Anybody done a recent kitchen remodel?

[disney4us2002]

We're wanting to gut our kitchen and change the footprint too. This is our 2nd house and will be our retirement home in another year or so. This house is in another state and we know very few people there. How do we find a reputable contractor? I'm sure a big company would be more expensive and less willing to work with us to keep costs down. Let me add that this home is in NC in a beach destination area where there are enormous 12+ BR houses with multiple kitchens, elevators, and 6 Masters so there is some concern that a bigger company wouldn't be interested in our small project when there are A LOT of homes here always being renovated.

 

[NAB]

And the funny thing is, a amazing number of those homes in renovations shows like Love It Or List It are in Canada.

Yes but those shows also start with huge budgets too.

We did our cabinets and counters 10 years ago it costs us $42,000. Didn’t include the flooring or appliances. It was putting an island in , taking out hanging light over table and pot lights in.

We took the old cabinets out there was a bulk head there but took the cabinets to the ceiling with crown moulding. They started with an empty kitchen we did the demo.

Also put a matching cabinet in the powder room on main floor.

 

[tvguy]

Yes but those shows also start with huge budgets too.

We did our cabinets and counters 10 years ago it costs us $42,000. Didn’t include the flooring or appliances. It was putting an island in , taking out hanging light over table and pot lights in.

We took the old cabinets out there was a bulk head there but took the cabinets to the ceiling with crown moulding. They started with an empty kitchen we did the demo.

Also put a matching cabinet in the powder room on main floor.

The total budgets all seem to be around $120,000 which doesn't seem to be huge to me since that is what mine cost (not counting the roof).
Kitchen was $60,000. It has a sheetrock 6" drop ceiling that we took out and raised the ceiling. Took it to the studs, knocked out a wall between the kitchen and what was originally the laundry room and made that kitchen space. We added on to the back of the house in 1992, bedroom, bathroom, 6 x 9 walkin closet and a laundry closet. We had used the old laundry room as a pantry. Basically we doubled the number of cabinets in the kitchen.
To the studs remodel of two 5 x 9 bathrooms, replaced all 9 doors with solid core doors, replaced all 10 closet doors with solid core doors. Replaced all door trim and molding. And 1,700+- square feet of laminate flooring.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

We remodeled our 1989 kitchen in January. Actually did the whole main level with new flooring but the kitchen and laundry were totally tore out. We also got rid of our old sliding glass door and installed a window and standard 3.0 for going outside. We moved our eat in kitchen table to the living room behind one of our couches since it was wasted space and put in a eat at bar. We love it! The first pic shows the old fridge sticking out but I did buy a Samsung Bespoke counter depth 4 door which fits the kitchen so much better (4th pic). We did Quartz counters with a standard single but very large sink and a glass washer.




This was work in progress. We made our old dining room which was play room into a media room with all the kids gaming consoles and it has worked out great as a chill area for them.


Last thing I did was change our mantle in the living room to a beam to match the floor and the beam in the kitchen. I did it myself and saved a ton of money by doing so.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We remodeled our 1989 kitchen in January. Actually did the whole main level with new flooring but the kitchen and laundry were totally tore out. We also got rid of our old sliding glass door and installed a window and standard 3.0 for going outside. We moved our eat in kitchen table to the living room behind one of our couches since it was wasted space and put in a eat at bar. We love it! The pics show the old fridge but I did buy a Samsung Bespoke counter depth 4 door which fits the kitchen so much better. We did Quartz counters with a standard single but very large sink and a glass washer.

View attachment 721535

View attachment 721537View attachment 721539View attachment 721540



This was work in progress. We made our old dining room which was play room into a media room with all the kids gaming consoles and it has worked out great as a chill area for them.
View attachment 721541

Last thing I did was change our mantle in the living room to a beam to match the floor and the beam in the kitchen. I did it myself and saved a ton of money by doing so.
View attachment 721542

Very nice! I like your floors a lot! What are they?

 

[NAB]

Loving the light kitchens .

My is starting to look dated but don’t have the energy or money to redo again. We would rather travel now in retirement.

Besides I totally don’t hate it . With the under cabinet lights on at night it is warm looking.

