Let's Talk Remodeling

[Am_I_There_Yet]

That's very pretty! I think I want something with a little more red in it to go with the dark cherry.

Going with any solid surface, you shouldn't have a hard time finding one! I think every time I research granite colors, new ones are out.

The place I went to carried the Wellborn. And the guy talked me out of going with them, because of the cost.

Well, of course it would be. I tend to gravitate towards what I can't afford.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Well...yes they were a little pricey especially the cherry cabinets (but part of that was a special glaze and the type of doors I picked ) in the kitchen. But they are really great quality and I love them. We probably could have done it cheaper but we were lazy and went with a place that did soup to nuts and we didn't have to worry (much). I'll have to look at my price sheet when I get home tonight to see what I paid for just the cabinets (isn't it horrible that I really don't know??!!??!). I am thinking the kitchen ones were close to $10,000 (but that includes all the panels on the island) and I have no clue on the bathroom. The bathroom one is just one piece and I don't remember being shocked over the price (unlike the kitchen ).

 

[Hixski]

Well, of course it would be. I tend to gravitate towards what I can't afford.

Isn't everyone like that????? Champagne taste on beer money!!!!!

Your ideas for the bathroom look great!! DH and I have 3 days off next week to paint the great room, dining room, kitchen, foyer and hallway. We actually have 4 days but we had to set our priorities and play golf on the first day.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Isn't everyone like that????? Champagne taste on beer money!!!!!

Your ideas for the bathroom look great!! DH and I have 3 days off next week to paint the great room, dining room, kitchen, foyer and hallway. We actually have 4 days but we had to set our priorities and play golf on the first day.

I always say: why do in two days, what you can do in four?

Or in our case, why remodel a master bathroom in two months, when you can take two years procrastinating about it?

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Does this tub:

Look like the tub in this picture?

I wasn't wanting to do a corner tub, but this one isn't too bad.

 

[sm4987]

yes, it does look similar. I have a corner tub in my bathroom and I love it

 

[mickeysgal]

We'll be using four separate pieces. Two vanities, one drawer cabinet, and the upper. Our custom estimate came back at $2,900 for stain-grade, and then I'd have to get it stained. For paint-grade, it was $2,600 - same deal; I'd still have to get it finished.

We haven't gotten prices yet. We're going to Lowe's this evening. Do you think it's unrealistic for stock cabinets to come out a little less?

I hate to cut out my cabinet guy, because he's been so awesome to us, but I think it would be so nice to have cabinets delivered that were completely ready to hang and use.

And my bedroom furniture is very similar to the first cabinet sample. Would you go with a different color wood in the bathroom? I hate to design a bathroom around furniture that we're not going to keep forever, but I'm a nut when it comes to making sure every room blends.

I would be surprised if the KraftMaid cabinets (in the design and layout you want) come in less than what you listed from your cabinet maker. When we priced Diamond cabinets for our bathroom, three stinking cabinets (2 sink bases and 2 3-drawer stacks, plus trim moldings and full drawer extensions and we were well over $3000.) The more drawers/doors you add, the higher the cost. Your design is beautiful but it is alot of drawers and doors. That said, we did a KraftMaid kitchen once and loved, loved, loved it.

You have simply wonderful taste.

For the record, I like the darker stain and the second granite. However, I have a tendency to match furniture tones too...

The good news is that whatever combination you choose is going to work out beautifully.

 

[mickeysgal]

This is so totally me!

Those curved cabinets are pricey - I know, I checked using WoodMode cabinets as a pricing guide.

However, you can get the same general look by pulling out the sink bases and using fluted fillers on each side of the sink base to fill in the gap on a 45 degree angle. (Done this twice in two different bathrooms).

I've saved that picture for some, umm...future thinking.

I'm so excited for you!!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I'm back!

We went to Home Depot and sat down with one of their cabinet people and he priced out what we're wanting to do, and even going with the upgraded door style, premium finish and Cherry (we're still going with Maple), the price was better than my custom guy.

We even got prices on doing feet, fluted filler pieces and crown molding, and the price was under $3k.

The three cabinet manufacturers that we're looking at are: Kraftmaid, Thomasville and American Woodmark (I know a lot of production builders use them). Any opinions on any of them?

So... we're meeting with the contractor on Monday, and then going back to Home Depot to order the cabinets. We'll install them, so hopefully that'll cut down on some of the frustration that I hear other people talking about when they deal with the big box stores.

Of course, I'd love to get the cabinets cheaper, so if anyone has any hints or ideas, I'm open to suggestions!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

This is so totally me!

Those curved cabinets are pricey - I know, I checked using WoodMode cabinets as a pricing guide.

However, you can get the same general look by pulling out the sink bases and using fluted fillers on each side of the sink base to fill in the gap on a 45 degree angle. (Done this twice in two different bathrooms).

I've saved that picture for some, umm...future thinking.

I'm so excited for you!!

Good idea! So, how does that work on the end cabinet? I'm talking about the gap that would be on the side, in the back.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I would be surprised if the KraftMaid cabinets (in the design and layout you want) come in less than what you listed from your cabinet maker. When we priced Diamond cabinets for our bathroom, three stinking cabinets (2 sink bases and 2 3-drawer stacks, plus trim moldings and full drawer extensions and we were well over $3000.) The more drawers/doors you add, the higher the cost. Your design is beautiful but it is alot of drawers and doors. That said, we did a KraftMaid kitchen once and loved, loved, loved it.

