Research Before the 14 Day Appointment

I'm still catching up on posts. I blame it on being busy with grad school and laziness. Probably more laziness.

We had our 14 Day appointment (on our 13th day) on May 25th. After our whirlwind build decision, we took the time to really research (read: overkill) into all the options, selections, colors, tips, tricks, and regrets of other people. If you can have other people make mistakes for you, why not? Or to be more politically correct, "personal choices that we would not choose, but you are a great person and we still like you".

Here's the bottom line. Before your 14 day (and flooring), you will spend much of your free time debating options. Without even considering structural changes, this includes: appliances, extra electrical outlets, water bibs, extra light fixtures, ceiling fan rough ins, kitchen islands, et cetera. My wife spent many a night after our children were asleep staring at a blog, Pinterest, websites, and more.



We spent the largest amount of time on the kitchen, for good reason. You spend a large amount of time there. Of that, the bulk of our discussion surrounded our cabinets. Your mileage may vary. I liked the higher tier cabinets for being all wood and their style. See my cabinet post for excruciating details (but good information).

Our cabinet choices were narrowed down to two main choices Wyoming Cherry Bordeaux and Rushmore Painted Maple Butterscotch Glaze (henceforth known as Butterscotch). Both expensive, but Butterscotch was higher at $4295 versus $3095. But you spend in the kitchen and master bath, and you get a good return on investment (ROI). We were going to put off granite counter tops for a few years since they're "easy to drop on" and to save some money.

In the midst of our research, we visited several model homes to see what they had. I would recommend you do this because it gives you a good idea of what you like. You may hate a kitchen, but then realize it was due to the cabinets, counters, or floors. But, it was here the final details on cabinets came out which affected our selections.

We learned that on May 15th, 2013 Ryan was dropping Wyoming Cherry Bordeaux and adding new white colors. I had learned of the higher quality (see cabinet post again), but didn't know one of our color "finalists" was out. Ouch. That left us with the Butterscotch cabinets. We could theoretically ask for a Non-Standard to get Bordeaux, but those are never guaranteed.

After all of our research, we were prepared for specific options, appliances, and mostly set on our color selection. We would see if we could get Bordeaux and if not, possibly choose Butterscotch.

Next up:  Appliance details