Efiwym, my wife, and I decided to start looking at replacing our laminate countertops with stone countertops. Efiwym seemed to be very interested in this project. Unlike other DIY projects where she would just let me take the reins, she wanted a say. That was fine with me, as I sometimes get Monday morning quarterbacked after a project is completed.
Like the projects that were just completed, the drain-tile repair, the stamped-concrete patio, and the re-grading of our backyard, I left those projects to the pros. First, I was done with trying to fix our brick patio, which I believe was the cause of the clogged drain tiles in the basement. Second, I could not stop the backyard from being a swamp after a good rain. I blamed that problem on poor planning when the subdivision was developed and the re-grading of the yard after the pool was removed. And finally, I was getting too old to take on these projects.
So, this project would be done by professionals. However, there will be other DIY side projects after the countertops are installed.
We visited a local granite showroom on Saturday. I am always apprehensive when I must talk with a salesperson about a project for our house. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about house stuff. I done my share of DIY projects, watched plenty of DIY shows and in a past life, I was a home designer. My BS meter gets easily turned on when I talk to these folks. Again, it appears to be sales first, service second.
Nonetheless, we entered the showroom, and we were greeted by a woman who immediately apologized that she would get to us as soon as she finished with the customer she was attending to. When the customer left, she immediately approached us and introduced herself to us. Again, being hesitant to provide too much information, I let Efiwym take the lead and explain our project.
Efiwym let her know we were interested in a low to middle budget friendly countertop installation. Elizabeth, the salesperson said, “No problem,” and proceeded to show us racks of quartz samples to start our search. I already had a drawn-out plan of the dimensions of our kitchen cabinets, so she used it to start entering our information into her computer system.
After she completed that information, she guided us through several samples of quartz along with options for the sink. She put together a quote for four different quartz options and let us take the samples home to see how they looked in our house. She then provided us with two locations where we could visit to see full slabs of the quartz we were interested in purchasing.
We both walked out impressed by the service that Elizabeth had provided. We planned on going to two other showrooms today, but we were so delighted, by our experience, we decided we did not need to look any further. Elizabeth, the bath and kitchen designer, definitely put service first.
Time to look at backsplash options…
