't even near. Low ball bidding never works well. I would agree you should talk to your architect again and discuss options to scale it down or in phases. And I'd ask for recommendations from the architect. They should have done an approximate budget using norms in your area, so they should have some idea who fits in their budget schematic. One other thing I suggest you do is to get an "As proposed" appraisal and make sure that what you are doing makes perfect sense in the market. When you start talking about a $200 or $300,000 job, you should make sure it makes some sense. You shouldn't expect 100% value right back, but you do want something close to 60% or 70% of cost when it's finished. It will cost you about $600 to do this, but it's well worth the money spent. We took a hard look at what we were doing, since we were spending about a significant percentage of our homes future value on this remodel, but we couldn't find a comparable property to what we'll have for under $900,000 (our value will be $500,000 when finished). And that $900,000 needed a remodel :o( We live on a lake and just couldn't reproduce our location within cost, so spending what we're spending makes sense, and after the appraisal, shows we'll be recooping our funds in value fairly quickly. Never do the remodel with a 25 year plan ahead of you. Look more in the 4 or 5 year field. You NEVER know what will happen. One of you could get sick and need to move for medical care, or someone dies, breaks their back, loses their job, etc., Stuff happens, so don't spend $200 if you can't recoop that value fairly quickly. You don't want to end up backwards in the house and then need to sell. (20 year banker talking here so I have seen this happen SOOOO MANY TIMES I just had to lecture you!) :o)

I'm more inclined to think animal. It's very consistent with claws. Claws won't make the same depression and they're spaced quite evenly. Second possibility is someone wearing a toolbelt, a big purse or something could have fallen against it too. Or done it intentionally I suppose. Third is vandalism but I don't know when I've seen someone "key" a car vertically so many times. And eliminating keys doesn't stop "keying". There's still knives, bottle openers, purses. Don't see how a door ding could make marks like that. And a cart would be possible if it's loaded and coming down a hill or rammed intentionally, however a cripple cart would have to be rammed into it full bore to make marks like that. Every one I've used would back away before it'd make marks like that. Moot point since you'll never know unless someone admits, witnessed it or you get a video of it from security cameras.