We’ve chosen a contractor! The company we’ve referred to as “Contractor 2” is the same company that remodeled the kitchen of friends of ours several years ago. Their estimate was mostly in line with what we were expecting, and more importantly, they seem to really get what we’re after with this project.
Contractor 3, while I’m sure would have done a good job, didn’t seem to understand our scope and goals quite as well as who we selected. It made our decision easy that Contractor 3’s estimate was at the very high end of what we’re willing to pay.
I want to tighten up our preliminary design — which the professionals we’ve talked with seem to think is reasonable — and post it to a rkitchen-remodeling forum I’ve been lurking on. GardenWeb’s kitchen forum has a wealth of ideas and experience, and is populated by people who are passionate about kitchens. In the time I’ve been reading that forum, I’ve seen a lot of folks post their designs and get good feedback. The people there are focused on functionality first and foremost. They don’t know me, and don’t know our house, so may well be the source of some out-of-left-field idea that fits brilliantly. Or I may get nothing out of it at all. Either way, that’s a community of people who are remodeling their kitchens and so are going through the same stuff we are. Making myself known to such a community certainly can’t hurt.