Friday, November 2, 2007

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.

1 Comments:

Blogger Happy said...

Very cool outcome! I'm hopeful and excited about the IKEA kitchen coming this Monday after seeing yours. The cabinets turned our well against the red walls, and I especially like the steel covers you used. Where does the stove/range go?

As for counters, you can also check out a local granite shop nearby and find out if they have any extra slabs that match your quest. And if they're close by, delivery and service price goes down.

November 3, 2007 at 6:20 PM  

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