Eilene Zimmerman's Blog

BLOG: That's What Home Depot Is All About (1/24/11)

Taking my own advice

Last week I had a new sink installed in my kitchen—white, cast iron, just like the old one only with sides more equal in size. New faucet, new garbage disposal. The whole thing had been disintegrating, literally coming apart in my hands along the sides where the grout was just a memory. A brown, mildewed memory, to be exact. The garbage disposal made way too much noise to be crunching up eggshells.

I debated for weeks what sink to get. I knew stainless steel would be cheaper to install (only one guy) but that it wouldn’t match the white tile in the kitchen. In the end here’s how I figured out what to get.

On a night my kids were at their dad’s I went to Home Depot, figuring it wouldn’t be crowded. I hunted down the man who staffs the plumbing department and said, “Hi. I need a new sink and I don’t know anything at all about this. If I was your sister, what would you advise me to get?” Fifteen minutes later I was pushing a cart with a sink, faucet, air gap and new drains. I said to this guy, “Wow, thanks. This is like rent-a-husband.” And he turned to me and said, “Ma’am, that’s what Home Depot is all about.”

He was very serious about his job so I didn’t make any jokes at the time, but you can imagine what was going through my head. On the other hand, I need people like that in my life, because there is so much I don’t know about buying sinks. Or ovens. Refrigerators. Cars. Etc.

In a house that’s nearly 60 years old, stuff breaks. I hadn’t really counted on that when I said I wanted the house in the divvying up of property that occurs during a divorce. I felt lucky to have it—and I still do, only every month I feel a little less lucky, as housing prices continue to slide and now the 40-year-old Jenn-Air oven in my little kitchen is turning off on its own (and can’t be restarted for half an hour), and the similarly aged microwave gives me reason to pause … as I wonder if I’m giving us all cancer every time I use it.

A new oven will cost me close to $1500; a new microwave … oh, why even get into it? A lot, that’s how much. I’ve already looked at them, gently running my fingers across stainless steel handles, internally debating whether or not I really need convection (I do, I like to bake). This is the thing about home ownership—you can’t call the landlord. On the other hand, you can’t hear your neighbors brushing their teeth. Though there’s not much you can do about their dog barking.

Posted by Eilene Zimmerman on Mon, Jan 24th, 2011
Last updated Tue, Jan 25th, 2011

Keywords

Home Depot sink Jenn-Air

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