NEW STUFF

Well, over the weekend I went to Lowes to buy a new kitchen faucet. My old one is a "classic bottom-of-the-line" Delta, probably costing about $60 when it was new some 20 years ago. It's long since lost its once-shiny chrome luster and has started dripping pretty seriously, so I decided it's time to update with a new Kohler Forte model in brushed nickel, which should nicely complement my stainless steel sink. Lowes $148 price was better than on the internet, by the way, by about $12. I did not get the "pull out" version of this faucet, as something in my mind warns me that the pullout style would not hold up well over time. I might be wrong about that, but I took no chances and got the version with the separate spray nozzle instead. (Read some garden web discussion about pull-out versus non-pull-out faucets here)


While I was at Lowes, I also bought a new storm door for my front door, as I'm convinced that the one I am using is the original that was put on the house when it was built 40 years ago, so you can imagine what it looks like by now. It's actually been painted so many times that the finish is "soft" and sticky feeling from the coats of paint on it. Yech! The one I chose should look nice, as my house has paned windows across the front that the storm door design will imitate. This item cost me around $203 at Lowes, by the way.


Now, here's something you should know about Lowes: I found out that they have a very nice website, but even though the web site may tell you that they do not have an item in your local store, don't believe that.
I spoke with the nice young man in the storm door department, and he told me that the larger Lowes' stores can actually add extra items to their in-store stock that are NOT listed on the website. He said that the website is kind of a "general guide" for what is at your local Lowes store, but that you won't know precisely what items they have at your store until you actually go to the store and look. Neither my faucet or my storm door were supposed to be "in stock" at my local Lowes store, and in fact the faucet I bought was not even listed on Lowes' website at all.