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Health & Fitness

Do the job right

When remodeling a kitchen, doing the job right is better than doing it fast.

I have been working with a client who started out wanting to do a “quick fix” kitchen update.  Just paint the cabinets, and get new counters.  She loves Calcutta marble, so she was thinking of that for the counters.  She was also going to take this opportunity to update some of the appliances.  After exploring a few things she decided that it would be best to get new cabinets, in order to accommodate the new appliances, and a better layout.  I totally agreed with this, as it breaks my heart when someone puts beautiful marble or stone on cheap cabinets that will need to be replaced before too long.  Her cabinets were low end, but attractive.  (they will make a great donation to Habitat)

I designed the new layout to accommodate her appliance selections.  We agreed on the layout, the doorstyle, the finish of the cabinets.  We even got multiple prices.  Then I got a call from her to say that she had this wild idea to actually add on to her home, to make the kitchen longer and integrate it more with the rest of the house.  My only thought was that I wish I had thought of it first!  Adding more space would take her kitchen from what looks like a small afterthought, to something that could be a main living area.  So the project is in pause mode.  She has contacted some architects and needs to find someone who she can work with to come up with a drawing for the space.  Then she will need approval from her homeowners association. 

This is going to create quite a delay in her project, but it will absolutely be worth it.  Kitchen remodeling is generally not a fast process.  The decision making part can take months.  It is not unusual for projects to take over a year, when you include all the planning and design time.  It is far better to do the project right, than to do it fast.  My old boss used to say “Done is better”, then she confessed to me that she did not actually believe that!  Done right is the best of all.

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