Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

I spent THREE HOURS yesterday at the local plumbing supply place - who knew there were so many choices? I flipped thru half a dozen catalogs, compared products to what I had found on the 'net, and made some FINAL decisions about our new home.

Gotta give Roger some credit, however, as he selected the brick:He is on the home computer right now, researching carpets. The hippie in him would love to go "all green" and "recycled" materials. I wish we could, too, but as we learned during our research of solar-powered hot water heaters, the prices make it infeasible. Maybe the next house will be more "green." Right now, I want energy efficiency.

I finally settled on a kitchen faucet combination - after consulting with various experts. Evidently, the faucets that double as a pull-out sprayer can be a pain, so I went with a traditional setup. I wonder if I'll use the side sprayer. I've never had one before, but I figured it will help for resale purposes. I've been washing dishes by hand for the last 14 years, so it will be nice to have a dishwasher. But let's not rush things. Appliances seem like a huge challenge after yesterday's ordeal. The kitchen sink - you've seen in a previous post. Are you surprised at which one I settled on?This one has 8" deep basins, and with the elongated faucet, I think I'll have plenty of room to manuever large pots for rinsing.

Next is something the plumber dude talked me into. I was ready to go with just regular shower stuff in the master bath, but evidently, side sprayers don't cost that much. Our new shower arrangement will look something like this:And yes, that's me, sampling products in the showroom. And you just thought he talked me into the fixtures.

I had to give up the stainless steel finish because of the product choices, but as the plumber dude explained - showers are usually trimmed in chrome, and the fixtures will be hidden behind glass doors. So no one will really notice that they don't match the finish of the bathroom faucets EXACTLY.

I'm still not sure how I feel about a sprayer that hits me square in the bellybutton. And I learned something new about my husband - I didn't realize before how much he utilizes our current hand sprayer in the shower.

These are the bath faucets - two for our master bath, one for the guest bath, and one for Amber's bath:I had a fancy-schmancy pedestal sink picked out for the guest bath - Roger and I had both agreed on it. Then I saw the fancy-schmancy price, and figured I didn't like my friends THAT much. So we settled on a more reasonable pedestal sink. I figure the stainless fixture pictured above will look much nicer than what is pictured here:Also figured all of the toilets should be the same, so settled on a Kohler "comfort height" model. Wish I had photos of me sitting on all the toilets in the plumbing store - but if you ever replace a toilet, I can tell you that the height of this one is much more comfortable. I wanted to settle in and read a book on it:Our master bath will have a whirlpool tub, mostly for resale purposes since EVERYONE has one. I never have time for a bath. Here is the whirlpool fixture, with the exception that the handles will be brushed stainless, unlike the ones in this photo:And, the whirlpool tub:Who knows, I might actually learn to relax and use it.

Oh, and you boys out there will appreciate this. Roger has joked about wanting a urinal in his music studio, so I decided to go for it. This was a nice one, without all that exposed plumbing:Since Roger is the primary bathroom cleaner, I figured he earned it. (When I get my face close to a toilet, I want to vomit. Must be a reflex from those college partying days.)

I couldn't find a photo of Amber's shower/tub combination, but I picked out a larger than normal one, so that she'd have plenty of room to maneuver.

Okay - more than you wanted to know, but I'm pleased that we've made some DECISIONS! Let me know your thoughts!