Week 2 - Electrical, Siding, and Plumbing

So we never quite got a real schedule out of the builder (our on-site guy was supposed to do it but his computer got a virus that rendered it useless, though I have no idea why someone else couldn't just update it for him). But he did tell us that week 2 would be siding, electrical, and plumbing.

On Monday both the electrician and plumber were tied up with inspections on another job, though the siding on the back deck (around the new door) got done. Also, one of the City building inspectors came out to look at something. Not a lot of construction going on, but that was OK since the family was at home a bit during the morning.

It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but the siding to the left of the door is a bit crooked - I mentioned it to the builder and he agreed without even going around back to look at it.




During lunch we looked at some solid surface options at Home Depot, though they didn't really have much to see. We have 3 possible finishes that we're considering: sea foam green, light to medium gray (like a concrete color), or an off-white with some texture. It's going to be a balancing act finding a color that we like with a texture that we like. And I don't think we'll be able to hold to our budget.

After that I went by The Tile Guy, and talked to them a bit about backsplash. They had some penny round and small hex tiles, and it turns out they were from the same manufacturer that we ordered the samples from. He also suggested considering some unglazed porcelain tiles, which was from the same line that our architect had suggested. They had some cool thin, horizontal, green glass tile strips of varying lengths, which we may be able to use as an accent near the top of the backsplash, similar to the simple band of color that was around our old tile backsplash. The guy that I talked with pretty much said that we should choose our counters first, then bring in a sample and figure out the backsplash.

So I called the cabinet shop and spoke with their countertop guy. He said there were 4 or 5 different solid surface lines that they rep, and he was going to make sure that they had some samples in the showroom so we could come by later in the week and have a look.

After talking with the architect, he agreed that the small wall that had been built parallel to the pocket doors was unnecessary - had they not been able to get the support beam up in the attic, it would have been required. So I guess they're going to have to rip it out at some point before the cabinets get here. Good thing we're watching the job so close, else there'd be a handful of things not in line with the architect's intent. Guess it's better than paying the architect to spend a bunch of time out at our house.

Not a whole lot else visually exciting got done during the week. The electrician installed the can lighting in the living room. They had some trouble finding CFL bulbs that would fit in the fixtures specified by the architect without sticking out. I was able to find some online, but they seem like semi-specialty items (and they're over $10 a piece). We'll see how that works itself out. Looks like normal CFL bulbs are a little longer, but the "cold cathode" versions are designed for smaller spaces.

Here's a picture of a couple of the cans that got installed. They put 30W incandescent bulbs in a couple of them, as well as 50W and 60W equivalent CFL bulbs in two of them. The 30W bulbs just aren't bright enough, and the CFLs don't dim well at all (one does a bit of flickering) even though they were marketed as dimmable.




There was an HVAC duct in the attic over the location where some of the kitchen lights were supposed to be installed over the sink, so the electrician suggested moving it closer towards the sink/wall. He also thought it would be better to have the light directly above the sink, as opposed to over your shoulder while washing dishes. The EXACT point we brought up with the architect, but were rebuffed on. Well, it looks like we'll get our way on that one!

We spent a couple hours at the cabinet shop looking at countertop samples on Wednesday(?). It was fairly long and painful. We brought the cabinet door, and were able to determine that we preferred the white colors to the greens and the grays. And the one that we liked the best was in the least expensive line of solid surface material. We got a quote and it looks like it will be within our allowance.

They included a stainless sink in the estimate - we've decided that we'd prefer stainless with the white counters, as opposed to cast iron. Plus, it's more involved to install and support the heavy cast as an undermount. I think for the cost of the sink that they are proposing (without really giving us any info about it other than stainless, 50/50, 18 gauge) we could probably get one from an Ebay store that is a heaver gauge with some sound reduction coating stuff. There were a number of posts to the GardenWeb kitchen forums about buying no-name stainless sinks from one or more Ebay stores and getting a really good deal on a decent product.

The plumber finally made it out Friday afternoon, and he looked at the vent pipe. He said that they could move the pipe back into the wall some, but it would only save us 1"-2" and would need to take the bathroom out of commission for 2-3 days. In talking with the architect afterwards, he thinks it shouldn't be a big deal to replace the pipe with PVC and move it off to the side if it won't fit in the wall. The architect is supposed to come out Monday morning to meet with us and the builder - hopefully the plumber will be there too.

