Make me over!

The contractor came out on Wed. to take a look at our damp carpet and walls issue. Turns out the pipe in the wall behind our dish washer sprung a leak. The only mold is what we saw in the corner. (what a relief). With the water damage, insurance will pay for new carpet, new kitchen floors and if the plummer need to break out countertop to fix the pipe, we will get that too! Now we are thinking we should just redo the entire kitchen- get a gas stove, new cabinets. Yes, this will cost more then we thought initally but are we going to kick ourselves in a year if we don't. The kitchen will be torn up anyway, might as well do it.

Knitting-wise, I am 8 rows away from starting the decreases on the left front of the ribbed cardigan. This will be my first time sewing in a zipper. While it is a ways off, does anyone have suggestions for a beginner?