Taken for Granite

While you were celebrating Halloween, it was Christmas morning at the Pascoe residence. The installers came and put the cabinets into our kitchen. Poppy, dressed as a Ladybug, toured the space and made known her approval.

And now for a rude awakening. The next step is counter tops. We decided on Black Galaxy granite. Jim and I don't particularly like "noisy" granite with lots of flecks in it. Black Galaxy is deep black, but with a subtle coppery fleck.

Long story short, when Ikea priced out the granite for this not-very-humongous kitchen, I got sticker shock. At $6,000 these counters were going to cost more than most of the cars I've driven in my lifetime. Put together. I reluctantly surrendered my credit card, but while the Swedes had their way with it, I got to thinking. This is the age of the Internet. I don't pay retail. I buy on Craigslist. I never make a big purchase without first consulting eBay. Why should this be any different?

And as it turns out, the granite that at Ikea costs $83.50 per sq. ft. goes as low as $13.50 online. That's for the raw stuff, so it's not really fair to compare -- but even with "fabrication" as I'm coming to learn that it's called, I'm looking at a serious discount over the Ikea rate. What was I thinking? Luckily, Ikea gives you 48 hours to change your mind.

The downside is that the counters are unlikely to be installed in time for Thanksgiving. But at a savings of potentially thousands of dollars, it's seriously worth the wait.