Good morning All,I am currently renting a house in NC. There was no cold water from the time I moved in on 12/23. A plumber was sent to make the repair on 2/17. Shortly after I was advised by the utility company that ...

Any damage to the wallpaper, paint, walls, floors, carpeting, doors, windows, window treatments, light fixtures, appliances, or other improvements to the Property (to include burst water pipes due to freezing caused by neglect or carelessness of the Tenant, his family, or any of his guests), in excess of ordinary wear and tear, shall be promptly repaired or replaced by tenant, at Tenant’s sole expense, so as to restore the Property to the same condition as existed prior to the commencement of the Term.

Also I've never thought about putting a skim coat over old laminate counter tops but that's really interesting, I'll have to check that out. 

The outside drain still has some cast iron pipe with some small tree roots in it and I plan to get a plumber to clean and reline the pipes with that blue stuff.

A quick eye ball measurement tells me the total counter SF including the backsplash is no more than 24 ft of material.

The counter space is also limited so thats really the only reason I would consider the microwave option.

You would go back on forth via counter until an agreement is reached between both parties and then formal documentation.

Honestly I can’t believe your realtor let you counter/haggle over a few hundred dollars.

Our other rentals are in Orange County CA and Scottsdale AZ, so we've never had to worry about pipes freezing/bursting. 

I was offered more than one Pipe farm..