Kitchen remodel questions

[bjscheel]

We did ours last year- stripped it down to the stud walls and reinsulated and everything. I will just link to my kitchen advice thread I started last year as people gave good advice in it too:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2678658

 

[mistysue]

We preferred a kitchen specialty store for our cabinets vs the big box stores. Definitely compare prices because you may be surprised.

If you are thinking of granite countertops there is a huge range of prices. There are colors very common that can be quite inline with other options and there are some that are much more limited that can cost more $$$.

Things like the edging of your countertop (on any material) adds in extra $$. You can have bullnose, ogee, bevel, etc. To save money we made our perimiter a traditional eased edge but put a nice ogee on our island where it is totally exposed.

THIS!
My family does commercial cabinets and I can tell you that shopping around can make a huge difference. Also, if you walk into a "big box store" they will give you a low estimate to get you in the door- while a smaller place may give you more realistic numbers. That whole linear foot pricing of cabinets thing is total BS. The "specials" at big box stores are priced significantly higher... so your cabinet is $200, but that pull out shelf is $200 and the handles start at $10- vs a small shop where the cabinet is $300 and the pull out shelf $50 with a basic handle included. (occasionally kitchens are included in our package, so I have shopped for kitchens quite a bit)

I suggest drawers, especially those big tall pantries that have drawers on the bottom and shelves at the top. Then for extras, like the pull out garbage bin and pull out shelves you may want to look into the cost of conversion kits for your cabinets if you are handy at all. Unless you are using an extremely high end cabinet maker, the factory is buying the same $20 kit you can buy online. They will charge you 3-4x that price to screw in 5-6 screws.

We also love our cabinet with the dividers for pans- we put ours next to the stove. A PP suggested over the fridge, but DH and I are really short so that would have been mean here.

If you go with wood, often you can order extra stain to match. I got a quart of stain and we stained our molding to match the cabinets... someday I'm making a wine rack and matching that too.

I put laminate tops in because I figured out that I can change my tops 7-8 times before I will have spent as much money as getting granite tops. There are laminate finishes that even have the texture of granite now. I've had a couple people come in and complement me on my granite tops (which are laminate)- you just need a post-formed edge, not a 3mm or self edge. (rounded, not squared) Depending on where you live it may not be as big of a deal- things like that are not accounted for in appraisals here. If the actual granite is important to you though I would ignore this advice.

We have mood mode cabinets, they are beautiful.

 

[erincon23]

I have never remodeled a kitchen, but I worked for a residential realtor for quite a while. The big thing I learned from her is to think about how long you plan to live in this home and spend accordingly. Don't put in a high-end kitchen remodel if you think you'll live there for only 3-5 years -- you won't get your money out of it when you sell. But if this is it for the long-term, put in what you want -- by the time you sell, it'll be outdated anyway and the new owners will want to redo it. But even if think you'll be there for quite a while, have an eye toward selling if you are thinking about anything that's really out there and would be difficult to change.

If you're looking at a small budget, include those things that will be difficult or expensive to change in the future (flooring, moving walls), and have a longer-term schedule for the more cosmetic things (drawer pulls, backsplash, etc). Not everything has to be done at once.

Have a great time planning!

 

[Aliceacc]

I just found a good article with tons of GREAT comments!!!
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-best-decision-i-made-with-111246

As to the rest, I'm planning to live in this house forever. So this remodel is about us, not resale. That said, I have no plans to do this again, so I want changes that will stand the test of time.

We're in a better financial place than we've been in quite some time. So we're thinking that we'll skip vacation this year, and get a home improvement loan. So, while we ARE on a teacher's budget, I plan to do this right.

 

[DisHmsklMom]

We've had 2 kitchens done in the past, in 2 totally different houses by the same contractor. The thing I love the most about him was that no work was started until all the cabinets had arrived and were checked out. We had to give up garage space to store them while the work was being done, but I was able to keep my time without a kitchen to a minimum. He was able complete our kitchens in about one month, there never was any down time waiting for an item that was incorrect or damaged in shipping.
In our house we have now, we will update this kitchen in the future, I've noticed that I really miss my double ovens, a quiet dishwasher, outlets in my island, having more cabinets with drawers, and correct placement of my cooktop (right now it is too close to a wall and is in a corner, I like to look out towards my family area while cooking - sink, not so much, since that's a chore for the kiddos.) We have already improved the lighting (under counter and task), and made the stove top fan vent out of the house.
Enjoy the planning process, a new, properly thought out kitchen is really a pleasure to cook in.

 

[valee]

Having watched my DSIL wrestle with some reno recently, and starting to consider a reno of my own soon, I'd say that that the three most important things to do are plan, plan, and plan.
My DSIL has spent the last 18 months getting a new bathroom done, and it still isn't operational. Every time I've gone over, she's been making some change to the plan - three lights, two lights, four lights in the hallway - ceramic tile, marble tile - rainfall shower head, handheld massaging shower head - and on and on. Every change has cost time and money.
I've started a notebook to collect all the big and little elements that I want to include, so that I'll be ready when it's time.

