Do you live in a cold climate? Could you have had an ice dam on the roof? If so, then definately call the insurance company. I have had many Act of God claims - one ice dam, one roof with hail damage, one frozen radiator pipe and one downed tree that ripped off my service mast. Some of these claims got into five figures but I don't think they have driven up my homeowners insurance - I think they waited for the teen driver and jet ski coverage to bleed me dry instead. Whatever you do make sure you document and photograph everything before you tear things out. If you caught this early there is a good chance the damage will be more superficial and not as expensive to repair. I don't think you are looking at a worst case scenario here. The hard part will be finding someone that knows what there doing in finding where the water problems are coming from. It could be the roof, a window, a leaky pipe, even a shower stall that is not calked properly can leak copious amounts of water into walls. Good luck and don't fear the worst - it will all work out.

By dings, do you mean scratches through the finish and stain to the bare wood? If so, take it to a paint store to get them to match the stain and tell you what finish coat to match. If it's the dent you want fixed, and it is not a painted finish, I have no idea, but think a fix might not be possible. If it's a painted finish, and it is over a year old, I wouldn't mess with it unless you are willing to repaint the entire piece, as old paint is very hard to touch up without either being slightly different color, or showing brush marks around the edges, or appearing as a holiday where the gloss is not the same as the surrounding finish.

Considering how hard we ALL worked on getting you into the perfect floor, I don't see why you'd go for a tear out. We (and, I presume, you) love that kitchen. Yes to getting the crack fixed. Yes to reusing the old counter to improve the laundry room. BUT...can you match in new Corian that will match? Would you be okay with contrast? Or would you have to replace the whole kitchen? If the new Corian doesn't match, can you do something like having the island top refabricated to fit where the crack is, and then just put something contrasty on the island? Or can the crack be fixed? Opportunities. Sure, having the carpenter working provides some opportunities. If the cabinet fix isn't going to match perfectly, maybe a little more than the one cabinet has to be fixed so that it looks intentional rather than pieced in. So...is there somewhere you could put in wall ovens without changing the rest? Could they be pieced in nicely on the pantry wall? Would there be a way to balance them? How easy/hard would it be to put service (electrical circuit) in that wall? Or any wall? The wall ovens sounds like a total redo option to me. How hard would it be to get plumbing to the island? Remember that also includes a fall line for the drain, as well as a drain vent. Easy? Hard? In between? It's not a huge island. Do you really want to sacrifice that much counter space to a sink? What about the cabinet? You'll need to give up a small cabinet to the sink and plumbing as well? Or did you want it on the pantry wall? Same questions. Good idea? Yeah!! A prep sink!!! Or OMG, what a mess, there's a nice, tight work area in there to begin with, and putting the new sink in the laundry room takes care of the extraneous projects. It seems silly to have to be messing with the kitchen and not get the crack that's been bothering you taken care of. While you're doing that, get the new sink you want and move the DW if that's practical. And that's it. Not a slippery slope. Just fixing what's broken, and only updating that which is in the broken area. And if you want to convert a few cabinets to drawers, you can do that too, or you can wait and do that at another time. If you meant that you'd want to be removing those cabinets and replacing them rather than retrofitting, and if they're in the area where the counter is being fixed, well, then, do that too. Just no other major fixtures unless you're doing a tear out. And you don't need a tear out. Right?

Latest Update: Jay came back and worked on the fix. Although he was not finished with it today, I must say the gouges look a whole lot better and the scratches are now barely visible. Meanwhile, he called me tonight to tell me that he has arranged for an old-school porcelain repair expert to come over and take care of my sink and to make me whole. Lascatx, as usual, I'm finding good reason to follow your advice. Jeannie_Kitchen, you are right: We all make mistakes. And, Raynag, I can clearly tell that Jay is as pained about all this as much as I am. Honestly, I feel for the guy. While it's bad enough being in my shoes, I would not want to be in his! His clear determination to rectify this mistake, gives me confidence that all will work out. Thanks so much your sisterhood hugs, Charlikin, and your kind words of encouragement, Vicnsb! To Jerseydeb,Momof3kids_Pa and, again to Jeannie_Kitchen and Raynag: I appreciate your reminders that its truly possible to peaceably coexist with the fact of blemishes in my brand new kitchen! Of course, when all is said and done, I want to be able to show off my kitchen. Yet, at the same time, it's important to keep in mind that a true showroom kitchen is unlikely to also be a true working kitchen . In the end, there are likely to be many many more accidents, dings, gouges and scratches, etc. to demonstrate that my kitchen is a working kitchen after all. Perhaps, when this chapter closes and I can sincerely laugh about it, I will regard my Rohl farmhouse sink as the first item in the new kitchen to have "patina." :) More to come.