It sounds like a lovely place. I'd be very leery about hiring a builder who was "reluctant" to take on the job and not experienced with remodeling projects, though. First off, they might not do as good of a job, and second, this person is a friend, and if things don't go well on the job or there's any dispute about payment, that might be the end of the friendship.

Did you get bids from actual remodeling companies?

I second the qualms about a contractor who's leery of the job.

And I will add in the axiom: "If Mamma ain't happy, then nobody's happy." Don't let that thought leave your consciousness.

L

Yes yes. Another way of saying that is, "Happy wife, happy life." :-)

I think it might be sheer luck that the contractor hasn't started yet. USE THIS TIME TO SHOP AROUND. Get bids from people who know what they're doing (i.e., have remodeled kitchens before) and are eager for the work. Get recommendations from friends, if possible, or look online. If you live near a major metro area joining Angie's List for a month to get access to their customer reviews might be a good idea; otherwise, ask around.

By the way, you haven't posted a layout of your future kitchen here, have you. Can you do that? Again, it's truly lucky that the work hasn't started--put it off for a couple weeks more and take that time to make sure the plan you're working off is the best plan it can be. This is ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT in your case because (1) your builder is not a kitchen remodeling specialist, by a long shot and (2) you guys have never remodeled before so you haven't learned from experience what to do or not to do. The people here have MASSIVE amounts of knowledge and experience, and can help you avoid a lot of heartache and regret by helping you get it right before you start building it. The last thing you want is to pay so much money for a new kitchen and then realize you should have done it differently.

To post your floorplan (and any photos you may want to include), you can either join Photobucket (link below) and upload pictures there (which will let you post photos right in your posts), or join any random photo site (Flickr, etc.) and just post links in your posts to the photos so we can go to Flickr or wherever and see them. Either way, joining the photo sites is free. If you have a kitchen floorplan on your computer, you can just upload that. Otherwise you could sketch the plan by hand (it's easiest on graph paper but anything works), scan it or take a digital photo of it, and upload that.

You might also want to run your appliance choices by folks at the Appliances forum, if you haven't bought them yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photobucket

Yes, lay all that info out here. The hope is to plan problems away before they arise and end up with something you're really happy with. 14 acres on the Tennessee River with a cottage remodeled just as we'd like it sounds just about ideal. We're on 4 acres in Georgia because we followed our son, who moved here following a girlfriend whose name we can't remember. :)

A contractor with decades of remodeling experience and current code knowledge is worth their weight in gold. View completed jobs before deciding. A timeline could be a setup for disaster. New construction is vastly different from retrofitting an existing home, especially if it's older. Patience served us well. Research served us even more. Both of these gave us peace of mind (which equals a happy wife no matter how long it takes timewise)

I'm not sure what you're really asking for...

Everything seems to be "set in stone", so no changes can be made...to design, appliances, contractor...so, what are you asking of us?

BTW...you're probably not receiving emails of follow-up postings, even though you checked the box requesting them. This is b/c you don't have the email option turned on in your profile. See the "Read Me" thread for more information. Scroll down to the post with the subject "Getting Emails Sent To You...3-step Process".

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

flatwater, post whatever you have to show.

Your post asks a confusing question.

it sounds like "everything is ordered, but "we need to advise" to cope with the remodeling project, keep our life together, and have an end product that makes my wife happy." AS If strangers can tell another stranger how to keep another person happy.

If you, already talked your wife, into selling her, dream home, and this has taken eight years to start I, would really make sure that I, had the right person for the job.

Thank you for all your comments; immensely helpful to us!

I think I have turned on email forwarding in the profile, hopefully!

Also, I have uploaded a few images of our home and the new kitchen lay out. While some things have been ordered, we have still a long ways to go.