 

[pigletto]

We built this house new and while we went with the kitchen in the plans and not something we designed I am pretty happy with it ,except for one thing. And that one thing drives me NUTS.
We have an island. It's tiered, which we love. So on the front there is room for three bar stools and the kids eat lunch there. The lower level is counter space for prep and used all the time. The problem is, directly behind me is the fridge and the dishwasher. If you are cooking and cleaning you can only get ONE person back there or you can't open the door to the fridge or the dishwasher. And it's stupid because it could have easily been moved back a few feet and there would have been plenty of room. It was one of those things that looked great in the plans but you don't think about those doors being OPEN.

So if you plan to have an island at all, try to really picture walking around in that space and give adequate room for people to walk about. It didn't occur to me how tight it was going to be and we've honestly considered ripping out the island and moving it back. It would mean redoing the tile floor though

Oh, and we didn't think about how loud the over the range fan would be and it's very loud. That can easily be replaced but I would try to test them out before you pick one.

 

[ToddyLu]

We purchased Kraftmaid cabinets for our redo after a hurricane. My MIL picked the same cabinets and stain but choose real wood instead of what we have and you cannot tell the difference.

I wanted a two tone knob and pull made by Kraftmaid and after a several week search finally found them for half the price on the Internet. They were made by a company called Halfelel (or something like that). So I saved a good bit there...Lowes $12 each, Net $6 each.

I also go tthe 42" cabinets which I love. When you do the design make sure the opening between the upper cabinets lines up with the opening below. Ours were off center and one of the estimates fixed that--didn't even notice it until she said something. So our 2 double cabinets above, line up with the two lower cabinet openings. I also chose a full Fridge cabinet so that food would not trickle down between the fridge and cabinets. The cabinet above my fridge juts out to make it easier to reach things, instead of recessed like the cabinets beside it.

All corner cabinets were full depth cabinets so there was no wasted space..I put rarely used items farther back and love it. I also love my lazy susan.

I wish I had somehow made longer drawers-- I really like all the drawers in my MIL kitchen. Be sure to actually go over the deisgn with the person who actually signs off on the plans. This was not explained to me--once I decided what I wanted the company finalized the plans with their designer who plugs in all of the necessary fine measurements. I came up short to the left of my sink. WHere I wanted a set of three drawers they came back with a COOKIE PAN DRAWER LIke everyone else I need a cookie sheet but this darn thing is NOT what I wanted. Somehow the plans were changed and I was never notified and so was left with what they sent. There was no room. It was after Katrina and the market was flooded with need and something so trivial was ignored.

I also wish I had a slightly larger pantry. I placed the pantry at the far end of the kitchen to allow for more straight counter space. Love the slide out shelves. I also chose a glass top stove slide in--with knobs in the front not where I had to reach over the eyes to turn them. Love that. I also have an above stove microwave to keep it off the counter.

I too love my French-door/bottom freezer fridge.

 

[Aliceacc]

We're meeting with the contractor on Wednesday night.

I've been haunting houzz whenever I can... lots of good ideas there!

I also want to ask about the price of adding a mudroom onto the back of our house, where the patio is now. I'm thinking we could push back the kitchen, making the mudroom 6-8 feet deep and 10 feet wide. I would put cubbies against the side of the house, and windows on the other 3 sides. Below the windows I would put benches with more storage. I would have a nice sunroom 3 seasons, (with storage space for the beach towels when the pool is open) and a place for all the wet/snowy coats and hats and boots in winter. I've spent much of this morning looking at those cubbies-- I really like the ones at http://www.sawdustcityllc.com/mudroom-furniture/ . But we'll have to see what this does to the budget.

I want to ask for several estimates- with and without the mudroom, with laminate vs Granite countertops, and so on. If it made the difference between having the mudroom and not having it, I could be very happy with laminate countertops: http://www.wilsonarthd.com/prodcat.aspx?Id=1&page=6 or http://formica180fx.com/browse.php

Resale value isn't an issue; we plan to be in this house forever.

 

[Aliceacc]

We're meeting with our first kitchen designer in 2 hours. She works with the contractor we've used before. We'll be getting other estimates, but all other things being equal we may very end up with this contractor. I think we've decided against a separate mudroom in favor of extending the kitchen 6-8 feet and including a coat closet (or 2 or 3) along with sliding glass doors into the yard.

Here's my current wishlist; what would you add?

KITCHEN WISH LIST
- Knock down wall between kitchen and dining room, peninsula with no overhead cabinets

- Dishwasher

- Phone charging station, maybe outlets under-mounted to cabinets?

- Broom closet wide enough for vacuum

- Extension: coat closets, room for hats, gloves, pool towels in summer, bench, place for backpacks. Place for wet gloves & boots??

- Non-slip floor for summer. MUST be low maintenance.

- Lots of light

- Drawers vs cabinets

- Counters: probably Formica or Wilsonart in a granite pattern

- Under-cabinet lighting, and lots of light over dining room table / peninsula for homework

- Cabinets to ceiling or molding; I don’t want to have to clean over cabinets.

- Place to store a stepstool

- Pantry space—pullouts?

- Space for recycled newspapers, bottles and cans

- Single sink, maybe undermount?

- Cost difference in changing layout?

- Place to store tablecloths

- Storage for dog food, place to put dog bowl
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