A VERY Expensive Inch

I’ll admit I was feeling a bit relaxed.

I’ve heard horror stories of ‘Kitchens Gone Wild’, but we managed to get through the major part of our kitchen renovation with no major snafus (with the exception of that one time when I melted plastic in our oven).

I mean, the granite countertops are installed and they are the most delicious shade of black– especially when the sun shines on it (the color is black pearl granite, for you fellow granite-lovers).

The hardwood floors, while not easy to maintain, are the dark chocolate shade I adore.

As for the cabinets, they’ve been painted and oh la la, what a transformation!

We still need to paint the walls, but I’ve been living with the color swatches to see which ones are pulling ahead in the race to be ‘the one.’  And we need a backsplash, but as long as we get a good coat of paint on the walls that can wait a bit.

Even though we aren’t yet done done just sorta done, I still added a few favorite finds.

You are the bacon to my eggs, why yes, you are!

And wowza, 3 out of 4 major appliances are now stainless steel.

Our one holdout is the refrigerator.  We need a new one since ours is beginning to go, and in stainless to match the other appliances.  Super easy, right?

{you can guess the answer to that one}

Not. Super. Easy.

Thanks to an informative discussion from you guys on Facebook a few weeks back, we’d decided on a french-door style with the freezer on the bottom.  After a lively {read: exhausting} trip to the local appliance store with Noodle and Bee, we’d decided to splurge on a GE Profile with all the bells and whistles.  Since it’s an investment we hope will last awhile, I wanted a few extras like an ice maker with crushed ice and my husband was all about the cubic feet (aren’t they all?)

Deciding to check measurements before ordering, our proverbial bubble was burst when we realized the fridge we wanted– no, actually ALL the fridges in the store– were too tall.  You see, the space we have is 68″ tall.  Most refrigerators run at least 69.5″ tall, and our dream fridge was 70 inches.  In order to replace the one we currently own, we’d need to get an identical model (and the reviews on the only model we could find, ANYWHERE, that would fit rated it at one star.  One star!)

Here’s our decision.  Either we settle for a short and horribly rated fridge, or we pay our contractor $500 to trim the existing cabinet and replace it.  Since the crown moulding at the top runs around it, simply moving the cabinet up wouldn’t look right.  And after shelling out money for a renovation, it would be a shame for it not to look right.  We can’t just remove it because we need continuity with the crown moulding and also the tall board running vertically between the fridge and the counter:

Some pickle we’ve gotten ourselves into, hmmm?  Looks like we’re kissing our super deluxe fridge goodbye and putting the money into trimming the cabinet down two inches.

Two inches and $500.  So much for coming in under budget, right?  :: palm forehead ::