Countertop Commotion

Several months ago (as in October) my hubby and I decided to replace our old kitchen countertops with new ones. No big deal, right? All we needed to do was go to our local home store, pick out the product & color we wanted, and set up the installation process. Sounds simple enough, huh?

Nope. Not even close. First, we had to sign the paperwork saying that we did, indeed, want the home store to install our counters. Then, we had to wait a few weeks for someone to come out & measure the existing counters so that they could be ordered. After waiting several weeks for the countertops to come in, during which Thanksgiving had come and gone, we got the call that our counters were in and the installers would be coming in the next week to do their thing. Can you imagine my excitement? I was having lovely daydreams about how pretty our new countertops were gonna look. I'm sure all you homemakers out there know how disheartening it can be to clean and clean something that still looks dirty when you're done! That's how my old countertops were. Years and years of knife nicks, scouring pads, and general use had left them with a marred surface that no amount of Clorox Clean-up could fix. Granted, to the casual observer they weren't that bad, but I noticed.

Fast forward to early December. Remember how the installers were supposed to be coming really soon? Not so fast...the contractor came out, but he might as well have saved his gas. There was a mix-up at the store because the contractor who came & measured originally got fired for sub-par work apparently. And, the poor guy that showed up on our doorstep said he had just gotten our information faxed to him the day before!! Needless to say, he didn't have our materials with him and said he wouldn't be able to do it that day! Which is probably a good thing because he re-measured and found that the other guy had been off by quite a bit! Well, by this time I was super disappointed and Hubby was working up to a fine simmer.

After the contractor left to go have a stern pow-wow with the guy at the home store, Hubby and I had a discussion of our own. Here we were, 2 months out from our original order and nothing to show for it but frustration & disappointment. So, we decided to go down to the home store and either ask for a really good deal or our money back. When we got there, the contractor was just finishing up with the flooring guy and we didn't even really have to do any talking. The flooring guy was very apologetic and got the manager to OK giving us our money back. After getting our refund, we immediately went and checked out some smaller, more customer-oriented establishments. The first one was iffy and the salesman didn't seem all that knowledgeable or grateful for our business, so we headed out of there with a consultation appointment bound for cancellation. *wink* The next stop though, proved to be one of those experiences where you walk in expecting more of the same and are pleasantly surprised with a GREAT salesman. The man I'm speaking of is Preston Ivey at Ivey's Flooring America and the best way to describe him is: Very Charismatic! In the engaging personality way, not the wacky religious way. Thankfully, they carried the same product and color we had originally ordered. Dealing with the folks at Ivey's was so much more pleasant than the dealing with the folks at the big home store! We still had to let them come out & measure our existing counters, but Preston himself came and on the next day too! Then, we had to wait a few weeks for the product to come in but after everything was said and done, the installers came the first week of January! And they did a great job, very thorough and meticulous. They even had to come back the second day to actually lay the top down because when the old tops came off they took off a lot of particle board with them. So the guys had to mud and float the top and let it dry really well. All in all, we are very pleased with the results! I think they make our kitchen look so much more warm & inviting, don't you? I'll leave you with a few before and after pictures...I know you were all wondering when I'd stop talking and let you see!

**LESSON OF THE DAY: If a big commercial home store gives you the run around, don't be afraid to get your money back and go give it to the "little man!" You'll probably be glad you did!

Before:

After:

With all our "stuff" (and the new sink):

A glimpse of the slight texture that the countertops have:

And, lastly, one of our new outlet covers:

Have a great day, Y'all!