Here are some of the things we have picked:

Homecrest upgraded shaker style cabinets (plywood, dovetail, softclose) in a vanilla (?) white. The price difference was within 3K of decora, so we thought about upgrading to decora, but our KD said there wouldnt be much difference. I didnt want the beveled edge around the insert and wanted MDF on the doors, but decided the cost wasnt worth it (is that going down the wrong path per the article??). Our KD said they generally prefer to just use the homecrest upgraded because it is a good value (although they also recommended a chinese quartz, so who knows).

Countertops: we are trying to decide between some of these. I pulled this picture from a HUGE thread on houzz about London sky. Our stoneyard doesnt carry zodiaq so we need to pick from silestone, ceasarstone, and LG

The cabinet pulls will be something like this (I feel like i just finished getting rid of the gold in my old house..)

door knobs will be emtek round knobs with I square backs:

Entry chandelier restoration hardware marignon 36" round with polished nickel:

Vent hood is a zephyr tempest II, with 1200 cfm and the 12" extension. Contractor is using 8" venting instead of 10" but said he has done it a lot and it is fine.

Wolf 8 burner 48" range. I would rather have the dual fuel, but the knobs are not in a row and my wife cant stand it. Bluestar would be ideal, but their knobs are also not in a row.

Wolf convection microwave. I really wanted the bosch convection microwave, but my wife wants the branding to match.

Bosch panel dishwasher:

here is what the demo looks like

living

You are picking the cheap choices not the much better, barely more expensive, choices. You are picking the popular flavor of the month choices, not the stand the test of time choices. And most ridiculously, you are basing your choice of performance cooking equipment on the aesthetics knob location.

You haven’t talked about layout, home’s overall style, the hood and makeup air, the electrical, or any of the nuts and bolts.

You really need a good independent KD. And put the brakes on big time until you hire one.

I agree with Sofie. You're compromising by choosing form over function to please your wife. What's the saying, "Happy wife, happy life?" :)

I am still trying to figure out what he is asking for?

He wants permission to cheap out on every choice, and pick pop fads of the moment, and still end up with a Houzz level upscale designer kitchen—- that will evidently never get cooked in because the only real concern is if the red knobs on the range line up like little soldiers.

That ain’t how it works.

Sophie, could you be more specific about which choices and what alternatives we should be going with instead?

Im reasonably certain Im not "cheaping out on every choice". but I would be happy to understand where spending more money would deliver tangible value? For example I would have been happy to go with decora, but no one could explain the difference to me.

Which things are the pop fads of the moment?

I do worry that compromises will lead us to the place the article referenced.

millworkman - trying to get alternate suggestions while there is still time. I asked for help on kitchen design, didnt get any so we kept moving forward. We are going to lock in appliances this week. There was a point at which we could have done anything in the kitchen but we locked in around thanksgiving. Then we could have changed some of the configuration like drawers etc, and those are locked in now.

Now Im down to tile, counters, accessories, appliances, lighting, trim etc.

with regards to the range I could push it through, but then I would hear about the knobs forever. She suggested we call bluestar to see if they will make one with knobs lined up, I bet they would.

I have mentioned the hood and makeup air in another thread. My contractor suggested that we not bother unless it is an issue. We can easily put makeup air under the stove and are having the contractor install the electrical for it, but for whatever reason he doesnt think the makeup air is that critical.

Ok we are going with the bluestar. She actually liked the connoisseurian but the kitchen store said they have had problems getting them serviced in our area. We also couldnt find any examples to look at. The knobs on the connoisseurian all line up, which I hadnt seen before because the culinarian the knobs are not lined up.

Of course she does not like the kick plate on the bluestar rnb, but the reports here of oven problems have us going with the RNB instead of the platinum.

Start another thread on the psychology forum entitled "Missing the old neighborhood" Oh buddy. Do be careful if you attempt the euro style wetroom curbless bathroom The number one houzz GW disaster

LOL Ill read about them for sure! I didnt think we were going curbless, is that the main thing that goes bad?

here is the original

Our original plan was to swap the shower and the tub. The two windows have a great view. The estimates to do that were 60K. So we decided to put a freestanding tub where the existing tub is and straight out the shower so it isnt at a weird angle. Now that the demo is done, we know we need to put the shower at the windows. Based on my estimates above, I cant see how we would get to 60K or even 40K

cabinets are in they are measuring and planning today installing tomorrow and finish work on Sat. The cabinets are upgraded homecrest with flipped shaker doors, plywood, bottom mount drawers, dovetail, plywood, and larger stiles/rails. One thing I didnt know was that the thickness of plywood should be 3/4". also didnt realize that the plywood upgrade has particle board sandwiched in the middle. The sides are only 1/2 inch, the rear is 3/4". Oh well. Decora was a 3K upgrade, still not sure it would have been worth it. The total cost for cabinets was 23000 for 90 sq ft of countertops and one full height set of cabinets with drawers/cabinets. One of the cabinets below was cracked.

Now that the bathroom is fully demoed and cleaned up, we are rethinking the layout again. We originally were going to swap the shower and tub so we could have windows in the shower, but the bid came in at 60k. Leaving the shower and tub in the same locations but changing them up dropped it to 60K.

Now that the demo is done I want to switch the shower/tub again, but I dont see how it could cost 60 or even 40k.

demo - 2500 (mostly done although contractor recommended we replace the mangled drywall rather than trying to repair).

Replace all drywall 2000

floor tile 4000

electrical (very little) - 300

plumbing (pier and beam) - 1000 (could be up to 2K)

2 Vanities 4000

tub, shower, 2 faucets - 1000-1500

Install tub - 200

Tub 300 (got a great deal!, originally budgeted 3K)

install toilet - 200

Frameless shower in corner - 5000.

