Monday, May 05, 2008

Speaking of Timesucks

Pretend you are me & Jeff (okay, if being two people is difficult, pick the one of us you like most. I'll wait... Seriously? You all picked Jeff? Figures.)

Okay, so you are Jeff and this is your situation: you and your adoring, competent, beautiful, hilarious wife - who, coincidentally, is a FANTASTIC mom - have recently purchased a home that is 20 years old. It needs a little updating and you are financially committed to X total dollars for said updates. One of the projects is your kitchen because the cabinets are in okay (but not great) shape and because your aforementioned wife cannot fit all her necessary kitchen accoutrement into the existing space. Therefore, you are set on adding an island but are running into a few snags in the form of cannot-match-old-cabinetry-to-new and these-cabinets-are-looking-worn-in-a-few-key-spots. You had really hoped to update the kitchen by adding granite countertops, which you can do with your current budget. However, you worry that granite+mediocre cabinets = BIG MISTAKE but do not particularly want to finance/do not particularly think the market can make worthwhile a real kitchen overhaul. What do you do?

Option 1: for original budget plus a little bit, redo all the cabinets so all are new and put in laminate countertops.

Option 2: stay within your budget and go for the island in a different color (supposedly is a trend now?) and put granite on everything hoping that mediocre cabinets+granite = ooh! pretty countertops and now I don't even notice those cabinets!

Option 3: Go big or go home. For roughly double your original budget, redo the cabinets and the countertops and keep all digits crossed in hopes of somehow, someday making some money out of this house.

This is the part where you comment. Be anonymous if you want, but really! Please comment! We need guidance and will take it in whatever form it avails itself. Thanks. And I hope you had fun being Jeff.

3 comments:

Susan said...

I'll probably leave more than one comment here because, well, I'll talk myself into having another opinion before I turn off the computer tonight.

My first reaction is to go with option 1. Redo the cabinets, make them look great and I would guess that you'll be happier overall.

I think that if you went for Option 2, you run a serious risk of loving your countertops but never really being able to get past the part where you HATE the cabinets. (Which I predict you would hate more if you loved the granite.) I've recently been in a house where the island was different than the cabinets and well, it looked different than the cabinet.

Option 3 is my vote if you are in this house for 5+ years, but I don't think you know if you are. It seems like if you go with option 1 and it turns out you get round 2 in the house, then you could always go back and do granite.

And, here's option 4. Have you considered/priced granite tile rather than granite slabs? It wouldn't be my first preference, but I have also recently been in a house with it in the kitchen and it looks great if you keep it clean, which you would.

There. World's longest comment. Call me if you want more.

Rife Wife said...

I'm with option 1. I think your sister is right with you liking your countertops but you won't ever love your cabinets if you went with option 2. What about doing new cabinets and while you are doing that figure out a way to put a slightly bigger island in and then put granite on the island and the rest regular? Just an idea.

The Blake Family said...

Oh, Stephanie...your blogs are still funny and I still enjoy reading them. As for the kitchen decision...good luck...I don't make decisions well...however, all your options are great options (probably why you're asking for opinions!)! Have fun!