remodel my kitchen

We’re making more progress on our kitchen remodel. Yesterday, Jen and I found a source for our granite countertops. We initially planned on using the granite people from Costco Home since we are using the cabinet people from Costco as well (Baywood Cabinets in Kent, WA).

Unfortunately, we were told it would take several months for them to get around to our order. We then spent some time calling granite folks all over town to try to find any way to complete this kitchen remodel in 2005.

We found a place in West Seattle (I will update this post with their info later) that offers slabs for $300 a piece. We figured we could do our entire kitchen with 4 slabs. This is a great value and their referred us to a guy with 20 years experience installing granite who only charges $45.00 an hour. They can have the granite ready in only 4 weeks. It pays to shop around.

Now, for those of you who don’t care about my kitchen saga and prefer my technology oriented, let me tie this all together for you.

I wish we could have entered in “granite seattle” into one of the local search engines and more easily have found out who would meet our timelines, who polished and cut the granite, who offered installation. It took several weeks of asking all of our different friends and people we know, then several weeks of calling to ultimately find the company that worked for us.

What this really means is there is a ton of room for improvement in how the Internet can make chores like this easier. I know the search engine players like Google, Local, A9, and MSN are focused on this huge market. There are also some interesting start ups like Judy’s Book that aim to use social networking and reviews as a way to improve this often painful process.

So my kitchen remodel, which is already behind schedule, was in jeopardy of slipping further behind. Aparently, the dark green tiles in the kitchen installed in the 1950’s are not only butt ugly but potentially life threatening (asbestos).

So I needed to test the tiles before we could begin tearing down the kitchen, and if the tiles contain asbestos I would need to hire some folks and pay them crazy amounts of money to remove them.

So exactly how do I figure this out? Well, that is where my trusty friend, Yahoo Local Search, came to my rescue. I did a simple seatle for “asbestos testing” and located a testing company fairly close by.

I initially tried A9, but they returned no matches for “asbestos testing.” Google Local and Yahoo Local both returned very relevant results.

I found Yahoo Local more useful because they had a nicer little homepage for the business that provided useful little features, such as, Send to Phone, Add to Address Book, etc. Send to Phone is really useful because it saves me from the hassle of copying down information on some random scratch paper on my desk, or printing everything out and bringing another piece of paper that will eventually find it’s way on the floor further cluttering my already cluttered life.

I simply click the Send to Phone link, enter in my phone number, and a few seconds later I receive an SMS message on my Blackberry with a link to a WAP page with the address, intersection information (very useful), click to call link (in case I get lost anyway), and a small map image. This was super useful.

The only complain I have involves driving directions. The WAP page contained a link for driving directions (I was hoping I could avoid 99 or I-5 North), but then I was prompting to log in and provide my password. Ok – forget it. The problem is that Yahoo knew where I wanted to go, but not my location. Seems like an option of providing a zip code, or sending my address since I was already logged in to My Yahoo on my PC, would have been better options. It is super annoying that the web browser on my Blackberry doesn’t allow me to save username/password information. Constantly retyping this information on a tiny device is not a pleasant user experience.

The best option would be to incorporate location information, where the device can provide driving directions from it’s current location to the destination.

Jen and I have been a little frustrated with the super slow pace of our kitchen remodel. It is just me or does it seem strange that the contractor, the cabinet people, etc., never freaking call you back, never follow up, etc. I mean please people take my money!! Let’s get going already. We were hoping we’d have the kitchen done by end of Sept, but now it is looking like November. Maybe we can use Thanksgiving to break in the new kitchen this year.

Anyway, we figured going out and purchasing our appliances would be a good way to feel like we’ve made some progress. Jen and I went down to Albert Lee Appliance in Seattle (http://www.albertleeappliance.com/). These guys really know their stuff. The sales stuff was very knowledgeable and helpful without coming off as pushy.

We purchased a Miele Dishwasher – http://www.epinions.com/content_192439094916. This thing is amazing. All the hoses are contained within a second hose to deal with potential leaks. It is very eco-friendly and used less water and detergent that other brands. It is extremely quiet. In fact, there is a little light that is projected on the floor to let you know it is on. It is that quiet.

We purchased a Viking 30 inch pro range and a french door cabinet depth fridge. I’m excited. Our current kitchen really sucks big time.

We have received our cabinet designs from Baywood Cabinets. We’re pretty happy with them and excited to move forward. Next step is to put down a deposit so we can secure a slot in their factory. Baywood has done a nice job. They did two of the Seattle Street of Dreams houses.