Kitchen Culture phone call

I received a phone call from Kitchen Culture yesterday. My heart was racing. It could only mean bad news! Last year, receiving a call from them was like getting blood from a stone.

The call was from a lovely consultant, Isabella, to say that they had noticed that our microwave provision was higher than standard. KC wanted to check that we were OK with this. Our provision is 10cm higher than standard. To change it, it would mean gaining 10cm in the upper cupboards and losing 10cm from the appliance cupboard. Looking at the diagram below, I am pretty sure that it OK and with the hope that our children will start to use the kitchen more regularly, moving it down 10cm can only be a good thing.
Thankyou Kitchen Culture for your proactive approach - if you took your time to call the customer, it must be something you felt was important!

Kitchen post - Quiet rainy day

No work is being done today even though it hasn't rained at all since about 7:30am and in fact we have had glorious sunshine since late this morning. Boy, the rain was heavy last night though - it kept me awake between asthma attack and toothache for different children.

I have had a few people ask me about the prices for different upgrades int he kitchen. I am happy to share them on here though note, it will be different for every kitchen depending on measurements. Kitchen Culture (supplier for Eden Brae Homes) was by far, our worst experience so far in the building journey. As I have mentioned before, their customer service is lacking. I feel this is mainly due to not having any competition - we have to use KC. Some clients like to complete their own upgrades after settlement to save the builders markup. We are aiming to do as much as we can up front for convenience, tidiness and the guarantee.

These are the upgrades we got through them :-

In the kitchen :-
* Reconfigure the kitchen to be L-shaped (needed as we relocated the kitchen) - $2000
* Provide fridge run including appliance roller cupboard & 2 others above & below - $1850
* Provide additional tall cupboard to the side of fridge for brooms - $850
* Pull out, soft close bin drawer with 2x20L bins - $700
* Relocate cutlery drawers - $330
* Additional pot drawers with 30kg runners - $720
* Overhead cabinets - $1300
* Bulkheads to overhead cabinets - $650
* Provision for overhead cupboard lights - $176
* Soft close drawers - $1150
* Soft close door buffers - $220
* Provide 2 row wine rack above fridge space - $620
* 2 Hettich cutlery trays - $147
* Caesarstone upgrade - $2000
* Two tone kitchen - $500
* Silk finish to white laminex - $1230
* Undermount sink including polishing fee - $1000

In the bathrooms :-
* Stone benchtops - $2200 (powder, main & ensuite)
* Drawers to main vanity - $350
* Silk finish - $320

In the laundry :-
* Laminex benchtop to run the length of the laundry - $2150
* Laminex shelf underneath this - $277

Upgrades to taps, toilets, baths etc were on top of this at Cooks Plumbing appointment ($2000)

Finally ALL good!

.....though I am worried about DiLorenzo supplying the goods when it comes time. I mean, if they can't get a quote right on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th attempt, will they be able to supply the correct tiles & carpet in the correct quantities??
Dealing with DiLorenzo has taken up soooo much time - almost as much as Kitchen Culture did. EBH, in my opinion, really need to look at the outside companies they work with. For mine, they are letting down the process and ultimately EBH.
Cooks Plumbing - by far the best & most efficient.
Abbey Blinds - seem to be better at the moment & depends on your consultant.
Outback Landscaping - offered me an outrageously expensive quote for a driveway. No thanks!
Kitchen Culture - based on my experience lacking customer service & a headache to deal with
Electricals - no complaints here but a tedious appointment
DiLorenzo - dodgy marketing (my opinion), time delays on quotes, incorrect quotes, time delays to amend quotes, lack of customer focus (well they have our custom already, don't they?)

All quotes are now in. Waiting for them all to be converted to PCVs and sent to me for signatures - electricals, staircase, tiles, carpets, extra externals taps.

Kitchen

We finally received our Kitchen Culture drawings this afternoon so I will run through the kitchen selections with you. Enjoy!

THE BENCHTOP - CAESARSTONE OSPREY

THE ISLAND BENCH - SMOKEY SAPELLE

THE FRIDGE RUN & COOKTOP RUN - LAMINEX SILK FINISH WHITE

TILED SPLASHBACK IN A WOODGRAIN LOOK (will be narrower 'planks' and in more of a brick pattern)

TILES ON FLOOR IN KITCHEN/MEALS/FAMILY/RUMPUS etc -

PULLOUT BIN A LITTLE LIKE THIS

DRAWER ORGANISERS

AND THE 3D DRAWINGS!

