If you thought signing with your builder meant the end of your hard work, you are more mistaken than if you thought DJ Jazzy Jeff was a suitable replacement for Grandmaster Flash.

(Obscure reference, agreed, but if you are an avid Sun reader, you'll get it ...)

We just met with the first contractor of a half-dozen or so that we'll be working with over the next few months.

Our builder, Trevor Markevich (or Neo, as we like to call him) of Mannington Custom Homes, provided us with an extensive list of suppliers and sub-trades after we signed with him last week. This included several choices for most suppliers, to ensure that we find people who not only provide quality products and workmanship but who are also on our wavelength.

We'd already done some rooting around and selected some of the people we know to provide quality work, at a reasonable price, with minimal pain or anal probing.

Our first supplier meeting was with the cabinet man.

Because we're looking at an open plan for our living-kitchen-eating trifecta, our designer "suggested" (demanded) we give our kitchen cabinets serious "consideration" (cash dollars) when planning.

This means we need to think of the kitchen cabinets as furniture, as they will be visible from the entertaining areas.

FOCAL POINT

When we requested quotes from our builder finalists, we were thinking more along the lines of "simple and clean" for the kitchen.

But, our new approach will mean an increase in the kitchen budget.

This is something we're prepared to accept, though, as it will be the focal point of our entertaining area. It's where people will be drawn when we have
company, and we want to make sure it lives up to their scrutiny.

It was evident after our first meeting with our man Matt at Gateway Kitchen and Bath Centre that he clearly knows his stuff. He quickly ran through all of our options, and the impact said options would have on price.

Needless to say, we could go all the way from bare bones and come in below our allowance, up to the Taj Mahal and bring the cabinet budget in line with that of a Porsche Carrera C4.

While we're prepared to up the ante, we're not looking to trade our kidneys for cabinets.

Matt came up with some brilliant ideas during our initial consult. Everything from the type of wood to use to the placement of the appliances and major work areas.

My wife and I agreed on several elements -- that we want to go with a beadboard finish, reminiscent of the Craftsman style we're going for, and that we want a wood veneer with a cinnamon-ish colour scheme.

While we're still in the preliminary stages of planning the cabinet layouts, it's clear that we're going to add to our budget in a fairly big way in order to achieve the proper look and feel.

It's the one constant when custom-building -- you can always find a way to make things more expensive. It's good to plan for that going in, and budget accordingly.

While there are categories and options that could, conceivably, bring the overall price down a few dollars, chances are the perfect option will also be the priciest.

And this is just the beginning... Wait until we go over our plumbing fixtures, flooring options, lighting plan...

How much is that Super 7 jackpot this week?