So on Friday I signed all the drawings and brought them and a rather larger check too the Henrybuilt showroom in Soho. My kitchen will be going into the production queue sometime next week and will be arriving on the January truck.

I have to say that the whole design process with Julianna, the Henrybuilt architect, was really a pleasure. There were three rounds of drawings which involved at least two meetings with my architects, Peter and Jim, about three to four meetings with me (some at my current apt., some at the showroom and some "on site" which had to occur after 5pm so as not to interfere with the demo/mold remediation crew working there.)

Julianna worked very hard to make sure that my needs as the client were met, both financially (they were willing to bring their price down somewhat) and design wise (I got my left hinge freezer and fridge columns, my shoe drawers in the coat closet, my open to the kitchen microwave and toaster-oven cubbies, etc.) and would simply state all the options and let me decide what I wanted. We went through my appliance list a few times to make sure that there was a place for everything on my list (including my internet radio and my Kitchenaid mixer) and had no problem making design changes to accommodate my needs - like getting rid of the undersink drawer (which is standard in their kitchens) so I could have the everpure undersink seltzer dispenser (yahhh!).

She also worked very well with my architects who ended up changing their mind a few times about some design details which were incorporated into the pass through/eat-in counter and involved what seemed to me a very complicated coordination of measurements.

The last meeting that we had before sign-off required confirmation of all the measurements which she executed with my contractor, Don. Henrybuilt is very careful about building in to the design a few extra inches wherever there are raw edges, which can be cut down to size - to prevent for every worse case scenario with installation. Needless to say, Don was very impressed with this exercise in checking and double checking of measurements.

One cost savings we were able to make was in the choice of wood for the wall of cabinets (floor to ceiling) at the entry way and for the upper cabinets in the kitchen (the lower will be HPL in "precision white"). I really preferred the look of the quarter sawn walnut over the plain sawn but to use the QSW would have added about 25% in cost to the total price of the kitchen. Julianna agreed to have them make the "carcasses" of the cabinets in PSW and only the door fronts in QSW - which saved me quite a lot of money. This way all the wood that you see will be of straight grain and the interiors of the cabinets and shelves will have more grain movement to them (who cares about the insides of the cabinets, right?).

The next step for me is to keep pushing to get my vent hood permit. The kitchen has been designed for the Prestige proline hood, venting to the outside. She also did a drawing to show how things could be moved to accommodate the vent-a-hood ARS (recirculating) hood if I can't get the permit - so I'm basically covered for all scenarios. My architect got the drawings to the coop board for their architect's approval and then it all goes to the DOB. We are going to try to vent through an existing, empty air-conditioning sleeve that is in the window ABOVE the kitchen window. Thankfully because of the existence of this empty sleeve we do not require any external alterations which would have not gotten though landmarks. Keep your fingers crossed for me that the DOB allows us to vent!

I can also now order my appliances (for delivery in early january?) - so I guess I'll be calling Trevor at Eurostoves soon!

I'll give you another update after the new year when the cabinets arrive!

thanks to everyone for their feedback at various points in the process!

sadie