Silly Trends -

Mike Finley

Some silly trends I have seen around here...

Viking ranges in kitchens - Need we even talk about it? What percentage of homeowners who buy these actually need the capacity or reliability of Viking in their kitchen? If a Kenmore is $450 and a Viking is $6500 is it illogical to believe there is probably something in between that would be better suited?

Bamboo floors - can you even sand this stuff and refinish it?

Concrete counter tops - about as practical as limestone or marble in a kitchen.

Refrigerator with Internet access - I'm not even going to talk about that one.

That's just the tip of the ice berg, what have you seen?

KillerToiletSpider

All the jobs we do get a Viking or a Wolfe stove, the funny thing is most of the homeowners don't cook.

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A flush is better than a full house.

GENERAL.cc

making the cement finish on a tile roof look like a 6 year old through the mud.

2 family rooms

wine cellars

different color kitchen island cabinets

2 subzeros

KentWhitten

Viking has to be the king company of illogical thinking. The condo project I was on, I saw a few things about Viking that made me wonder who was running that ship.

The granite countertop guys came in and grabbed the cooktop instruction manual for their cutouts required. Little did they know that the particular Viking cooktop, from the underside was not centered by a long shot. The cooktop was offcenter very noticeably and ended up ruining an expensive granite slab.

I was installing a wall oven and looked at the depth chart and it said 24" depth required. Hmmm, well, if I had a regular cabinet installed, that would mean I would have to take out the entire back of the cabinet which would mean taking it down and cutting the hole.

Their microwave ovens easily weigh double of a regular microwave.

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Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

Gordo

Vessel bowls in the kids bath.

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Looks like some pros were here.

lawndart

Mike, It's all about going "green" with Bamboo floors nowadays

woodmagman

The simple fact that trends are followed by those that have enough income to toss to the wind is why we are in business…
Hence the term disposable incomes….we market to those people…don’t we?
The easiest sale is the customer that wants the finial outcome to look like the one in the newest magazine.
Disposable income is just junk money, why not purchase junk with it...!

mdshunk

Silly to one, not so silly to another.

I like to preserve a customer's right to want something I think is silly. Besides, it gives the subs something to talk to each other about when the homeowner is away from the jobsite. We can talk about how normal we are, and how weird the customer is.

POOLMANinCT

hot tub (not a spa) pool combos, only useful 3 months a year..... must be winterized.....

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......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

ron schenker

Lath and plaster walls......just kidding.

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Don't worry, the baseboard will hide it!

jiggyjack

On an old episode of Night Court, Bull the Bailiff made concrete forms and poured himself a couch.

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I used to be rich, Then I got Married.

troubleseeker

Along the same thought as commercial appliances in home kitchens. What the hell is wrong with all appliance manufacturers. They are into some kind of stupid "SUV size" everything. I guess this is purely from the marketing dept, so they can advertise that their oven is .3 cubic feet bigger than anyone else's. There is a need for a common sense check when they have to include a line in their installation manuel that says "check the depth of the oven cabinet before installing to wall, the back may have to be removed for depth clearance".
Recently had to remove the feet from one of those damn "tall tub" dishwashers for it to even fit under the countertop. This was a topset granite top, so there was no loss of height to any overhanging buildown. Looked at he dimensions in the installatiton manuel and see the height is
34 3/8", how could it not fit, after all they had allowed a whole 1/8" clearance. Lazy tile man forgot to have the machine shop guys come by to mill his tile perfectly flat.
And on cooktops, why do the cabinet people always sell a cabinet full of deep "pot drawers" for the cooktop unit. Nine out of ten times we have to trash the top drawer and make a false front out of it. The other time we happen to get one of the thin profile cooktops and only have to rip and inch or two off the depth of the drawer and modify the back corner to clear the gas regulator.
Relating to the Viking range topic. We recently had a woman who argued for days that we had installed her range wrong because it stuck out 8" beyond the surrounding cabinets. She could not accept the fact that when you buy a range unit that is 6 " deeper than the cabinets, plus gains another 2" when you add the factory backsplash and heat spacer, it is going to stick out of the cabinets substantially. DAAH..did you fail basic arithmetic in fourth grade.
Lots more, but I'll let other have a shot at them. Glad to see that it is not just me, with my cynical nature that gets riled at this stupidity.
We should have the power to call the factory and have them send the engineer who designed such lunacy out to do the installations. I bet things would be designed a lot different when next years models arrived. Same for architects who desigh houses with 25 intersecting roof lines, and 30' tall roofs that feed water down to an abutting vertical wall.

RYANINMICHIGAN

Fireplace In Bathroom

mikenewman@fron

How about crystal ceiling light fixture in teenage daughter's bed room, Gold metal flake walls in same bedroom, 1200 dollar faux finish in 12 year olds bedroom. 25,000 dollar gas grill. More later Mike

Second Look

FedEx Freight is delivering my Wife's bamboo floors next week. Based on the samples, it looks like pretty good stuff, and a very sustainable resource since bamboo is fast growing. I hadn't exactly planned on refinishing them.

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Second Look home improvement www.SecondLookHome.com
Handyman and Home Repair Specialist in Rhode Island
RI Licensed Lead Safe Remodeler/Renovator, RI Registered & Insured Contractor

joasis

I love concrete countertops......goes well with acid stained floors, and I bet they are here to stay. My wife wants one of the super ranges in our new home.....but the kitchen is designed for it.

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Tscarborough

Let me just say that simply because you CAN stick a fake rock to a surface does not mean you SHOULD.

KillerToiletSpider

My wife has a Viking 6 burner with two ovens, but she is also a trained chef, and makes all of the bread and pasta that the family eats from scratch.

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A flush is better than a full house.

BigMikeB

Some of my favorites:

Outdoor kitchens that need an 1 1/2" gas line with an alarm kill solenoid, a 1" hot and cold feed, and 100 amp breaker panel.

A pool island bar that needs 10ton a/c rtu but the room isn't fully enclosed???

Landing lights for the heliport 1200' from the closest panel.

"But the HO wants the tower to look like a lighthouse"

Mixing valves for all the toilets, they may sweat.

Pizza ovens that need open air space to the surrounding cabinets.

Fire suppression systems in home kitchens.

That's just the last few months. And we only do residential for good customers that pay bills for their business on time. Thank God.

ron schenker

$1300 dual flush toilets. How long will your R.O.I. take?

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Don't worry, the baseboard will hide it!