The Baer Manse is Getting a New Kitchen

So what did you do over Thanksgiving?

I must confess outside of watching lots of football (the Show-Me Bowl variety) and visiting with my family, I got to shop for a new kitchen.

What a great way to spend a holiday.

My wife and I agreed that after 30 years, it was time to do a major overhaul of our kitchen. We are a "back door" house. By that, I mean everyone enters the back door of our 90-year-old home, unless they are coming through the front—that means they are selling something.

We figured that after more than 30 years of continuous service, our 1980-something gas stove needs replacing. You know where it goes from here. If you are getting a new stove, might as well redecorate the whole room. The laminate counter tops are giving way to the new hot-style granite. Metal Geneva kitchen cabinets get to stay, but they are going to be spray painted.

The wallpaper is coming down, backsplash tile is going up everywhere, there will be a new range hood hanging above the stove, and the walls will be splashed from top to bottom with fresh paint.

The refrigerator gets to stay. We bought one of those LG lower freezer drawer models last year. The dishwasher is still working fine.

I watch a lot of HGTV, so I have all kinds of ideas floating around in my head. Television is really great at helping you spend your money.

So who does all the work? It turns out, a wide variety of tradesmen will be in and out before the job is ever complete. A friend of a friend said we had to use their kitchen remodeler. Turns out, his price is reasonable, and everyone seems to love his attention to detail. He doesn’t even require downpayments or signed contracts. Handshake agreements work well for me.

Ah, but there’s a catch, especially about those sleek granite counter tops. You don’t find the material at Walmart or in the J.C. Penney catalog.

You get to traipse through enormous freezing-cold warehouses where slabs of granite are lined up like soldiers all waiting to fall out of line.

Prices you ask? There are no prices on the slabs of granite. Pick what you like then the remodeler's fabricator (he’s the guy who puts this altogether) makes up a quote, and that’s what you get to spend. If you go to the warehouse of the remodeler's choice, you get his builder’s discount. Is the picture clearing up now?

The new LG stove was a lot easier. We got the convection model that cooks from the front and back or something like that, or so they say. We helped Best Buy keep Black Friday profits going on Saturday.

Can’t wait for the new year to arrive, because all of those tradesmen will be coming through my back door. They will be installing the hood, the granite countertops, the recessed lights in the ceiling and matching different shades of blue paint to go with the counters, floor and wood trim and so on and so forth.

Looks like we’ll be doing a lot of eating out in January and February and...