I had Lowes do my Corian counters and sinks, a local guy do the plumbing, and, because I wanted to maintain my 40s era cabinets, another local carpenter come in and do some interior carpentry while maintaining the exterior look (in other words, new shelves and drawer boxes while maintaining old cabinet and drawer fronts). Oh, my stove is from Sears because my gas lines have been declared unsafe and having them replaced would be prohibitive. The gas co took care of anything dangerous. So it was a flat top electric stove, top of the line at the time, and I have no regrets (me and Edith Pilaf). To be honest with you, around here hiring locally is usually considerably more expensive than going through Lowes or Sears or whatever, but I suppose that's because there are a lot of rich people with old homes that need remodelling. I still need walls and floor work, but baby steps.