Here's the piping exposed, with the little walls taken off the outside. Right in the middle of our tiny, tiny laundry room.



At 7:50 am Saturday morning there was a lot of doorbell ringing going on. Apparently (without any warning) there were a couple of guys here to empty out the dumpster that was made on site with plywood, at the end of the driveway. We moved our car out of the driveway. They were talking about needing to cut off one of the branches from a (partially dead) pecan tree in order to get their truck down the driveway. But I expressed a little concern, and we were able to move most of the branches out of the way with minimal damage. It took them about an hour and a half to pick up all the debris and put it into their dump truck (the builder generated a lot more debris than they anticipated, and the dumpster box was overfilled). Luckily, the neighbors on the other side of our driveway were up and off to breakfast by 7:30 (they've also got a toddler).

In the previous entry I mentioned some of the collateral damage in the bathroom. Here's a couple photos.




This weekend we'll change the return air filter (I'm sure it's disgusting from the demo) and tighten up the sealing of the barrier plastic, since they'll supposedly be doing sheetrock next week and that might get a bit dusty (at least during the tape/float part). Plus, we need to go borrow a washer and dryer for a few hours. But we're rolling with it.

The Rest of the First Week

Day 2

The second day started with trying to remove the last layer of flooring, and it was super-slow going. They had one guy working on it, and I believe they gave up on this after half a day.

They also removed the corner walls that used to house the fridge, opening up most of the space to the living room. They installed the support beam in the attic space. They pretty much ripped out the ceiling along the path that the beam ran, then cut some stuff out and put it in place.













Day 3

The framers didn't get started until the afternoon, though our new back door and the pocket door were delivered first thing in the morning.

They figured out that there was another layer of plywood (in addition to the subfloor) associated with the last layer of floor. So they cut the floor into strips and pulled it out easily. They removed the back door and the window on that wall and framed up both of those spaces, then framed the space for the new back door and installed it. One of the things that we had been concerned with in the design was how close the back door seemed to the countertop and to the deck railing out the outside, like there wasn't much room to get through. Since the cabinet shop's pantry was smaller than the one shown in the design, they wanted the door centered between the pantry and the counter, which meant it got spaced a little further from the counter. When walking through it, it seemed to be in a perfectly reasonable spot and it didn't feel weird as opposed to the old door. Of course, there's no cabinets in there yet either.

When I got home they were wrapping up and mentioned that they had installed the door but didn't have a lockset, and asked what I wanted them to do. It sounded like they just wanted to leave the door there with two holes in it for locks. Now it wasn't all that obvious, and someone would have to walk up onto our deck and navigate the sea of wood pieces and framer tools if they wanted to get in. But then they'd have their pick of all our worldly belongings, especially since we weren't going to be home. I suggested that they take the locks off the old door and install them on the new one. It sure sounded like that hadn't occurred to them, which was a little disappointing. They moved the locks to the new door, though it took a little while.






Day 4

Our architect came out to have a look at the progress, and he seemed pleased with what they had done. He was particularly interested in the new beam that they put up in the ceiling, and they must have done what he wanted. He agreed that they could do a better job of sealing off the workspace, so we asked them again to try and tighten it up.

We talked with the architect about counter, tile, and paint selections, and got a slightly better feel for the process. Mostly they seemed to echo a lot of what we were already thinking, though he did say that if our counter had any sort of appearance of texture, then they would suggest a very simple and plain backsplash. Unfortunately, one of our favorite tile contenders probably has a little more going on than they would like. So we're still thinking.

I sent an email listing the things that we expected for the weekend, since we were planning on moving back it. Things like removing debris from the living space, making sure the electrical was safe and back on, and doing a good job of sealing up the work space with the sheeting. By the evening they had done a much better job, pretty much by running duct tape along the sides and top/bottom.






Over the course of the day the big window area was framed, though they didn't cut open to the outside; they just framed it out on the inside. The closets in the hallway were demoed.




During the design phase with the architect we mentioned how the closets in the hallway were not of the same depth in all locations. We mentioned the same thing to the builder at some point before we had a contract. Well, once they had demoed those closets out, you could see exactly what was going on. There was a column running up the height of the wall which came out about 6-8 inches from the wall, and was about 8-12 inches wide. The builder was pretty sure this was a vent for the bathroom. Next to it was a slightly shallower box that only went about 1/3 of the way up the wall, but was about 2-3 times as wide. This is likely for the bathroom plumbing.




