More of my kitchens, my faux pas and others' unruly kids!

Back to the kitchen guy yesterday for cabinets for 3 kitchenettes for our 2 holiday apartments and roof terrace kitchen.  It's like stepping back in time!  He doesn't have a computer and does all the drawings by hand, checking calculations on one of those old fashioned accountants' machines!

Do accountants still use these in UK?

Following my architect's guidance that you shouldn't react to a high price I was determined to be on my best behaviour!  So when he said the price was tre mille e cinque (3005), I repeated back ok, allora e tre mille ("ok, so it's 3000") before he said no, e tre mille e cinque, at which point I'm thinking it's a bit petty to keep harping on about €5 when it basically averages out to €1000 per kitchen.  Eventually I realised that tre mille e cinque isn't €3005 but a shorthand for tre mille e cinquecento ie €3500, so despite my best efforts I had still looked like I was trying to haggle the price down by €500!

So I am paying €3500 (£3000) for 9 cabinets across 3 kitchenettes and 1 of the units in each kitchen is for the integrated fridge so 3 of the 9 units are basically just a door!  

So that's £330 per base unit and I still have to buy the worktops, sinks, appliances, etc!

These next photos are kitchens designed by the builder and project manager on my big project in UK.  I wasn't overly involved and am not terribly proud of them if I'm honest but the 2 of them were bought together including all appliances, sinks etc for a total of £2000!

Not the prettiest but all units, appliances, worktop, sink for £1k!

It's all laminate but still you can't argue with the prices

You can perhaps understand why I'm struggling a bit out here and have to try and stop my self saying too incredulously too often Ma in Inghilterra e molto meno costoso! ("But in England it's much cheaper!")

The Italian prices include fitting and solid wood units as opposed to Howden's finest laminate where I had to pay extra to get them fitted them so perhaps it's not too bad (still trying to convince myself!).  

Also on the plus side, my kitchen man introduced me to something amazing.  It's basically sweetened almond milk, like liquid marzipan in a glass, and I love it!  (Spot the old counting machine behind it!)

And I thought Italians didn't have a sweet tooth!

Even basic decisions that are simple in UK are complicated for me here in Italy because things are just different enough that I have to ask lots of seemingly stupid questions!  For example, yesterday I went to choose my doors for the house.  I thought I would be checking between different panelling options, perhaps some glazed ones and be done in less than 30 mins.  Oh no!  The choice between wooden doors, laminated doors, a mix of wooden and mdf doors is kind of understandable, but then there was the decision as to how much of the thick walls I wanted the door frames to cover, the fact that they don't have snib locks in Italy but all doors for all rooms have locks and keys, so then you have master key options, security key options...  All the while, the door man's young boy is playing in the shop which included pulling at my clothes and arms, smacking my architect, pushing my builder, without the father telling to stop!  (Italian children are definitely raised differently but that's another post!)

Thankfully I knew I wanted white, wooden and traditional which really narrowed things down as so much of the standard choice out here is laminated and modern (although overriding so many of such decisions is a slight nervousness that what I deem a nice period style is defined by my upbringing - am I putting strange English touches on this beautiful old Italian house!).  Then there was the (now regular and inevitable) fall out that the builder said he had budgeted for basic laminated doors and the architect had to be firm that it specifies wooden in the contract and the client should have doors she likes in her house so the builder should read his contract.  It gets heated and I find it uncomfortable so I tend to pretend I don't understand and walk away but then 5 minutes later everyone is friendly again!

Just before the door appointment we had gone for coffee (a 5 minute affair in Italy where you throw back an espresso whilst standing at the bar) and when I told the builder I had paid, (a grand total of about €3 = £2.50!) as we had joked the day before that I would owe him a coffee if he could execute a particularly tricky piece of tiling, he looked at me like he was so touched.  Really: like I had just told him I'd sent his mother flowers or something!  He had paid the time before so if nothing else it was fair I pay this time, putting aside any client contractor responsibilities, but I'm wondering if it is actually so very rare for a woman to pick up the bill here.  At dinner with a couple once I was insistent I wanted to pay as they had been so very kind and helpful, and I remember the lady saying "No, he is the man, let him pay" as if anything else was bad manners.  Is it possible things are still so very traditional here?