I must remain calm, I must remain calm, I mus........

[Rick Potter]

Well, here I sit. It's oh-dark-thirty, and I have a kitchen that is literally gone, right down to and including the floor joists. We meant to redo the kitchen at a nice relaxed pace, one wall at a time. That is when we found out how out of flat the floor was.

So, down to the dirt it went, and my buddy the framer installed I-beam (TJI) floor joists 12" on center to hold up the new kitchen. For the last couple weeks we do dishes in the garage laundry sink, and cook in the microwave in the enclosed patio.

Meanwhile, for the last year, I had been buying up the best, straightest grained red oak I could find, a couple boards at a time. I also had made up nice sample pieces of oak, stained with every color Minwax makes, and also mixed several together till we had the perfect color (three parts Early American, and one part Red Oak, if you want to know). Then the bombshell hit this evening. My bride decided that maybe a MAPLE kitchen would look better.

Not a good time to start from scratch. Did I mention that the whole house has been under renovation or addition for four years?

AAARRRRGH.

Rick Potter

[Andrew Minear]

Rick....try working up a test piece of the red oak to show LOYL. Sand to 180 grit, fill the pores....I like Constantine's or Pore-O-Pac. And finish with a water based urethane. The color is quite different than red oak with poly, more like some maple finishes. It's worth a try.

Andrew

[Steve Leverich]

I would find a piece of maple, do a quick(did I mean sloppy, un-filled or sized) coat of some light stain, and show it to her along with your best oak test - I'd think there's a good chance the blotchy maple would re-sell the oak...

[Larry Edgerton]

You are looking at this all wrong!

I find Maple to be totally boring, but if that is what the little lady wants, that is what she should have.

Because now you will have a stash of nice red oak for other projects! So important to build up that stash.......

[Fred Belknap]

My wife is constantly comming up with remodeling ideas. Some are very good but sometimes I have to use the words, "Wont Happen No WAY". I got a nice dog house.

[Prashun Patel]

I feel your pain!
Just take deep breaths, stash your oak and start shopping for maple.
The pain you feel now is nothing compared to the stabs you'll get once (if) the oak goes up and you gotta hear 'I always wanted maple' for the rest of yr life....

[Robert Reece]

Hi Rick-

I have been remodeling for almost 6 years. It is 6 years ago almost to the day that we had a huge rain storm and my roof leaked a tiny, tiny bit. So I did the rational thing and dug a basement under my house and tore the roof off and put on a second story. 6 years later, I am wrestling with the kitchen, the last big project. Of course I have to work out some bugs in the shop first ... It's exciting stuff! Life is chaos, you better get used to it!

Specifically on your cabinets, I like maple more than red oak. However, I am sure you can determine what it is your wife likes about maple and possibly work the red oak towards what she likes. Or maybe not, might be easier to just move onto the maple and not worry about it. But since you have your kitchen down to nothing, you better get started!

Rob

[Mike Heidrick]

Much easier to do it right now than hear about it for the next 50+ years.

[Stephen Musial]

Speaking of the Doghouse, watch the whole thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyduncFpzl4

[Jamie Buxton]

On the oak versus maple decision... If you already bought materials for the job, you should at least bring her into the financial decision too. It is okay for a customer to change her mind. She just has to bear the price. Yeah, yeah, you're married to her, so you bear the price of her decision too, but still she should be thinking about that issue. She might decide that she likes maple, but isn't willing to pay a few more thousand dollars for it.

[Tom Godley]

I understand -- I have never stopped. I am attracted to old houses like some people are to puppies.

My last kitchen redo I did simple slab front cabinets made from beautiful figured maple -- I love the look. Then I added large hardware to set them off.

Oak is not my favorite unless it is given that "English Oak" treatment

[John Harden]

You know, I thought I heard an anguished scream from over near Upland last night. Now I know what it was. Thanks!!

FWIW, we had maple floors with a honey colored finish in a previous house. I loved them as I'm not a big fan of red oak. Now, we have mahogany floors in the new house and I really like them too, but they're dark and we have one and four year old crumb crunchers that leave little trails behind them.

We've since learned you can see EVERY piece of cracker, dirt, and dust on dark floors, no matter how small. On the upside, I can pilot a Swifter with the best of them. If my day job doesn't work out, I may go pro!!!

Good luck installing those maple floors!!!!!!!

Regards,

John

[Don Bullock]

Well, Rick I feel your pain. Wow what a shock. If she's been watching the home improvement shows, she "knows" that oak is "out dated." Frankly I have no advice because only you know how "serious" she is in her choice.

If you're looking to unload all that "hand selected" oak at a good price the LOML just gave me the OK to offer to take it off your hands. I have enough projects here, as in adding some Craftsman style room dividers, etc., to put it to "good use." We live in Fallbrook, so we're just over an hour away from Upland.

[Jerome Hanby]

Jedi mind trick? Oak is the new maple, oak is the new maple, ...

[Brian Effinger]

So, down to the dirt it went, and my buddy the framer installed I-beam (TJI) floor joists 12" on center to hold up the new kitchen. For the last couple weeks we do dishes in the garage laundry sink, and cook in the microwave in the enclosed patio.

Since you have the floor opened up and have easy access, I'd bury her in the dirt of the crawl space.