Of course, the vent is right in the middle of our laundry area. And we're so used to that hallway being the length it was before, that now that it will be shorter, it seems really small. It's pretty unlikely that a washer and dryer could fit in there with the vent column, even if they were stacked. So I discussed it with the builder, and then sent email and left a voicemail for the architect. I get the impression that the builder will just re-route the vent, though I have no idea where (there's really not many other options).

Day 5

Today they installed the frames for both of the pocket doors. They removed part of the corner casement window - they left the side that was facing the street, presumably in order to keep the siding facing the street looking respectable for longer. They also framed a little spot between the fridge and pantry, which I thought was only supposed to have cabinet pieces in between. I may bring it up to the architect next week, but I suppose it's not a big deal to rip it out if they have to.








Ever since I lived here the house has had mint green vinyl siding, which isn't nearly as horrible as it sounds. It's actually fairly subtle and pleasant. The only problem is that I have no idea where it came from, or when it was purchased. So matching the siding is pretty much impossible. When we had the deck built they needed to do a little siding modifications, and they harvested siding from the side of the house that isn't really visible, then bought some white siding that was similar in shape and painted it. He made it clear that vinyl siding was not meant to be painted, and we would likely need to repaint it every 5 years or so. Well, it looks like there's going to be another harvesting episode. Heck, at this point I ought to just have them re-do that side of the house in white!

We planned to move back into the house on Friday, so I got home ahead of everyone else in order to do some clean up. A wet rag was able to pick up the dust from most of the surfaces, though several things look like you rubbed them with a dirty wet rag (go figure). Then there was some serious vacuum cleaning, including moving the furniture around in the living room. And a damp towel on the hallway wood floor, which has dust tucked into its nooks and crannies, likely for a while.

During the hour or two that I spent in there each day during the week, it had me completely congested. But we were able to live in the house over the weekend without my nose being completely stuffed up from the dust. We figured out how to rearrange the dining table and fridge to be a lot more useful. All in all not too bad.

There were a few other surprises, though. As you may have noticed, our guest bathroom and shower share a wall with the kitchen/laundry area. It looks like when they shoved in the frame for the hallway pocket door they busted up some of the sheet rock in the bathroom. Nothing major, but there were some new cracks and a wavy spot. Then in the shower area there were two slits in the wall above the tile tub surround that must have come from a framer's demo tool of some sort. I mentioned it to the builder in email, and I assume they'll just patch and touch up the two areas.

On Saturday morning when we went into the living room the top of the divider had come down. Later that day I got some "Gorilla Tape" and did some serious re-taping. I wouldn't quite call it air-tight, but I think it will hold for more than a couple days. Then on Sunday I tried to suck up most of the dust in the construction area with a shop vac. It was marginally successful - that small dusty junk would clog up the filter, plus it would just shoot out the vac's exhaust straight into the air. I had to clean out the filter and dump the contents a few times to keep it sucking, but in the end there was a LOT less dust lying around. Even though it was something that the builder probably should have taken care of, I think it will benefit us a lot in the long run, and I don't really see a builder putting that much effort into cleanup in the middle of the job.

So our house is livable, and the kitchen looks wasted! Awesome!

Start of Construction (Destruction)

We got the kitchen packed up and put away over the weekend. An updated schedule was sent showing completion in mid-April, but we caught a few errors (it shows cabinets installed before flooring) so it's likely to change a bit.

Here's the last word in "before" pictures of the kitchen. The living room now has even more stuff in it, so it's not really picture worthy.






It actually looks pretty darn nice with all the junk out of the way and with the natural light coming in. But I don't think we're going to give up the project just yet... The new design should do an even better job of using the natural light.

Work started in earnest this morning. Questions about material storage locations, port-a-potty location, breaker boxes, water cutoffs, etc. The first minor incident has been resolved pretty easily. The water line for the fridge has always looked a little sketchy to me (the way it was connected to the water pipes under the house). When they went to move the fridge they didn't initially notice the water line, so it may have been stressed a little. It started leaking from upstream of the valve in the kitchen. The good news is that there was another valve for it in the crawl space, and that stopped the leak. Small victories...

So these guys are taking off the old tile countertops and the tile backsplash. It looks like that stuff is a lot tougher to come off than I realized. They can't just pop them off - they pretty much have to smash them to bits. So be it.

