I never knew, as a kid, just how many decisions adults had to make. I was always ready to grow up, and now, I think I'd like to head back into the womb.
My life isn't full of big decisions. I luckily have made a few good ones in what might be considered the big decision category, such as 1. husband, 2. whether or not to have kids, 3. what sort of house to buy, and 4. pets. But each day, little decisions come up. The one that gets to me the most is deciding what to have for dinner. If someone just told me each day what to cook, I'd do it. But the deciding what to have is the big problem.
Dinner isn't the issue today. What is then? I'll tell you.
We have this refrigerator that will need to be replaced soon. Right there -- a ton of decisions! What type? What style? What color? Water spout? Ice maker? But I might have the style, color, and type down. I don't need help with that. The problem is that this refrigerator is wedged into the corner of our kitchen. Previous owners tried to fix that problem, by putting in a side-by-side type refrigerator. It might help a little, but you cannot open the freezer door all the way. Getting food into and out of the freezer can sometimes look like the person is trying to wrestle with the freezer door. And, the door is winning.
So, what to do about it? We have thought about replacing the appliance with the type that has French doors on top (refrigerator section) and the freezer on the bottom. Even though the left side door won't open all the way, because of the wall that lies next to it, the top is open, so we could slide things in from the right. This would be the most cost effective, as we would only have to buy the appliance, and perhaps fix a bit of cabinetry if the new refrigerator is higher than the old one (which is probably going to happen, because our old one is pretty old, and everything these days seems to be bigger and taller). We'd likely need to replace the countertops, too, because we now have a tile countertop. Who knows if anyone ever sealed the grout, but the tile is coming apart, and water is getting beneath it. Soon, the cabinets may rot, and I actually like the cabinets.
The other option is to move the refrigerator out of the corner, and then replace that corner with new cabinets. At that time, the countertop should be replaced and since we'd be moving some cabinets around, the floor ought to be done. Our floor right now is a dull shade of gray tile. I don't like it, but I could live with it longer. However, it is cracked in spots and needs some major repairs. Furthermore, my guess is that the tile is not under the cabinets right now. If we need to move those cabinets to put the new refrigerator there, we either need to find matching tile or get a new floor. Also, moving things around would likely mean that we'd need to replace the backsplash, and decide if we want to take down the wainscoting, or put new wainscoting up in the walls that have been revealed. Oh, and we need to fix the ceiling. We never fixed the ceiling when we had water damage from the pluming upstairs because we knew that we'd have to do something with the kitchen. We figured we'd to it all at one time.
So, we actually got an estimate for the work, and you know what? Moving the refrigerator and getting new counters and cabinets for that corner is not that bad. The big cost is in the floor. Demolition for the floor is quite a bit, and if we want to replace with tile (which, to be honest, I don't need and I think I'd be just as happy with a vinyl or laminate floor) the cost is pretty high. High enough that it would be best to get a home equity loan. Do we really want to go down that road?
Can you see where I am? At this point, I'd rather scrap the whole thing. But Tim says that since we rely on the refrigerator for so much, we need to be proactive, and buy a new one before this old thing goes. He is right. So we need to make a decision. Anyone out there care to do it for me?
My life isn't full of big decisions. I luckily have made a few good ones in what might be considered the big decision category, such as 1. husband, 2. whether or not to have kids, 3. what sort of house to buy, and 4. pets. But each day, little decisions come up. The one that gets to me the most is deciding what to have for dinner. If someone just told me each day what to cook, I'd do it. But the deciding what to have is the big problem.
Dinner isn't the issue today. What is then? I'll tell you.
We have this refrigerator that will need to be replaced soon. Right there -- a ton of decisions! What type? What style? What color? Water spout? Ice maker? But I might have the style, color, and type down. I don't need help with that. The problem is that this refrigerator is wedged into the corner of our kitchen. Previous owners tried to fix that problem, by putting in a side-by-side type refrigerator. It might help a little, but you cannot open the freezer door all the way. Getting food into and out of the freezer can sometimes look like the person is trying to wrestle with the freezer door. And, the door is winning.
So, what to do about it? We have thought about replacing the appliance with the type that has French doors on top (refrigerator section) and the freezer on the bottom. Even though the left side door won't open all the way, because of the wall that lies next to it, the top is open, so we could slide things in from the right. This would be the most cost effective, as we would only have to buy the appliance, and perhaps fix a bit of cabinetry if the new refrigerator is higher than the old one (which is probably going to happen, because our old one is pretty old, and everything these days seems to be bigger and taller). We'd likely need to replace the countertops, too, because we now have a tile countertop. Who knows if anyone ever sealed the grout, but the tile is coming apart, and water is getting beneath it. Soon, the cabinets may rot, and I actually like the cabinets.
The other option is to move the refrigerator out of the corner, and then replace that corner with new cabinets. At that time, the countertop should be replaced and since we'd be moving some cabinets around, the floor ought to be done. Our floor right now is a dull shade of gray tile. I don't like it, but I could live with it longer. However, it is cracked in spots and needs some major repairs. Furthermore, my guess is that the tile is not under the cabinets right now. If we need to move those cabinets to put the new refrigerator there, we either need to find matching tile or get a new floor. Also, moving things around would likely mean that we'd need to replace the backsplash, and decide if we want to take down the wainscoting, or put new wainscoting up in the walls that have been revealed. Oh, and we need to fix the ceiling. We never fixed the ceiling when we had water damage from the pluming upstairs because we knew that we'd have to do something with the kitchen. We figured we'd to it all at one time.
So, we actually got an estimate for the work, and you know what? Moving the refrigerator and getting new counters and cabinets for that corner is not that bad. The big cost is in the floor. Demolition for the floor is quite a bit, and if we want to replace with tile (which, to be honest, I don't need and I think I'd be just as happy with a vinyl or laminate floor) the cost is pretty high. High enough that it would be best to get a home equity loan. Do we really want to go down that road?
Can you see where I am? At this point, I'd rather scrap the whole thing. But Tim says that since we rely on the refrigerator for so much, we need to be proactive, and buy a new one before this old thing goes. He is right. So we need to make a decision. Anyone out there care to do it for me?
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