Im seeing 20k in hard costs, + 25% for GC.

One unknown is waterproofing window areas. We would put the shower head at the corner facing away from the windows. The shower dimension is 9 ft wide, 5 foot deep (25 sq ft). We would put benches in the left corner and entrance in the right corner with controls

interesting, we had one done in our old house. We tore out the fiberglass shower and installed a new shower and it was about 7K with travertine tile, frameless glass.

Anyway update on the kitchen. Some of our cabinets did not make the shipment so we are delayed in getting them in. Countertops cant be measured until then so we are in a day for day slip.

My area might not be as high cost as yours roarah. Generic labor might be $100-150/hour.

The frameless glass is not very expensive (around 1000), tiles run about $10/sq ft, fixtures are maybe $500. A 25 sq ft shower 10 ft high with 3 sides glass is about 75 sq ft of tile. Materials alone should be around 2-3K for just the shower. Permits are around $500

that leaves about 13500 for labor. @ 100/man hour that is about 130 man hours. With 2 people that is almost two weeks at 8 hours a day.

The shower can be framed, waterproofed, and mud in a day. Tile is 1 or two days. Plumbing is around 4 hours. Installing fixtures is around 2 hours. Two people and 5 days to custom build a shower should max out about 80 hours or 8000. Things like tile are typically a 1 man job. so it should be somewhere between 40-80 for the shower alone.

instead of insults how about posting something that will help? Im guessing at approximate costs to try not to get screwed. For example I had two pool guys come in and said minimum of 150K for a basic pool with spa. How is a homeowner supposed to not get screwed unless they understand the cost of the pieces?

A basic pool with a spa in a generic area should be about 40K. We have solid limestone so magically that adds 110K. Really though it takes a backhoe about 14 days to chisel out the pool and it costs about 1K/day for the backhoe + crew.

The beam then needs to be more heavy duty. But not to the tune of 110K.

My original bids for just the kitchen came in at 140K. I was able to get my contractor to agree to about 60K by leaving all walls in place, cabinets were done by another company at 23K. Building a wall and removing a wall in theory was about 65k, really?

Most builders around here wont build a custom home for less than 250/sq ft.

My last renovation was really nicely done and was about 11K for the master not including vanities or touching the tub.

How long does it take to properly build a shower?

<<

How Long Does a Shower Installation Take?

The length of time needed to place your shower varies with the type of shower and the condition of the installation site. A pre-fabricated shower placed in new construction, with plumbing in place, can be accomplished in as little as a few hours. In renovations, removing an existing tub or shower and prepping the site for the new unit may take several hours, adding an entire day to your installation. Custom-built showers generally require up to one day for both framing and plumbing, and up to five days for tile installation. Hanging custom glass walls or doors may take as little as two hours but up to a full day or more, depending on the complexity of the installation.>>

" Im guessing at approximate costs to try not to get screwed."

The way to do this is get multiple prices, and vet the high out of the contractors. The internet while a good tool is just that a tool, it is not the be all end all. Web MD and Houzz are good examples of information that can be completely useless to people not in the know.

"How Long Does a Shower Installation Take?"

And if you look at six other pages you will get six other answers. The internet CANNOT take accurate site conditions, location and sixty seven other things into consideration which all effect everything to do with a project.

It's great to try and be informed but at the end of the day people don't know what they don't know. And nowhere in your posts that I saw anyway did you state you were guessing on dollars. You seemed to state everything as fact. Just my .02. Good luck with your project.

Just an update, some of our cabinets got lost. Luckily the ones that made it make most of the countertops so we were able to get the counters measured and sent to production. Because of the delays, my GC is going to stain floors now rather than at the end. There is some risk as people will be bringing in heavy appliances after the floor is done. We are staining a very dark color, almost black. I personally prefer natural maple (my absolute favorite) but wife wants white cabinets and counters and dark floors.

With regards to the bathroom, our designer suggested that we do not put in a tub at all and just put in the shower where the windows are. Instead of a glass front shower, she suggested a 3-4 ft wall with the plumbing in it and 30-36inch openings on either side.

I dont love the idea because it blocks the view from the rest of the bathroom.

Anthony,

Sorry to hear about your cabinet woes. Hope all that gets resolved quickly.

Regarding your bathroom, I can see why your designer might suggest that. The shower will be the first thing you see and if you made it a stunning design then you would have quite the focal point of the space. However, I would rather have the light from the windows. That corner could be a wonderful vanity for your wife. The shower can go where the tub is in your layout above.

there was dust everywhere and probably in the vents as one of the subs did not put plastic over the vents and also had the heat running. How much of a concern is that for staining and poly of floors? I have turned all the HVAC off for now, but it was running up until the day before they stained the floors.

contractor said flooring guy is doing two coats of bona mega poly. I asked for one coat of traffic HD (annoying that these things have such a tiny price difference so why not just use the best??) is that worthwhile to do? Is two coats sufficient?

just stopped by the house. floors are stained need poly now. they said do not go in so these are pics from the front door. I loved the natural look of the sanded oak. The stain seems a little blotchy.

these are the cabinets that arrived. all the counters could be measured except the peninsula which they might have done anyway. some doors were cracked. Seems weird that the one upper is not painted on the side.

Someone forgot to order a finished side on that cabinet. It also looks like they failed to order flush finished sides for the exposed sides as well. Or, better yet, integrated decorative ends. You’re going to have issues with the stack seams because of that.

That floor is awfully dark. Awfully dark. You sure you want black car maintenance? Swiffer every 15 minutes. It is going to show everything.