COOKTOP RUN

FRIDGE RUN

Eden Brae are proving to be SLOW at the moment

And this is being experienced by a few of my fellow H1 members too. This is more a to-do list for me but these are the things that need following up.
1) Quote for a bulkhead in the laundry 07/08 - not needed according to CSA 16/08.
2) Quote for the change in front doors & rumpus sliding doors to Madison 06/08 - received & accepted
3) Follow through on wardrobe shape in main 02/08 - not needed as will leave as is.
4) Quote for extra aircon vents to the laundry, main bathroom & ensuite 14/08

Also waiting on.....
1) Kitchen, bathroom & laundry 3D drawings from Kitchen Culture 17/07 received 22/08 accepted 22/08
2) Answers from electrical guy to tie that variation up 14/08 (DONE 17/08 - accepted)
3) Details from Di Lorenzo for tiles, carpet & kitchen splashback 14/08
4) Quote from Abbey Blinds though won't hold my breath - someone is still waiting on their quote from NOV 2011!!) 14/08
5) Quote from Genneral Stairs for balustrading 14/08 - received & approved
6) Relocation of gas point from inside to outside 14/08
7) Images of wardrobes from HOG 07/08  Received 24/08
8) Image of standard mirrors from HOG 16/08

Fiddly bits and followups

It has been a while since I have posted an update. Nothing major has happened just loads more research on the forums to see what others are doing and going back through emails to see if there is any item that seems to have fallen through the cracks.

1) The pool contract is here for some light bedtime reading. Hmmmm, I just love reading all that fine print. I also need to talk to the mortgage broker soon to see if we need to take the pool allowance out of the EBH contract as Concept Pools are not related in any way to EBH. (This is more a little note to myself than of any great interest to anyone!)

2) Waiting to hear back from the estimators on the Madison front door and door to rumpus room as pictured below.

3) Still waiting to hear about the shape of our Bed 1 robes - the plan has them as Ushaped but the design of the fitout from Wardrobe World is named L-shaped. Don't want 2/3 of the robes not shelved!

4) Not being au fait with reading plans, I have been a little in the dark about measurements of certain things in my house. This has been highlighted when planing the luxuriously large laundry. No-one has told me what sort of material the laundry cupboards will be made of - laminex? No, gyprock inside, architraves and flush doors. No heights, depths etc. Discovered the height of them which does not go to the ceiling. Now I am waiting on estimating to get back to me on a quote for a bulkhead over these cupboards - I really do not want an open space above the cupboards for dust and lint to collect (or for me to dump stuff!) I am guessing that the picture below, from a display home, are the standard height.

 

5) Caught EBH out on a little error this week too. Reading through a PCV for me to sign there was an extra charge for $494 to install 2 upgraded freestanding baths. Pretty sure that the baths I selected were not freestanding (don't want them) and even if I did, there was no mention of this when I signed the Cooks Plumbing quote. A quick apology was made when I pointed this out to them. I reckon some clients might just sign away without checking too carefully.

6) Finished all my variations (I hope) with Kitchen Culture for the kitchen (obviously), bathroom vanities and the laundry benches. Waiting on my 3D drawings and plans which will take approximately another 2 weeks.
I really wish EBH used more than one company for their fittings etc (kitchen, electricals, flooring etc) These companies know that we are 'stuck' with using them so there is no competitive pricing at all and customer service could be better.
Whilst I am on suggestions for EBH, I will note here for future reference (mine) that my idea would be to have another level of inclusions called Platinum (or the like) for clients like me who seem to want all the upgrades. They could include things like, but not limited to, glass splashback, stone tops in kitchen & bathrooms, wallfaced toilets, raised ceilings/doors, softclose drawers, pot drawers, 2 DPOs per room, more TV points, more data points, overhead cupboards in kitchen & laundry, higher category of carpet & tiles.......
Anyone else on my wavelength?

Ramble over now. Excited about Tuesday's appointment - electrical, window coverings, staircase and floor coverings. I am sure there will be a big post on Tuesday or Wednesday!

Kitchen

Well, Kitchen Culture finally came back to me after I called yesterday leaving a message & rang first thing this morning. M said that it was on the top of her pile and that I would have it by lunchtime. Yep! Got it and it includes one extra 'number crunch' in it. After 51/2 working days, I was expecting 3D diagrams at least. To change the kitchen bench from the original design (which doesn't work since we relocated the kitchen) to an L shaped one to create a walkway of 1m, the quote is nearly $2K. We were told by EBH prior to tender and also Kitchen Culture last week that it would be minimal. $2K? Minimal? I have asked for a breakdown of these costs and measurements of each design.
I have also questioned the bulkheads that we are paying for in our Kitchen Culture proposal. The EBH plan already has them noted. Are we paying twice for these? Hopefully not!
Not happy at all with the Kitchen Culture experience.

Actually got a response within a few hours this time. I asked for the breakdown of cost & measurements. We are having an extra lineal metre of bench which will cost $1617 plus GST for cabinetry & stone bench. Doesn't add up to the $1806 plus GST on the original variation so I am a little confused.

Cabinetry cannot be reduced in size to accommodate a breakfast bar overhang so of course, we need more Caesarstone!

I wish Eden Brae had warned us of the snowball effect when making changes - relocating the kitchen has meant soooooo much extra unforeseen money!