"Is a complete Kitchen remodel for $40,000 unreasonable?" I thought not, 8 months ago here in SoCal, especially for my very small (156 ft) space. "Recommended" GC said " We haven't done a $40,000 kitchen in years! Don't expect less than $65,000 for any kitchen!" Other quotes from contractors and a few design firms were similar. Moreover, it seemed, despite my clear description of exactly what I wanted, that in my "price range" I was pegged as getting a "builder grade kitchen" at best with sawdust cabinets and $.99 tile, not what I wanted. They all left everything open to "Well, maybe you can get a good unlicenced contractor to do this job..." or "No, where that ends up depends on how long it takes to work this part out when we get to that part". Please... Even their "own cabinetmakers" limited me to a couple of styles and finishes that I didn't love ("our shaker door in natural cardboard finish might be in your price range" ). Geez. So I considered to go the IKEA route, but their installers quoted all the wall demo/ floor/ electric/ charged by the hour ( Who knows how that would play out?) Finally in my frustration I decided that I'd become a DIY er and call upon help when needed. I'm glad I did because I'm 95% done 8 mo. later, and I'm just over $30,000 and have mostly what I want. It was slow and difficult, and DIY may not be possible for everyone, but I did it, and at least I can be happy with that ( and the mistakes are all my own so I can live with them!) Maybe when I get 100% done, I can start a "Let me see your $30,000 kitchen!"

doraville>>>Are you liking the floor? It looks great. Where did you get it? I've been considering strand woven bamboo.The flooring is Teragren Synergy Strand bamboo, color Java. It is hard as a rock and dense, and also not too thick (1/2"). It looks great and works great. More details here: http://www.teragren.com/products_flooring_synergy.html We bought it, where else, in Dalton Georgia. Actually Calhoun, near Dalton, at True Hardwoods (http://www.truehardwoods.com/home.html). They had the best price by far - all I had to do was go up there and pick it up in the van.

Everything is flexible except the island. It isn't a question of just wanting one but as physical requirement for functionality. It doesn't matter how pretty a room is if it isn't functional. I got hurt in a car accident and after 5 years and 18 surgical procedures on my back I have to have an island I can customize to my needs because I just can't stand for hours on a hard floor anymore. However, thank you to everyone for shaking me to my senses. Sometimes you just can't shave the corners off to make a square peg fit a round hole. I really do know better. The family business involved every phase of real estate from pour the foundation to warehousing the mortgage loans. Unfortunately the family member that could always get me to move past a mental block has already passed away. I am about to get even with my husband for changing my color scheme that eliminated the sink I wanted. The sink and the island were the two things on my list and I am not about to spend a large amount of money and do the majority of the labor and not get at least one of the things I want. Therefore, there is only one solution. I can't steal the extra width from the office/library, therefore I have put a call into friend of mine that is a contractor to give me a ballpark price on drying in an addition. I can take it from there. So let's see if I can knock out three birds with one stone. I need a master suite, the deck needs to be replaced AND the kitchen enlarged. The blue line is a possible outside wall location:When the foundation is poured for the addition, I will have them pour enough for a patio to replace the deck. Then the roof for the addition can also extend to cover the patio. I already have plans for a new deck drawn up so I know where all the plumbing and electrical needs to be for the outdoor living room and kitchen. Here is a closer picture of the available square footage and possible addition:As for the kitchen, it can be completely gutted and everything moved. I bumped the outside wall out 8 feet but if anybody has a brilliant idea that needs more room the line is easy to adjust. I have one shot at this because I won't change it again other than paint or drapes. Since I will have to make adjustments to the roof line, I should be able to fix the ceiling height. Since any window would open out onto a covered patio, a skylight may not be a bad idea to bring in light. I mainly use upper cabinets for anything I need regularly. Since I can now access all the room I need I will bump the base cabinets up to 30" depths. Necessities in the kitchen: 1. ISLAND 2. Wall Oven (So it can be raised high enough to be easy for me to get things in and out of it. Currently, I have the microwave above the oven.) 3. Door going to the outside (I use it for ventilation and the storm door has a door for the dogs in it.) 4. Dishwasher on right hand side of a 33" double sink. 5. Upper cabinet within reach of the dishwasher for a short person. 6. Enlarge the little bathroom enough for a pedestal sink and have a door that opens into the kitchen (that way there is a restroom available close to the patio for when we have company). 7. 36" Cook top 8. Refrigerator The room directly below the kitchen used to be a two car garage that somebody closed in but just put carpet down instead of actually putting in a floor with insulation. The floor is about two feet lower than the kitchen floor. I use the 5'x9' closet for a lot of my storage including all the vegetables I can from the garden. I could move the closet to opposite the washer and dryer to create a laundry room/walk in pantry and the current exterior door could be the main entrance. By doing this addition I have to address the entrance from the garage to the kitchen. We normally park the car, walk down the side of the house and go in the sliding glass door right above the kitchen. Having to go around that addition would be a long hike carrying in groceries. After that all the square footage left over can be used for the master suite. I thought about converting the three bedrooms on the main level into a master suite and have all the extra bedrooms downstairs but it is never a great idea to reduce the number of bedrooms if it can be avoided. So I just have to figure out how to get the suite to fit in the space available.At least this way I can have roughly a 20'x20' bedroom with 10 foot ceilings so it is in scale with the bedroom furniture. Yep, my husband is going to really wish when I showed him the granite slab I wanted that he said, "That looks wonderful dear. Would you like me to go pick up that copper sink for you?"

Here is what I had come up with without moving walls but moving the entry from the mudroom down. This would give a perimeter with overhang of 25 1/2" + 48" between perimeter and island, with a 24" island with overhang would bring it to 26 1/2" and that would leave a 3' wide walkway behind the island. Andre would have to move the sink in the mud room though but if he's not willing to move into the media room, this might work.