 

[MillauFr]

The total budgets all seem to be around $120,000 which doesn't seem to be huge to me since that is what mine cost (not counting the roof).
Kitchen was $60,000. It has a sheetrock 6" drop ceiling that we took out and raised the ceiling. Took it to the studs, knocked out a wall between the kitchen and what was originally the laundry room and made that kitchen space. We added on to the back of the house in 1992, bedroom, bathroom, 6 x 9 walkin closet and a laundry closet. We had used the old laundry room as a pantry. Basically we doubled the number of cabinets in the kitchen.
To the studs remodel of two 5 x 9 bathrooms, replaced all 9 doors with solid core doors, replaced all 10 closet doors with solid core doors. Replaced all door trim and molding. And 1,700+- square feet of laminate flooring. View attachment 721533

I think TVGuy and I have the same taste in cabinets......

 

[tvguy]

I think TVGuy and I have the same taste in cabinets......

View attachment 721549

That would be Mrs. TVU Guy. She did let me pick the laminate for the flooring.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Very nice! I like your floors a lot! What are they?

Lifeproof luxury vinyl. The color is Choice Oak. We needed to make sure the floors would do well with our kids since they always run in to use the bathroom soaking wet from the pool. It’s very easy to maintain.

 

[barkley]

Would love to update flooring one of these days. Still not 100% sure what I want (have time to think about it, lol) I thought maybe the vinyl tiles that look like wood but sounds like a pp didn’t like them? We have dogs.

we did lvp that looks like hard wood flooring and i LOVE it. it is so easy to maintain. we had tile flooring and saved allot by having it installed on top of the existing flooring vs. ripping out the tile. i'm going to be interested to see what our utility usage is like during the winter months b/c it seems that opting to put that lvp on top of the tile has created an additional layer of insulation that's keeping the house cooler in the summer and so far-warmer this winter (and we are already running on and off in the low teens temp wise).

This house is in another state and we know very few people there. How do we find a reputable contractor?

one method we used when we moved to a new state was to inquire w/the insurance agents at the local brick and mortar of the company we insure with.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Someone mentioned spice racks. I fretted a lot about spices. We cook a lot and I pretty much had a whole small cabinet for spices before and I was worried with a corner cabinet there wouldn’t be space. But turns out, with the upper corner cabinet with two adjustable shelves (which I use for cooking products like oils and flour and such) there are actually three distinct spaces - each shelf and the bottom (which I hadn’t realized), so my spices all fit really well in the bottom of the cabinet. Ones that are bigger go up against the sides (or on the shelves) so they don’t impact the spinning, but the rest all fit beautifully underneath. Including a picture here of what I mean. It’s a huge cabinet so there is a ton of room for everything. No spice rack or drawer that I saw compared.

It’s funny how you discover things once you start to live with a new design - some things you like, and some things you might not like. I got lucky on this.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/sektion-corner-wall-cabinet-with-carousel-white-bodbyn-gray-s29040802/

 

[limace]

I found this good overall picture of our remodel. It wasn’t cheap-but we moved our kitchen to a different part of the house. House was built in the 40s and kitchen was tiny. It’s now in what used to be TV room/dining room. We also put in a small walk in pantry. Below is before and after. I do really love our lights-they are mercury glass, and the windows over the sink.

 

[Shelley Chiarats]

Does anyone have a stove in the island? How did you deal with the vent hood?

We are redoing my great grandparents' house and they had the stove across from the sink and we left it there but ended up moving the stairwell to the basement so the stove is now on the island rather than against the basement stairwell.

 

[limace]

Does anyone have a stove in the island? How did you deal with the vent hood?

We are redoing my great grandparents' house and they had the stove across from the sink and we left it there but ended up moving the stairwell to the basement so the stove is now on the island rather than against the basement stairwell.

I’d avoid if you can but one option is a vent hood overhead and another is one of those vent hoods in the surface of the island-the latter isn’t great venting (according to the gurus on the Houzz kitchen forums).

 

[firefly_ris]

Does anyone have a stove in the island? How did you deal with the vent hood?

We are redoing my great grandparents' house and they had the stove across from the sink and we left it there but ended up moving the stairwell to the basement so the stove is now on the island rather than against the basement stairwell.

My parents cooktop is in the island, has a vent that sucks in air, never had an issue with it. No overhead vent hood or anything like that.