Decisions, decisions

About three months ago we began talking about a major kitchen update, something we haven't done in at least 20 years. Fortunately, having a son in the construction business means that we don't have to do it ourselves. After all those years of basketball in the back yard and staying up late on Friday and Saturday nights it seems it's payback time at last.

We don't have to figure out how to do things, but we still need to decide what to do. Today we spent the afternoon going from Home Depot to Lowes to Executive Construction to look at cabinets and pick a color and style.

What we'll have is only vaguely similar to what's in the picture except for the crown molding at the top. That's the style we like.

The cabinets we're getting will be lighter—Honey Spice, the most popular stain color in the country, we were told—and a more simple style. Even with the big contractor's discount the price is north of $7000. Yikes.

Then of course there will be a new kitchen counter and a new sink to go into it. Probably something like the one here.

Last time around we got a porcelain enamel beauty that's now cracking and rusting. No more of that. We're going with stainless steel. Not as pretty, but essentially indestructible.

Last of all we're debating what to do in the laundry room which is moving from the basement to the pantry off the kitchen.

Do we replace our funky old—but still working—gas dryer with a new one that will stack on top of our three-year-old washer, or do we get a new stacked washer-dryer combo? Anyone have one of these bad boys?

Shockingly the matching dryer costs more than $700, nearly the price of this integrated unit that puts all the controls together at a convenient height. If we bought this we'd sell our current washer for enough that the cost difference would be negligible.

It's kind of diabolical, really, how once you start changing one thing it starts a cascade of changes that can become overwhelming. Our kitchen rehab has oozed out to the hallway and down to the basement steps, with a major offshoot in the pantry-laundry room.

Today we got one or two decisions checked off the list, but a whole lot more remain. With demolition scheduled to start the second week of March, we've got a long couple of months ahead.

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