Once again, thank you for your helpful comments.

http://s948.photobucket.com/albums/ad325/waters-edge/flatwater/

Here is a link that might be useful: flat water home

Here are some of the appliances that we have purchased:

SUBZERO PRO48/G REFRIGERATOR

SUBZERO TWO DRAWER REFRIGERATOR

WOLF DUAL FUEL 48IN RANGE 4 BURNER-DOUBLE GRIDDLE

SHARP MICROWAVE DRAWER
ASKO RACK DISHWASHER SS

SUBZERO 30" WINE COOLER

Congrats, flat water! Looking at your pix brings back memories...I grew up in TN...my high school sits on the banks of the Tennessee river. My parents are still there. That is a truly beautiful site you have!
I looked at your interior elevations, and immediately thought of the SZ pro48. Were you able to get anything better than regular pricing on it? I'm still looking for my sub zero.

Best of luck on your remodel! It looks great! Just hang in there and you'll be fine! This is a fantastic place for all sorts of info, things I would have never known to even think of! And don't forget that some of the smaller things like tile, and the hood, can take a few weeks as well. You've really gotten a great start, though!

Coping with the remodeling tips!
Expect more delays, everything always takes longer and costs more, unless you're really lucky! So be patient but optimistic!
Set up a temporary kitchen area, your builder might not think of this if he's used to new builds. It doesn't seem like a big deal to eat out or grill for a few weeks, but you need to organize and plan for it.
Start packing up the kitchen ahead, it takes longer than you expect, and you won't end up with boxes of random unculled items.
Confine the mess from the demo. The dust gets everywhere and there's more daily! Tarp off the kitchen entrance if possible. Use throw rugs to prevent tracking out of the kitchen.
Keep reading here, people are very helpful and share all kinds of tips you didn't even know enough to ask about!

What a nice setting your house is in. I can see why you liked it so much.

With everything ordered you can't do much now, but the layout in any event looks pretty good. If you can, you might want to consider switching the positions of dishwasher and sink--in other words putting the DW to the left of the sink, instead of putting it between the range and the sink. The spot between range and sink is where people almost always end up prepping, and having the DW there is not the best option for a couple of reasons:

(1) It means nobody can load/unload the DW while someone is cooking--the prep zone overlaps with the cleanup zone in such a way that both things can't be done at the same time, which makes things less efficient; and

(2) It means storage space below the prep zone, which ideally should contain things the cook is likely to need while prepping (casserole dishes, etc.), does not exist because the DW is there instead, so the things the cook needs will be farther away.

I can see that you probably arranged things this way in order to keep the sink centered on the window--it would be a few inches off center if the DW were on the left--but it is probably worth running it by your wife to see if she prefers a centered sink over having a more efficient prep zone with everything she's likely to need right there.

Also, it looks like one upper cabinet to the left of the range comes all the way down to the counter. Those kinds of cabinets are great for storage and usually look great too, but why is it between the sink and range? Again, the space between sink and range is the best place to prep and the place most people end up prepping--so having a cabinet that eats up counterspace there means that counterspace is not available to prep in. If possible I would suggest switching the uppers on each side of the range, so this one that comes down to the counter is to the right of the range where it won't be in the way.

Best of luck with everything!

you could get cabinets that are more than 24" depth (back to front) or just let the countertop overhang more along the long wall; the idea is to get more useable space. Albeit you have space.

point (1) above is good, and you can safely let go of the idea of symmetry at the window.

there is not much to change. It's good.

ideagirl,

Thank you for such insightful feedback. I wish I had posted the plans earlier. We are going to try to swap the dishwasher around, if it is not too late. We were thinking that the island is where we would do most of our prep work.

Regarding the cabinet that is all the way down between the range and the sink, the notion was that the corner was not easily reachable. What we ended up is slightly different than what is shown in the drawing. We have a garage at the bottom corner for storing, mixers, and other prep tools in the corner. That said, your idea of switching things to the other side makes a lot of sense too.

davidro1

Thank you for your comments. We will see whether we can increase the overhand a bit. Good suggestion!

Regards,

flatwater