At the end of the first day they have removed all of our old appliances, the cabinets, the pocket door that we intend to reuse, and 2 of the 3 layers of flooring. It was pretty crazy to see them pull off a layer of flooring and subfloor, then have another floor underneath it.






The house, in particular the living room and hallway, is covered in a thin sheet of dust. They didn't put up the plastic sheeting to separate the work area until after 1pm, and it's just tacked up loosely in a couple places - not exactly the sort of thing that is likely to contain a whole lot of dust.

This serious demo and framing work should go on for the rest of the week and hopefully be complete on Friday. It was pretty loud in the house today, and the builder tells us it's going to get louder when they start running saws and air compressors and nail guns.

Between that and the fact that we don't have a kitchen, it looks like we'll be spending the next few nights with family.

Demo Imminent

Yesterday afternoon we heard back about the cabinets and schedule. Instead of 4 weeks lead time, it is down to 16 days. Not sure if this is due to trying to make up for their shenanigans, or just the luck of the draw and a slow factory. But as a result they want to start demo on Monday! I'm taking off from work tomorrow to try and get as much stuff as possible packed up and moved out. We've got a LOT to deal with in the next 4 days.

Once we get stuff moved out I'll snap some more "before" pictures, this time without all our junk in the frame.

(Hopefully) The Last Word in Cabinets

On the same day that things were in a downward spiral, there was another incident. The builder brought the framers over to get their measurements so they could figure out the lumber needed. For background, our house has vinyl siding (which was there before us, and doesn't look half bad), and the windows are trimmed out with some kind of aluminum siding. Apparently the framer wanted to get a more accurate measurement on the window that they will be taking out, so he pulled up the window sill siding on one window. Afterwards the builder showed us what the guy did and apologized. I didn't think it was a big deal, since the windows would be coming out in a few weeks anyway. I just asked him to pull off the rest of that piece of siding so there weren't any rough edges, and he did. Even though it wasn't anything to warrant concern, it was just one more thing to make us question the whole undertaking.

Since then things have stopped crashing, and are settling out fairly nicely. On the day that the cabinet shop came out to re-measure, their VP called to apologize for all the confusion. Apparently he runs a lot of the day-to-day stuff at the shop and he had gone out of town for a couple weeks, leaving the rest of the guys (in particular our guy) to pick up the slack. And apparently it was too much for them. So he reassured us and said that if anything else came up to call him personally to get it resolved. It was definitely a nice gesture.

So once the updated cabinet drawings were ready the builder reviewed them with the cabinet shop and the architect before showing them to us. When we saw them they looked pretty good, and we gave them the thumbs-up to place the order. A week or so ago I had asked our builder to let us know how much we were over budget on the cabinets prior to the order, just so there wouldn't be any surprises and everybody would be on the same page. Yesterday when I brought it up I thought he was just playing it down, saying something like "I'm going to work with the cabinet shop to minimize any costs". Eventually I got the point that he was suggesting that they would figure out a way to absorb the cost, and we didn't need to worry about the cabinet budget. So maybe we're not in bad shape with the budget after all. All the shenanigans with the cabinets were not fun, but it's nice to see everyone stepping up and trying to make up for it as best they can.

And another positive budget note - we may have a source for countertops closer to our budget. The cabinet shop reps a few lines, and the builder sent us an email with a link to a few options of Affinity that were within our budget. I'm not sure that we'll go that route, but it's nice to know that we've got an option within budget. I'm also starting to wonder about the cost associated with undermounting a sink with solid surface countertops. A price sheet that I got from Ikea last year had a charge of about $300 for installing an undermount sink. Yikes!!! I doubt that our builder is aware of that, since they seem to be accustomed to installing granite. Either way, I doubt we'll end up going over our budget on countertop/backsplash by nearly as much as we were over budget on cabinets.

So the cabinet order will get placed with the factory on Monday, at which time we'll get a firm ETA (right now they think it will be 4 weeks). We should get an updated schedule toward the middle of next week. I think we've underestimated the amount of packing that we need to do, since we've barely started. And we need a lot more boxes.

Permitting is done (it was finished a couple weeks ago). Appliances have been ordered. Windows have been ordered. We saw doors that we like, but need to get pricing and approval of the architect.

We're starting to roll.

