We had a plumber come out to give an estimate to fix a leaky toilette and a leak in a basement ceiling. He wanted $1,100 to fix two leaks with the toilette being about $400. I did get some lower offers for about $300 to $400, but even at that, I have several more things to fix and at that rate it was going to be pretty costly. And I've read some other people's here and their prices are pretty high. Like $180 for ONE outdoor faucet. Before trying shark bite, or gator bites, I taught my self to weld pipes with a torch and solder etc. I did a couple and was pretty proud of it and saved like $400 for a water heater pipe repair. The reason I didn't try the shark bite at that point is that I couldn't find them near by so tried using the torch that time a year back or so. But now this week I noticed shark and gator bites at Lowes and Home Depot and decided to try them out. I had to go to both stores since some parts were sold out. I used it to replace the outdoor faucet with a washerless, ball faucet in the front of the house And was amazed. IT WORKED! And even though I knew how to use a torch, felt like it was easier. Besides I would have had to put something flame retardant in the basement to weld because there are wooden beams there. Or at least spray with water. But now I didn't even have to worry about it. I only had to cut the pipe in the basement, and use a gator bite coupling and push the two pipes together. Then I did the same for the faucet by screwing it onto a shark bite part and then pushing it onto the pipe. It was easy. I was worried about it leaking, but I've checked and no leaks. Not even a drip. Nothing. It sealed perfectly. Now tomorrow, I am going to replace the other out door faucet on the back of the house. No more miserable, leaking 20 year old faucet. And now I have 3 or 4 more repairs I've been putting off all lined up. Over all, I like Shark Bites. You can also get Gator Bites at Lowes or other places.

Hey Kompy! Thanks for all that.I was just saying in another thread how the budget\money part of this process really stresses me out and it isn't even my money - I don't know how KD's do it I think it not being your money makes it worse. I got another just postlam quote back yesterday and it was 2-3 hundred higher. This process is really roller coaster last week I was thinking we haven't spent a lot of the contingency maybe we could upgrade the countertop, this week a couple of real estimates come in for other things and we are on the budget precipice. The $850 includes the corner mitre (yes it is by the sink - I know), 3 end caps (both sides of the stove and the cab that is now the angle cab and I have not gone back to discuss the angle cab with them but I am prepared to see the cost jump about $150 because of the required material to get the postlam edge over the door - it is going to involve a lot of waste), No integral splash - hate them. I like this company, HD's in our area have a contract with another company and they are having problems so a few of the Depot's are steering customers to these guys. They only work with postlam - they did a couple of episodes of Design U (do you get that on HGTV in the US?) with this company doing the countertops. A bit more than 15 linear feet but angled cab despite being only 12 inches over the door will probaly require at least an additional 2 feet, so I would say a minimum of 18. Fridge is currently in one corner of the L but is being moved another wall - we may only be able to cover it in postlam but my Mom is excited about the new large expanse of countertop (she will have nearly 80 inches of uninterupted countertop on one side of the L). Sink is a double deckless drop in brushed all over that is $304 regular and $260 at the plumbing supply place. Novanni distributes Elkay in Canada and just below Elkay the have a line called Novanni Elite which this sink is from. It's for higher end builders and manufactured in Canada. If you can't do a drop-in then I say go deckless. This is the Geneva edge I like, way more than you should ever like a postform edge:

Ah, so this story has progressed some since early Oct. "They" is the KD. That door was shipped twice and was lost at the regional distribution center. The second one was eventually found and delivered to the KD, so we did get to see it. It was beautiful, but we discovered that a stain would not be a good choice for this particular kitchen. luettaw - framed and frameless are equally durable depending on the quality of the original workmanship and materials, so I would expect framed and frameless Omega cabinets to be equal from that standpoint. Framed Omega vs cheap frameless overseas junk would be another story. Some people do mix framed and frameless in the same kitchen. Usually people who do that use frameless drawer lowers for the better use of space, paired with framed uppers. There are some discussions of that very thing here on GW. We did jump ship with this KD eventually. We liked her a lot and she was helpful in many ways, but it just wasn't working. We first spoke to her in early August and told her we weren't in a burning hurry because there was other major work that needed to be done in the house before we could install a new kitchen. We did want to be ready to go when the floors and windows were done though. So August, September, and then I wrote this letter in Oct. This KD, while proficient with pencil and paper (although s-l-o-w) couldn't use the CAD program at the store. The other guy was sort of proficient, so he translated her drawings. It took her 2 or more weeks for every small change and then some more time for the CAD drawing. We knew that their distribution center about 30 miles from here was problematic following the door incidents. After us expressing more angst through Oct., she finally had a complete plan for us around the first of Nov. The Omega cabinets, if ordered that day (but she only promised to order "that week"), would take around 8 weeks to arrive at the (problematic) distribution center and then a couple more weeks to be delivered. It would be the holidays, you know. If instead we went with a Canadian company, we might shave a week off that. That's when we said we'd make other arrangements. I admit to being fairly upset by then. We went up to Home Depot and sat down with the experienced person there. We'd had a previous good experience with HD in our other house using InnerMost, another frameless line. The HD person put our kitchen measurements in her computer, fiddled around with some minor design changes, and the majority of the work was done in 90 minutes. We came back in a few days, finished up with all the finished sides, trim, toekick covers, etc. and placed the order. BTW, it came out about $7K less than the KD and Omega with 2 more cabinets. The cabinets were promised in 6 weeks, and were delivered in 5. We may or may not have a kitchen by Christmas, but at least it's not Valentine's Day. At the moment, we're waiting for the electrician who was supposed to be here a couple of hours ago. We can't finish installing the cabs until he re-routes some wires. He was supposed to be here last week. The granite people are scheduled for tomorrow morning. Getting a little anxious here. Getting a lot anxious here.

All of the "sandwich stations" I have worked with have been commercial, I never seen a residential one. That being said, when building a new home you design what you want. If it were me I would go with a True Remote Condenser unit (remote allows you to run a line set to the compressor assembly which is plate mounted, this can be located outside near your a/c units), the remote will keep the unit silent and insure you don't have heat build up problems associated with sealing one of these units up, which is what I would do. I would take a True 60" or 72" or what ever size you are thinking, and I would have my cabinet maker make me door covers, and then remove the wheels these units normally come equipped with and have the finish carpenter close in the bottom and mount the unit as a cabinet would be. The True units seem to have the lowest tops, other units like beverage airs I have seen have a larger dome top that can make it unsightly in a home atmosphere. I like the idea, and I am confident for under $5K you can have it custom covered and installed depending on the cost of your woods and stone... good luck, I would love to see pictures, BTW, you would get the lower refer part of the unit, so if I were doing it I would pair it with a built in chest (or stand up )freezer, a built in undercounter ice maker and a water cooler filter system with counter mounted dispenser, and at that point you may as well go with a co2 tank and carbonator to have on demand seltzer water.. (We installed a carbonator pump and co2 system in our kitchen, it is amazing, best seltzer water, from our filtered well system.) Our kitchen is half and half commercial-ish, we buy commercial small appliances like a 10 qt Hobart mixer, robot coupe 3hp food processor, Hobart meat slicer, doyon dough sheeter, etc.. Actually looking into our first 36 or 48" commercial stove now...