Condo Reno (3rd in a series)

Artists conception of our new kitchen

Design by Boris of Dekla

STATUS UPDATE

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In previous posts in this series on our condo reno project, I have commented on the scope of the work we hope to undertake and on the supplier and material selection options we are trying to make.

Last Wednesday night we went out to meet (for the second time) with Jennie the kitchen designer at Raywal (@ Allstate Parkway in Markham (Hwy 7 & 404 area). She presented us with two alternate kitchen designs. Both had the sink moved off of the peninsula. One had the sink located in the south-west corner and the other had the sink located along the south wall. One design had the cooktop centred on the west wall with the vent-hood revealed above and the other had the cooktop a bit more off-centre with the vent-hood concealed behind cabinetry. She had retained an angle on the peninsula (which is what we have now). Her designs were generally much more angular than the streamlined design (see pic at the top of this post) we have from Dekla. The design also did not have as much of a sleek contemporary look as most of the cabinetry was vertically (rather than horizontally) oriented. We asked Jennie to re-design the peninsula, straightening it out. We also picked a drawer finishing style. She has committed to get back to us with pricing. Unless the pricing comes in significantly below Dekla (and her ballpark WAG suggests it may not) our inclination would be to favour Dekla

After leaving the Raywal showroom, we drove over along Hwy 7 East to Markham Rd and turned north onto Main St. One of our shortlisted contractors (Chuck of Celcon) lives on this street in a historical home that his company completely renovated and Chuck wanted to show us his work in person and also show us pics of some of his other work. We were very impressed with his home. In spite of some technical glitches with his laptop, we also got a good sense of the wide cross section of projects his team have worked on. He showed us some pics from a project they did on Britain St and another on River St that were especially impressive. That being said, he admitted to having had only limited experience working as a general contractor in a condo setting (although he has done some sub-trade work on Queens Quay and is currently working in that capacity in a project up on Cumberland in Yorkville). We discussed project timing with him and it appeared that he could make his team available to start the teardown in late September, when we are expecting to be away on our Med cruise) and proceed to start the re-built immediately thereafter. So we retain hope of completing our project before the holidays. He agreed with us that his quote on floor installation was not competitive with what we got from The Floor Shop and explained that was because his quote was at a carpenter's labour rate and that a carpenter is over-experienced for a floor installation task. So we agreed that we would delete that from his contract. We also posed questions re the concern surfaced by a poster to this blog with respect to the suitability of slate in a water area. Chuck committed to discuss this with his tile-setter and get back to us with feedback.

We are still also hoping to receive a competitive estimate from Trevor at Bryant. We also have references from both Bryant and Celcon to check out. Following that, we expect to sign a contract before we go away on our Bermuda cruise at the end of this month. Celcon uses a standard form contract (which I have a copy of to review)

Today (Saturday) we headed out to Bamco Custom Woodwork in Guelph to meet with Doreen, the kitchen designer there. This is the first time we had been to this showroom or met Doreen (they have been on a plant shutdown. We made our appointment two weeks ago.) Banco manufactures their cabinetry in a Gueph facility adjacent to the showroom. They had one kitchen design (inspired by DolceMano) that they had built for Dynamic Space by Blum in a recent homeshow that we were particular partial towards. It is very sleek. We also liked their dark chocolate brown finished wood panels. Doreen was very thorough in asking questions to determine our preferences and has committed to get back to us with design preferences in short order. It sounds like the pricing could actually come in below Dekla and that they will be able to duplicate the Scavolini European look. Doreen is based in Port Credit and proposed dropping by our house before a photo shoot on Monday afternoon, but that timing did not work for us. In any case we are now looking forward to getting her pricing and cost estimate.

Dorren also gave us a lead on a cabinet supplier in Oakville called Euroline appliances. It is at 2278 Speers Rd. (off Bronte, just south of the QEW) in Oakville. Unfortunately the showroom is not open on Saturdays