Pre-Beginning of Construction

At the time that we signed a contract with the builder there were a handful of things up in the air, which they just handled by allocating allowance items in the proposal. These included the aforementioned appliances, cabinet hardware, exterior door, countertops and backsplash, and sink/faucet.

Before we signed the contract the builder brought by some bamboo flooring samples for us to look at. We were already leaning toward bamboo, and chose the simplest and lightest of them - "natural". Apparently this was also the cheapest of the samples, and was less than they had originally included in their bid.

Just a word about the bid. I think I mentioned earlier that these guys put together a rough estimate based on the "conceptual" drawings, and it was pretty much where we expected it to be (expect that they hadn't included appliances in their number). So then the architect finalized the design - essentially adding a bunch of notes to the drawings, and adding in the living room lighting and replacing the existing original casement windows in the kitchen. So the actual bid went up a little bit, but seemed in line with adding those two items, offset by the savings in the wood floor.

We signed the contract in the afternoon on MLK Day, which I had as a holiday. The critical path item in the schedule is the cabinets, which have about a month lead time. So we decided to head across town that afternoon to the cabinet shop and get the show on the road. We talked about the lines that they carried and agreed with using the line that they had used in their bid. Saw a really nice natural maple cabinet in their showroom from a different line of cabinets. Unfortunately the natural maple in our line was a little too light, so we weren't able to decide on a finish immediately. But we asked them to order us some sample doors in a stain of maple and one natural cherry, and they thought they could have them by the end of the following week.

They had this really cool software which did a rendering of our kitchen, showing the approximate size and shape of our kitchen, with cabinets, sink, appliances, and windows. He could pivot the viewpoint around and look from any angle. For the original bid they already had the general layout set up, but we had them change the lower cabinets to drawers and remove a couple wall cabinets that were in the same location as the existing casement windows. We spent at least 2 hours there, and possibly three, all the while trying to keep a toddler entertained. At the end of it we felt like we had it all figured out.

The next day when we spoke to the builder he said something like "they did tell you how those changes you made increased the cost, right?". Uh, no. So apparently some of our selections (wood? full overlay? drawers?) caused what probably amounted to 20%+ increase in the cost. So they sent a list of things that changed and how they impacted the cost. There were 3 main things: changing doors to drawers on the lower cabinets, adding a trash/recycling center, and some slide-out shelf things in the pantry. We sent an email saying that we wanted to talk more about it, but pointed out that the architect's drawings had always shown drawers. Within a day or so the cabinet shop indicated that they had called in a favor with the factory and they knocked off about 65% of the increased cost. That, coupled with getting rid of the pantry sliding shelving and deciding to build a custom, open island instead of one based on cabinetry, got us back to something that we could live with. We originally went to the shop on a Monday, and all was resolved by the end of that week.

In the midst of our mini-crisis the shop had apparently decided to hold off on ordering the samples for us, since they have to pay for them and they weren't sure we were going to stick around. Then it turns out that the factory doesn't just whip out a door when someone wants one for a sample; they add it to some other order that they are working on with the same wood, whenever that happens. So, a little over 3 weeks from the time we met at the shop and had it all figured out, our samples were ready.

The guy from the cabinet shop brought the samples and came to get measurements, and the builder came out as well. A week earlier I had talked with the guy from the cabinet shop on the phone and mentioned the 3 doors we were expecting to see (natural cherry, wheatfield stained maple, and suede stained maple, the latter of which they already had in the shop). He showed up with 2 doors, the ones that they had ordered. Of course, instead of the natural cherry they had ordered the darker harvest stained cherry. Ugh!!! So the next day he dropped off 3 other doors at my office - the natural maple (just in case it wasn't as light as we remembered it), the suede stained maple, and a different style of door in the natural cherry. Of course we preferred the natural cherry, which was more expensive than the maple...


On Presidents' Day I went to look at solid surface countertops. Turns out that pretty much anything more interesting than solid colors is equal to or more expensive than what the builder had budgeted for granite (which may have been correct). But once we mentioned to the architect that we were not doing granite with the 6" granite backsplash (we had never intended to do granite, and the architect put it there to give the contractor something to estimate against), they suggested that we bring the backsplash further up. And the increase in backsplash results in a decrease in budget for countertops (these were a shared allowance). So we're pretty much figuring we've blown budget in yet another category. And it's compounded by the fact that we saw a really cool tile that is also a little higher than the backsplash budget. (But it's so cool)

That same day we get the revised cabinet drawings (based on measurements), and notice that there's some funky little cabinets shoved up next to the windows on the wall with the new range. We're not loving it. Then I look at the measurements that they took, and figure out that they are just plain WRONG. The length of that wall and the width of the existing casement windows was incorrect.

