A decision at last

WE got the results of the second kitchen design yesterday. If ever there was someone who could rub you up the wrong way, this man was he. He was a bit put out at having to do his presentation downstairs as there was no lift & there's no way my wheelchair is going up a staircase.

The performance began. He offered us some tea, mainly to show us the boiling water tap, one of the latest gizmos on the scene; "Oh," says I, adding "It's like the old geysers." He didn't like that.

He tried to start again. He reminded us of the quality of the product; we thought if we hadn't realised that we wouldn't have been there. He proceeded to tell us we couldn't possibly use the room for dining & cooking; we've managed perfectly happily for the last 9 years & intend to for many a year yet. He eliminates the table in favour of a breakfast bar; we want a relaxing atmosphere to spend time, both before & over dinner, not a cafe. So it goes on. When it comes to appliances, we want to choose the cookers, not necessarily from the ranges he stocks ie Neff or Miele, both very expensive ranges; they will only install products bought from them at full price. So it goes on.

Finally he finishes, some two hours later, & suggests making our next appointment to discuss the matter further. I suggest no. We'll ring him when we've had all the quotes, thought about it & decided who to go with. He wouldn't leave it at that. He presses harder to get the appointment. He had begun to get the feeling we'd "gone off message". At this point the Fox exploded enough was enough. He'd hated the kitchen design from the moment he'd seen it. We left & adjourned to a pub to recover our composure. He, I suspect, went off to moan about us wasting his time & to recover from the shock of the unforeseen blast from the Fox.

However, in the evening, we had a little celebration. On the way to the meeting, I had told the Fox that I'd come to a conclusion about the kitchen. When, on Monday, we'd mentioned at the Pub how the kitchen hunt was going, Fran had said, if we'd found a kitchen we liked, at a price we were prepared to pay, why look more. I'd come to the conclusion she was right. The design we'd seen last week we were both reasonably happy with - just needing a bit of fine tweaking - so let's go with them, I say. The Fox agrees. What a relief to have made a decision & to be off the fence at last!

We'll pop along one day next week to let them know. In the meantime I'm deciding about what accessories, appliances & sinks we want. Then we should be able to put the order in at the same time. Later this week, I'll phone to check how the third company is doing with their design, but we don't expect we will change our mind. If they've not drawn anything up by then, I'll tell them not to bother. They were going to be very expensive by the sound of it.