Spatula, oh spatula, where out thou?

AAARRGGGGHH, I just wanted the last bit of my yummy "lobstah" salad for lunch and this was the only spatula I could find! REALLY?

Yes that's right, a crummy little, bent up, melted, dollar store spatula...Ridiculous, I stomped up to the "gift room" to find one, afterall, I recieved every single kitchen utility tool that was ever invented...but all I found was this:

You got it lots and lots of bubble wrap AND this:

even MORE boxes...

So since it is Spring (well at least it feels like here in the Midwest today), I am going to think happy thoughts!

Our builder tells us, framing should be complete in two weeks. Crap, I guess that means we should stop procrastinating the brick & stone choice.

Anywho, back to happy thoughts, we have our appliances narrowed down to two brands for each appliance. The sneaky Eletrolux rep at the monstrosity of an appliance store we shopped at this weekend, convinced us we need Electrolux! They are oh sooo shiny and sleek!

Refrigerator, now this is a big one, one brand is significantly more than the other:

1)GE

2) Lux

Bar Fridge:
1) GE

2) Lux

Oh yay, that is a blue LED on the INSIDE of the fridge to illuminate my brewskis

Double convection oven
1)GE

2) Lux

Did you notice the pretty blue inside?

36" cooktop
1) LUX

2) GE

Dishwasher
1) KitchenAid (which is rated by consumer reports to be the QUIETEST) and is nice and big inside, we eliminated the Bosch because the inside is TEENY TINY

2) Lux which is rated at 45dB

Lastly Microwave..remember our microwave will be UNDER the island, do we get this cool drawer:

Or do I go with the "el cheapo" microwave since it will be under the island?

Hmmm...decisions decisions? I have mulled over forums, consumer reports, you name it, I just don't know what to do, this really shouldn't be such a monumental decision! (oh yeah, I never found a spatula, so I had to use my fingers)

**by no means is the blogger promoting or endorsed by the above mentioned brands, looking strictly for opinions or donations :)

Appliances! We need INPUT please!! (and thank you!)

Our house still is a skeleton of wood however, we just heard that appliances will be increasing in cost by 10-12% by May! Yikes! That's a lot especially since we have to buy a shiz-ton of appliances.
Here is an "artistic" representation of what our kitchen will look like from a bird's eye view...

I know it looks small, click on it to see details :) (The microwave will be in the island not on top of the island)

So we need a lot of appliances = lots of $$$$
1) Counter Depth Fridge
2) Microwave drawer or Conventional Microwave?
3) Double Wall Ovens
4) 36" Gas Cooktop
5) 36" Chimney Hood
6) Dishwasher-I don't even want to know it is RUNNING!!
7) Beverage/Bar Fridge
8) Warming drawer? (Maybe under the 36" cooktop?)

What are your favorite brands? What can't you live without?

By the way, here is what my kitchen looks like as of 3/9/2011...

How in the furck* will I fit all my appliance in this teeny tiny space??

*(thank you rantsfrommmommyland for the new word)

HOLY HELL we have a basement! ( framed walls and cement floors, OH MY!)

I have to say, I'm pretty excited about this, I grew up in a ranch with a "mini" basement. What's a mini-basement you ask? Well, see when I was a kid, I felt like the crawl space was a perfect size for me until I was about 10! I loved it, it had a secret entry (a carpet trap door in my parents' closet) and I always could find mini-spotted dinosaurs (salamanders) down there.

So in our home our basement floors have been poured and the basement framing has begun!

The WALK-OUT basement...

The walls of the basement (blankets are covering the cement to keep it toasty, warm and dry!)

How cute is my niece? Really? Thanks to Stephanie & Ryan for taking the pictures while we were out of town on business with our camera!

Dave went out to the site today and guess what he saw?? MORE WALLS!!???!? Yippee!
(I apologize for the quality of picture, but he took the camera out & it was dead, so he used his Blackberry Camera)

These are the walls of the master bedroom & bathroom..that long window is a beautiful transom window that I would like to be stained glass, the foreman almost fell over laughing when I told him that..I guess that means it would be expensive?

I'm still taking donations...