So now we're feeling it all crash around us. We're over budget on the cabinets. We're over budget on the countertops. The cabinet shop apparently doesn't know how to use a tape measure. Add that to their original bidding error of using doors instead of drawers, and then ordering the wrong sample door and taking forever for it to arrive, and we are losing confidence. Then asking ourselves why are we spending all this money on the kitchen when we originally were going to spend one third our current budget by just replacing everything in place.

So we email and call the builder, and he agrees right off that the measurements aren't correct and apologizes for not catching them. I brought up the list of issues with the cabinet shop and he assures me that this is not how they typically perform, else the builder would not currently be using them due to having lost their shirt on the previous jobs. I just keep thinking about not catching the error and that day a month from now when they figure out that they can't fit all the cabinets in the kitchen, followed by another month of not using our kitchen as we wait for the shop to make whatever magical parts fix the problem.

The next morning the cabinet guy comes out and measures again. The builder is going to review the revised drawings with the cabinet shop and the architect prior to showing us anything. So hopefully we'll see "final" tomorrow (Wednesday) so they can order it with their weekly order on Thursday. Yikes.

So now we just want to get through the cabinets, before we even try to tackle the shell game of trying to coordinate countertop style and color, with the backsplash style and color, with the paint color, to go with the new floor and cabinets. Sheesh!

Where's my Damn Chicken Nugget Button? a.k.a. Appliance Shopping

During the design process we really didn't give much thought to appliance selection. We figured anything that you could buy new would be exponentially better than the junk that we were currently using (see the first blog entry, Before Pictures to get the scoop). But there are soooooooooo many choices.

Luckily we were able to identify a few constraints pretty easily. We wanted stainless steel finish. Due to the spacing between the fridge and the island we knew it needed to be counter-depth, and it helped to rule out a bottom-freezer (we didn't like them anyway); thus we went with side-by-side. We wanted a gas range, though we weren't aware of the differences between freestanding, slide-in, and drop-in. After seeing a couple pictures of slide-in ranges, we felt that was the way to go.

As far as the dishwasher and microwave, about the only additional constraint here was the microwave better look a whole lot like the range, since it will be hanging right above it.

My initial attempt to weed out was using Consumer Reports reliability ratings, and had I stuck with it, that would have been a helpful approach. But after talking with sales people I began to question some of the info in there. Like, why does the Kenmore version of the exact same appliance by the OEM sometimes score differently? And how come every single sales person that I spoke with said to stay away from Frigidaire? Seriously, I didn't even have to prompt them. And how come the Samsung fridge (which we really like) has gotten highest performance ratings from J.D. Power 5 years in a row, yet doesn't show up in Consumer Reports' reliability list of fridge manufacturers?

The features that we care about are so basic that they will be included in pretty much anything. Of course, the fact that the fridge is counter-depth and the range is slide-in drives us to a higher level appliance, so we'll definitely get more goodies than we need.

But what's up with this trend in ranges where you have all these burners of different sizes. Specifically, what's with the cheesy little "warming burner"? This anemic little thing sits on the back row (prime cooking space to keep hot stuff away from our toddler) and is there to presumably keep something warm until we're ready to eat. Guess what? That's the beauty of the knob that controls the flame - you can turn it down! Maybe in 6 months we'll be singing the praises of the warming burner, but as far as I'm concerned they may as well have only put in 3 burners.

But there is one ray of light in this dark, foggy night. Should you need to cook chicken nuggets on a regular basis, Frigidaire has got you covered. Mind you, I'm not sure if it's for heating up frozen nuggets or for baking your own, but these nut jobs put a special button on their oven just for you. And apparently their marketing people went crazy with it. I am not making this up.

On the first product page under Features:
Chicken Nugget Button
Easily bake perfect chicken nuggets with the touch of a button. Read More

On the Specifications page under Control Panel:
Chicken Nugget Button: Yes

Note that there is also a pizza button, which almost seems useful in a pathetic kind of way. But the best part is that there is little mention of the pizza button, yet the chicken nugget button is touted to the extreme.

So at this point it seems like we're just going to go based on price and aesthetics. Eh, what else can you do???