stop wining.

We are mild oenophiles (lovers of the vino) and have a minor collection of bottles that would be good to adequately store (presently they are in a kitchen cabinet, against a wall in the living room, and in a box in the master closet; in the old house, there was grape juice stashed in the kitchen and in three of our four closets). Given this, a built-in wine fridge in the new house would be sweet. We've held off spec'ing one because (1) we weren't sure we could afford one, (2) we still have one a friend gave us several years ago (oh yeah, we had wine in that too in the old house), and (3) been a little uncomfortable with having another electric sink (and heat source) in the house. However, it looks like we can afford one (and the one we have is single zone, so where oh where will the white wines go?).

So if we get one (we'll see how things go...), which one? Our old stalwarts, Consumer Reports, does not disappoint (all their reviews are online, for a fee...) and has reviews of under-counter wine refrigerators. The top ranked fridge de vino is the Marvel 6SWC:

 followed by the GE PCR06WAT:

and then the Electrolux EI24WC65GS:

These three are better vintages because they do better than others on energy efficiency with the Marvel a wee bit noisier than the other two. Aesthetically, we marvel at the Miesian lines of the Marvel...

architect’s estimate v. builder’s estimate: showdown in the Is-the-project-budget-OK Corral

We’ve enjoyed going through the design process (again...), but we’ve had a growing sense of foreboding. It’s not Architect 2d’s fault. Chalk it up to post-traumatic stress syndrome from Design Process 1.0 where the project crashed-and-burned once it (twice) came in fatally above budget (ultimately fatal to that design and to the relationship with Architect 1.0). The house Architect 2d and the Usonian Expert put together is fabulous nice. And fabulous nice costs money. As the bride put it “I love the house, but I’m worried.” As Design Process 2.0 reached the 95 percent completion point, Architect 2d worked up his in-house budget for the house. And it came in at the goal. Whew! However, given our experience with Architect 1.0 (and after reading Malone’s book), we wanted the builder to take a look at the house and give us an estimate from his point of view at this point.

And the builder’s estimate came in at (drum roll please [cough, cough]) just about the same as the architect’s! Yay, yay, double yay!!! We yipped, we yollered, and we clinked champagne glasses filled with champagne (and drank the contents).

It’s remarkable how close the two estimates are (calling Alex Jones...). When we passed this (good) news on to the architects, Architect 2d replied (and I’m paraphrasing) ”But of course!” Architect 2d has (nearly) reinstated our faith in the architectural profession (we say "nearly" because we haven't seen him dance yet; we withhold full reinstatement until we see him dance).

Back when I threw my hissy fit over Architect 1.0, I said we wanted an architect who did design-build because that meant he would know how much it cost to build. Ultimately that didn’t work out. The economic downturn seemed to dry up the ”low end” design-build firms. However, Architect 2d used to do design-build, so he’s clearly used that experience to properly price out projects.

I can’t tell you how happy we are! 

[photo by mwah!]