Oct 8, 2004: Action I performed   Cabinets The cabinets are scheduled to arrive this afternoon. As time goes by, I get more and more antsy; I can't wait to see what the paint chips look like next to the actual cabinets, in our own kitchen. We decided on Kitchen Kompact cabinets in their Mellowood maple style. Countertop We're ordering a laminate countertop in a dark grey and black granite pattern from Formica, called Noir Envision. It's a nice dark grey with a matte finish. I'm already envisioning how some pottery or glass will look on it beneath under-cabinet lighting. :) The manufacturer will cut the counter slabs to fit if the corner is not square, too. The reason for this, which I never knew before, is interesting: if the corner's not square and you put in a standard length of counter, you'll be okay in the corner, but by the time you get out to the end of the wall, you can have a big gap between the edge of the counter and the wall). I am so glad the lady at the lumber yard took time to explain this and ask us to measure the corner for squareness! That will save us labor costs since John won't have to saw the countertop to fit if it's not square. We learned that the small lumber yards like Carter Lumber (which deals mainly with contractors) are often more reasonable than huge stores like Lowe's and Home Depot when it comes to cabinets and building supplies; they don't have the enormous overhead that the mega stores do. Score one for the little guys! Lowe's charges a ridiculous price to custom order a laminate countertop, and their pricing is based on the pattern; Carter Lumber offers any of the patterns at the same price, and for less. The moral of that story is, check out your town's smaller lumber yards for your kitchen cabinetry, flooring and countertops! Paint Colors We were going to do the walls in a pale sage or grey-green color, but after doing some photo painting on Kitchen Kompact's stock photo, we decided that a deep cranberry color would be really neat with the maple cabinets (see below). Flooring A local discount chain, Value City, has two varieties of Pergo glueless laminate plank flooring for $34.95 a box (That's only $1.99/square foot!). It's the same flooring Lowe's carries for $59.27/box; actually, it was some of Lowe's store-labeled overstock, bought by Value City. At Pergo's eShowroom, we we did a mockup of a kitchen with maple cabinets, deep red walls and this antique dark cherry flooring (80004), and loved the combination, and we sure can't beat that price. We only needed six boxes, but bought eight so we'd be sure to have enough for any miscuts or accidental damage; we can always return the unopened package(s). All we needed from Lowe's was the transitional pieces for the kitchen doorway, back door, and basement door. It was $27 for a 94" section of the combination kit which does all types of transitions. Appliances We got great deals on floor models of a Maytag MDB8750AWW dishwasher and a Whirlpool Gold over-the-range microwave (GH9184XL). Our fridge and range we bought since buying our house in 1999, so they're newer and we're not replacing them. Note to self Consumer Reports said the following dishwasher detergents were good: Use a rinse aid such as Jet-Dry to help minimize spotting and a detergent with enzymes to dissolve starches and proteins. * Great Value (sold at Wal-Mart stores) * Cascade Pure Rinse Formula * Electrasol Dual Action Tabs with Baking Soda