Donna, think you could have misunderstood and maybe he said you'd want to buy it darker, not that it would dry darker?? Sometimes you can wash the color out by using too much water during clean up...I know that wasn't the case with my bathroom floor. DH mixed the grout to a peanut butter consistency. I'm not sure what happened. I knew to expect a couple of shades but this was NOT expected. Using an enhancing sealer helped bring it back to an acceptable shade. Bill, it was a full week before David grouted. There's no moisture problem (and that was verified when Olshan was here doing foundation repair). Any idea what could have happened? Monica Monica

I've been following this thread and wanted to throw in my two cents for encouragement. I have a twist on a Scriptural truth that I do live by, "Don't expect to get what you want, if you don't ask specifically." Do not talk to anyone about a grievance unless you are prepared to state the remedy to the matter that will leave you in a justified state; so that you will be able to recommend a contractor's work again. Just compensation for the grievance(s) need to be accurate and stated firmly, but not harshly. At this point, it's best you put this in writing so that he can think about all of this before you see him again. I formed a little something for you to see what I was thinking. "You know John, I was excited about working with you on our kitchen. I had every confidence that you had the skill to handle this job. However, I must tell you that even though the wood floors are beautiful and the cabinets are coming along, and I do believe you will get them right, I have to tell you, this granite situation is not working for us at all. The bottom-line is: I want that counter with the broken granite replaced. We've worked hard for our money and I wanted a brand new kitchen without compromises. I don't want repaired granite, I wanted granite installed and fabricated by professionals correctly. With all of these delays and mistakes, I feel as though I'm paying for you to attend a granite seminar and you're the student. When you installed granite that had been cracked and you repaired it, yet failed to admit it to us, I was deeply disturbed and frustrated with this situation. I would be thrilled with your fix had my child broken the granite and you did that repair; but in this case, we are paying for brand new counters that we expect to be made of solid and unbroken granite. Anyway you look at it, it is broken and I want it replaced. Nothing else will satisfy me concerning the broken granite. As for the template layout, I do believe that if I had been present when you laid out the template on the granite, then we would not have had the other problems with the grain running in the wrong direction. If we work this out, I want to be present when you layout the next templates. You want to be satisfied with us paying you. I want to be satisfied for what we contracted you to provide. We are already weeks behind schedule. If you cannot get this granite finished professionally and installed by date certain, then please let me know as soon as possible. I know this is very stressful on you, so if you do not want to finish the granite that is OK; we think it more than fair that you deduct the price of all of the charges associated with fabricating the granite counter tops from our contract; we will then go with another fabricator and start over. Please let me know your decision as soon as possible." And remember, "Don't expect to get what you want, if you don't ask specifically." Also, let this be a 'lesson' for anyone shopping for granite: be present when templating and when laying out your templates on your granite. There was a gal on GW a few years ago that had the grain running in the wrong direction on each side of her range. I do not believe her fabricator changed her granite. Her entire kitchen was a mess. The templates were placed on the granite any which way, just to save stone, with no thought or care to how the finished product looked.

" Is it nuts to hold onto an old car?" Not no but He@@ NO! Whats nuts is buying a new car. First off, the only time you ever get a chance to drive a "New Car" is that brief period at the dealership when they allow you a test drive. During the test drive the car is still registered under the dealers "In Transit Title" and it is legally a new car. The moment the title is put in your name and you sign the document it becomes a "Used Car" and the value instantly drops from the MSRP window sticker to the "Blue Book Price" even before you attach your license plates or start the motor the first time. What is really nuts is taking a cash rebate instead of demanding they take that number off the selling price. Consider the facts. They artificially inflate the price by $2,000 and offer you a $2k rebate which you are to receive after the sale. You negotiate your best price (which still contains that artificially inflated $2,000) and you sign the contract. You now have two choices, you can write them a check for the full amount or you have to finance the transaction. If you have to finance it, you are now paying interest for the full term of the note on that rebate, even though you will get the money back at closing. Not a bad deal for them, they hold your money for perhaps one day and you pay interest on it for 5 years. Now, when you get insurance you are also paying insurance on that $2,000 rebate that you took back immediately and went shopping for other stuff you probably didn't need. Oh yes, Did I mention that you also payed sales tax on the rebate money tooo. But then it is not all bad, hopefully you don't live in my state where you have to pay an excise tax on the value of your vehicle every year, including that $2,000 artificial markup. Personally, I wouldn't buy a new car if I won the lottery.

This is an important thread. I'm going to add my 2 cents and bump it back up for people making choices now.. I would have made the uppers where I store my glasses and plates 13 or 13.5" deep instead of the standard 12". One inch would not make a real difference visually or in the usable counter space below, but it would provide better storage. I would have put the wall outlet for the coffee maker horizontally and very close to the counter so the cord wouldn't go up the wall. I would have put more embedded outlets in the bottoms of the cabs. I wasn't thinking about the possibility of a permanent appliance plugged into the outlet, but my DH very thoughtfully got me a CD player/radio, and now the cord goes up the middle of my BS. I would have checked that the paint was actually the exact same color as the sample before they painted the walls and installed the granite. I would have made my GC give me 24 hours to make all decisions so I could check in with GW. (I actually did this part way through.) I would have purchased everything myself so that I had receipts. I'd have watched what he was doing more carefully to avoid the mistakes he made. I would have put everything in very detailed writing. (He was kind of absent-minded.) I would have insisted that he finish the floor before the cabs went in so I wouldn't now have grout on the toe kicks. Or else made sure the grout was removed from the toe kicks. I would have bought the fiber optic switch online instead of from my appliance store, where it was more than twice as much. Also, I wouldn't have wasted money ordering the adaptor (with expedited shipping)that Waste King told me I needed to make it fit the granite but couldn't use because it didn't fit through the granite. If you get one, just drill a 3/4" hole in the granite and silicone the thing on. None of those is earth-shattering, though. Thanks to GW, it turned out pretty well.