The $50,000 Sink Faucet

We just bought a faucet the other day and plan to install it next week.

We really needed to buy this when we first moved in, since the faucet has been leaking since then. (Almost 5 years ago). I bought a faucet for $119. Nothing too fancy, but not bottom of the barrel. The one I really would like is about $500.

But it kept turning into the $50,000 faucet. No, I don't have extreme tastes in kitchen hardware. It's just that our whole kitchen is a tangled web of items that need replacing.

Neighbors ended up remodeling their whole kitchen the same way--by replacing the faucet that was leaking. They found water damage behind the sink. When they were done, they had new cabinets, new countertops, new flooring, new appliances and new tiling. I don't know the total, but I'm guessing it was way more than the cost of a nice faucet. And she hates the new faucet...

Our kitchen is in the same predicament. I don't know about water damage, but I do know that our sink is also an ugly and barely functioning piece of stainless steel. I might be the only woman on the planet who doesn't like stainless steel--but I've never liked it, especially in a sink. Give me a white porcelain double sink any day. (Maybe about $500 for a decent one?)

Well, if we replace the sink, we have to do something about the tile around it since it's being held on via numerous applications of Gorilla Glue. Probably not in the Sonoma County contractor's handbook, but hey, it works. The whole counter that holds the sink is made of small tile (another very bad idea--small tile means way TOO MUCH GROUT), and the grout is so old (and missing) that the crevasses rival Yosemite Valley in terms of steepness. And deep valleys easily get blocked up with lots of sediment. Yucky.

But if I replace the sink, I would have to really replace the tile. But I hate tiny tile. So that means getting a new countertop. I'm not wild about granite, but solid surface makes sense in a kitchen. Sure, one long countertop, labor included, would be about $2-3,000--no matter what kind of solid surface you get. Maybe. But we have a huge island (that we had re-grouted when we moved in), and the other counter with the stove is in fine condition.

I also hate the island. Way too big for the kitchen, and no overhang for sitting/eating at.

I'm going to fast forward here, this is taking too long.

The island should be removed and a smaller, more functional one put in. $2,000

If we want all the surfaces to match, that means the island, the sink counter and the stove counters. $10,000 easily in materials and labor.

If we remove the island, the flooring has to be dealt with. The current tile is "Taco Bell Ugly" (I'm not kidding, we have seen this tile in Taco Bell and the restroom at Fresh Choice.) and I would prefer wood. But the kitchen floor extends into the hallway and into the front entrance. So, what $10,00 for new floors, if we are lucky? The irony here is that the tile is in perfect condition. This is strong ugly tile!

The cabinets are all scratched, badly painted and banged up from the previous owner. So, maybe $3,000 to paint really well or $8,000 to replace?

Only 3 burners on the 6-burner stovetop work. $1,000 or about $2000?

The fridge leaks, two drawers are broken and they cut into the cabinet above to push the nasty dented floor-model thing into place. (No ice machine or water--except on the floor when it leaks.) Simple two-door fridge with ice and water....$2,000-$3000.

The double in-cabinet ovens look like they are from the 1960's yet this house was built in 1989. They don't cook well, aren't vented and I am surprised they haven't caught the house on fire in the cabinet above them. (That no one can reach...) So. maybe new oven ...$1,000?

OK, so maybe this is all just $30,000...but they say you should double any estimates to get the real final cost!

What we will try really hard to do next week is SIMPLY install the $119 faucet and not go any farther.

How do you think we will do?

We've already decided to paint the cabinets ourselves....and I'm thinking I don't really need ovens for awhile, do I? So I could rip out the ovens....take out the cabinets.....hmmmm...

Our latest addition

Rigatoni Pepperoni Bologna Abalone Macaroni
Guacamole Mr. Mahony.

We call him Toni for short.

Our little Zen Chihuahua.

Outdated?

I can't stand to hear someone say "That's outdated." Or "this kitchen needs to be updated." Especially when the design they are looking at is less than 10 years old!

I love to watch shows on HGTV and see what kinds of houses people are looking at, and how they decorate a space to their own tastes.

But it frustrates me to hear couples walk through a house and comment about this and that and how outdated it is. Often, it's the kitchen or bathroom. And they say it snidely as if the yokels selling the house had no taste and should have remodeled a perfectly good kitchen and spent $100,000 on it just so they wouldn't have to be offended looking at tile counters instead of granite.

My parents never once remodeled a kitchen or a bathroom in the houses they lived in. Granted, they should have once or twice...but mostly, they used the cabinets and counters and sinks and faucets that were already in the house because they all still worked. Plain and simple. There was nothing wrong with them so they kept using them. Plain and simple.

Bad ergonomic design should be changed. Broken tiles or faucets should be replaced. Wall colors that make you want to barf should be painted over. But we shouldn't be throwing out, willy nilly, perfectly good cabinets, hardware, appliances, tiling or counters just because they hint of a previous decade.

I happen to love the colors and tile patterns found in bathrooms from the 40s and 50s. You just don't see them anymore. More than once I've seen a family rip out this incredible piece of history in a bathroom and replace it with something that WILL LOOK OUTDATED in about 2 years. (Can we say above-counter bowl sinks?)

So here's a question...when does outdated become hip retro? I'm thinking it's at least 30 years. Seems like anything 10-20 years just gets labeled outdated. If the design happens to survive a family (that would be my parents), then it suddenly becomes "in" and stylish. My parents had a rounded-top Gibson refrigerator (like the one to the left) well into the 1970's. They brought this fridge WITH THEM from at least 2 previous homes. Possibly 3 or 4, but I was too young to remember that far back. Now you can buy a fridge like this and pay A LOT OF MONEY (like $2500) for the look. Of course, I'm betting they have some modern features like ice-makers and defrosting freezers. Aw, the memories of defrosting 5 solid inches of ice in a freezer compartment that would barely keep ice cream solid!