on 4/6/2005 2:33 PM nospambob said the following:
BTDT! Kitchen Craft was what we ended up with as my knees and
inexperience ruled me out. Would never select them again and didn't
this time the certifiable kitchen designer is affiliated with them, a

Comments about the kitchen being the house are very valid. OTOH, if
you're inclined to do it yourself you DO save a ton of money, you have
or should have EXACTLY what you want, and YOU control the delays.

In our case, the makeover involved taking a 30 year old kitchen down to
the studwalls (not bare walls, stud walls). Changed the ceiling a bit
with addition of soffit and downlighting, skylights, new floor, etc.
Added two additional circuits to the already well-supplied room.

We knew we would be "roughing it" for a bit as this was a DIY project.
Through some good job planning on my part, we only "lost" the kitchen
for six days and, at that, all we lost was the kitchen sink. Had I been
a bit more industrious and desirous of duplicating my work by removing
and replacing the existing sink while we waited for the Corian
countertops with integral sink to be fabricated, we could have had near
full use of the kitchen without interruption.

Our only break in service came from the time I yanked the old sink wall
base cabinets and sink out and installed the new. No sink from the time
the fabricator came in and did his measurements till he delivered six
days later.

Knowing this would be the one "open" spot I couldn't control, lessened
the delay since I really wasn't at the mercy of some contractor who
could care less that we were washing dishes in a bathtub, etc. I had a
lock on the fabricator coming in on Monday morning so, guess what? The
sink base, etc. was removed on Sunday afternoon and evening and the new
base installed.

No matter who does the work, you're likely going to lose the kitchen for
a couple of days. I happen to believe we suffered less at my hands than
we would have - sans taking a cruise while the work was being done - at
the hands of a contractor.

Not to mention all the fun I had (and the sliding compound miter saw, a
pneumatic nailer, etc. that the project "required"g).