The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

dangers

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Add that I want a double-drainer sink - and I suspect the only way to get that these days is to have "carved out" draining board in a composite stone worksurface.

Excuse me for butting in but you can get a stainless steel sink with double drainer - I'm sure I've seen them in B*Q (but can't now find them on their website) and I've found them through goo*le. We have one but it really has gone past its best.

Softstuff

Mtstm, quartz composite comes in many different colours. Mine is whiteish based with different pale aggregates, even a bit of glass chip look. Downsides, I believe with some force you can chip it (though a specialist can repair it), tumeric or red wine left on it for some time may stain it (there isn't a surface it wouldn't stain). Cutting it can only be done by a contractor who also measures in the first place. One wrong measurement and it's no good.

This is the sink I'd like:
http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/30270095/

A double drainer is available in a similar style, but not at ikea and it's a lot dearer.

I'm not getting induction, I'm going ceramic. Tried my mother in laws induction, don't like it.

moneyistooshorttomention

Out of interest - why didnt you like the induction hob Softstuff?

Vague memories of having that type of hob in a holiday place I stayed in - and it feeling like "hit and miss" whether the hob was actually on or no (and they hadnt left instructions for it). With my ceramic one - its "same as usual" and just turn the knob to the level of whatever heat I want.

Looks like it will be a Neff cooker I have - so hoping they do ceramic hobs. Though I guess there's no reason not to have an oven from Neff and a hob (if need be) from some other firm. There must be another German firm out there...or Swiss or Dutch.....

Re your point on "cutting of it (ie quartz) worktop can only be done by the contractor who measures it in the first place" - Wickes have told me their first stage of process is someone coming out to measure my kitchen. I very much doubt that someone would be the person that would fit the worktops - so I guess I have to say to them that I will be expecting a specific worktop contractor out to measure for that? I guess that's the type of worksurface a bodger can't just "bodge together" with putting in a bit of sealant I wasnt expecting/won't accept if they cut literally 2 mm. short of what it should be?

Is trying not to think too much about workmen at the moment. I've just woken up to a phone message by today's workman for another job doing a "Pembrokeshire Promise" on me (ie letting me down for today - for what sounds like a totally non-viable reason to me). Grrrr and thinking "But he's charging me a national level hourly rate for the job - so how come he does 'Pembrokeshire Promises' ? If he's going to PP people - then he should charge a West Wales rate (ie £10-£12 per hour - not the £15 I'd expect to have paid before I moved).". I guess that (and another factor that gets my goat....) are two of the reasons why my own area is "booming" and this one isn't....

It's just as well for him that I've not got a job any longer - as I'd be just turning up at work after all today and telling the boss that I've changed my mind about having a day's holiday for a workman and they may not be very pleased. Grr to all these workman who are convinced (against all evidence to the contrary) that every household has a "Traditional Woman" there ready to bend according to all their whims. Not this household - it's got a "person" here - with a Life to Lead.

mrssnowy_2

Morning all,in the last throes of new kitchen,and absolutely thrilled with it.
Chippendale handle-less white gloss with oak worktops and stone sink!!!
I have been oiling/sanding the worktops,very easy job and they look lovely.Wipe up spills and use trivets/boards to put things down on or work off,which is how I have always worked anyway.
Old house (family home) that I have recently moved in to-one of those jobs that needed something else doing each time I turned round.
Ceiling and 2 big walls that needed plaster boarding and plastering,decorator coming next week.
The old dresser has stayed with a bit of refurb. Must be 70 plus years old and painted rubbish pine with plain wood worktop. Good contrast with the high gloss.
Fantastic local workmen, and local building supplies, all really very helpful and so good-my goodness they drink a lot of tea/coffee,and got rid of lots of cake out of the freezer.
Win win ,they helped empty the calories for me.
Waiting for electrics to be completed,over and under cabinet LED lights.
I love my German cooker and I live in Mid-Wales .
Sorry for the long post but I am over the moon with it,in case you hadn't guessed.
Have loved hearing about everyone elses kitchens, lots of choices and decisions for everyone.Whether you are a keen cook or a just to eat cook it is a challenge to get it pleasingly right.
Keep warm all
mrss

Floss

Money, what seems a "totally non-viable reason" to one person may be a real and perfectly understandable reason to someone else. Please don't continue to malign and complain about the workers and residents of the area in which you chose to live. There are plenty of low-cost areas on the coast with easy access to beautiful countryside (such as the Fylde coast where I live - go & google it) where you could live, and experience real problems, not 3rd-world ones like yours.

camelot1001

Your kitchen sounds fab snowy, you sound so happy!

Lots of my kitchen floor now missing due to the visitors in the floorboards. All the socket boxes are in and part of the wall re-built (it was only single brick and wobbled when the door frame was removed!). Although there is a lot of mess and a hole in the floor, the chaps have made amazing progress.

ginnyknit

Hello all, just popped by to see how everyone is. Belated Birthday wishes to Hester and Burtha.

Keeping busy here despite having had bursitis and carpal tunnel in my left arm. Had steroid injections yesterday and much better already. Trying to make a beautiful Christmas for the family on a shoe string. Thank goodness you all trained me well :T

Hubby not so good nowadays but his new anti d's have made him a little more stable. I don't know what we would have done without our new doctors as they are amazing.

I haven't been able to knit, sew or crochet for a month :eek: so I drove everyone mad instead

The injection sent me a little like Tigger ( as a good friend said it might) so have had a very busy day with the bicarb and vinegar.

On Monday our DS put lining paper up in Dgs bedroom here as I stripped it weeks ago when it really got on my nerves. Now it looks lovely and just needs emulsion then I will dress it with all the things I have made plus pirate bedding my Mum bought him. Of course I am now looking at the rest of the house and tutting at it.

Sending hugs to all xx

pollyanna_26

Lovely to see you ginny . Sorry you haven't been too good , steroid injections make such a difference as do good doctors - bless em . Glad dh is more stable . It's really odd but this is the second time you've popped when I've been thinking of you . Was talking to fuds on the other thread about vertical gardening which took me back . I'm pretty sure you did container and possibly vertical gardening some years ago .The bedroom sounds perfect , look after yourself - try not to be a stranger .
polly x

Hard_Up_Hester

Lovely to see you posting Ginny, glad things aren't too bad for you.

mardatha

Lovely to see you back in here ginny- you always had such good advice and ideas
I'm very excited meself today - going out tonight - up to Edinburgh to see the xmas lights and the tree. Not been out at all since July apart from the car door-to-door to Sainsburys or Costco, and once the hairdresser. Not walked about on a street among people- I feel like Robinson Crusoe lol getting off his island
Did anybody watch the BBC prog on Fair Isle? Life on the Edge or something like that. That English girl isn't going to make it is she.. I loved the look of the place and could manage the weather fine, but I'm not sure about the feeling of being cooped up with people 24/7 with no way out. Nowhere to get away from your neighbours. Here where I am you can go weeks in winter without seeing more than one neighbour in the street... up on FI they seem to do everything together and that would wear on my nerves, I like some solitude and peace. *grumpy unsociable old bat* :D