This is who I'm leaning toward using, simply because I remember a lot of people using them on gardenweb.com.

You have simply wonderful taste.

Of course you think so! Your house looks like something I could move right in to! We definitely think alike when it comes to decorating!

For the record, I like the darker stain and the second granite. However, I have a tendency to match furniture tones too...

The good news is that whatever combination you choose is going to work out beautifully.

I think we're going to go even darker. I found several stains that looked very similar to Jasmine's that I fell in love with. I think they all look better with the granite too.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

yes, it does look similar. I have a corner tub in my bathroom and I love it

I saw the tub in person at Home Depot and it really is a pretty tub. The seat in it is lower, so that you're sitting in the water, unlike the ones that that just have the indentation on the decking.

I just have to wait and see what the contractor says. I still really, really want an oval drop-in tub on a granite deck. If we go with the corner tub, we won't have the space for the granite, and it'll look an awful lot like what I already have.

 

[shovan]

Glad to hear the prices came in lower than expected!!!! I think installing yourself will save a lot of headaches with the big box store too!

Can't wait to see it all!!!!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Glad to hear the prices came in lower than expected!!!! I think installing yourself will save a lot of headaches with the big box store too!

Can't wait to see it all!!!!

I know everyone else probably already knows this, but they charge around 50% of the cabinet total to hang them! We won't even have any uppers. I mean, come on... how hard could it be to set something on the floor and screw the back of it into a stud???

I told DH that he'd better get ready to learn a new skill, because he's gonna be taking Cabinets 101 real soon.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

AMITY, that sounds good! And I hope you can get the bathtub to work out how you want it.

Oh and I looked up my price sheets, I feel a little better. The kitchen was just a titch over $8,000 for the cabinets, panels, upgraded drawer slides, crowns, et. al and the bathroom was $1,025 for the cabinet, the upgraded drawer slides, et al..

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

AMITY, that sounds good!

Oh and I looked up my price sheets, I feel a little better. The kitchen was just a titch over $8,000 for the cabinets, panels, upgraded drawer slides, crowns, et. al and the bathroom was $1,025 for the cabinet, the upgraded drawer slides, et al..

That would be about on par with the prices I was given then. I'll have to find out who sells Wellborn around here and take a look.

 

[mickeysgal]

I know everyone else probably already knows this, but they charge around 50% of the cabinet total to hang them! We won't even have any uppers. I mean, come on... how hard could it be to set something on the floor and screw the back of it into a stud???

I told DH that he'd better get ready to learn a new skill, because he's gonna be taking Cabinets 101 real soon.

Can your cabinet guy install them? Really, we've hung cabinets before. If we can do it, you can too. (I'm serious.) Its all the trim work that I didn't want to mess with. With the basement, our carpenter charged us x amount per cabinet and then a set amount for all the trim work we had.

 

[FroggyinArk]

psssssstttt




check lowes in stock vanities... changing stock lines out, and have grandbays on clearance right now......

 

[mickeysgal]

I'm back!

We went to Home Depot and sat down with one of their cabinet people and he priced out what we're wanting to do, and even going with the upgraded door style, premium finish and Cherry (we're still going with Maple), the price was better than my custom guy.

We even got prices on doing feet, fluted filler pieces and crown molding, and the price was under $3k.

The three cabinet manufacturers that we're looking at are: Kraftmaid, Thomasville and American Woodmark (I know a lot of production builders use them). Any opinions on any of them?

So... we're meeting with the contractor on Monday, and then going back to Home Depot to order the cabinets. We'll install them, so hopefully that'll cut down on some of the frustration that I hear other people talking about when they deal with the big box stores.

Of course, I'd love to get the cabinets cheaper, so if anyone has any hints or ideas, I'm open to suggestions!

I'm amazed that they came in under $3. When we were quoted the bathroom we did go with cherry with a glaze. Perhaps thats why the price was higher for effectively the same amount of cabinets.

Are you going to pattern it after the first bathroom picture (with the roll up door) or the second one with the glass doors and the trim above the mirrors?

Kraftmaid - we did an entire kitchen with it. Cherry, raised panel doors, glass specialty doors, molding on top, light rail below, full extensions with the snap/soft close, pull out trays, false doors on the end panels, etc. Beautiful, only a couple of the cabinets came in wrong, but other than that, it was a dream. It was ordered through Home Depot.

Thomasville - Sister cabinet line is Diamond which is sold by Lowes. All made by MasterBrand, if I remember the name correctly. This is the line we used for the basement. We had a great designer at Lowes. We went with a cherry with a chocolate stain. Its very deep brown, almost black looking. Cherry was the only species that would accept a stain that dark. (We wanted it more entertainment area looking rather than kitchen-looking, if you can understand that.) Anyway, lots of dings, rough patches on the doors, gouges, things just not right. Enough was wrong with them that the sales rep had to come out and look at the whole shipment and basically reorder everything we had brought to his attention. I wasn't thrilled with the quality. Maybe we had a bad run...maybe it was the dark stain that showed everything (sort of like a black car showing every mark).

Also, the standard sides of the cabinets weren't as thick as the standard starting size of Kraftmaid. The standard Diamond was 3/8" MDF. You can upgrade the sides but the upgraded thickness was the standard starting size of Kraftmaid. We didn't realize this at the time we ordered the cabinets. We did upgrade the sink base to a full plywood cabinet because of my fear of water damage. I guess I expected the full plywood cabinet to be sturdier than the furniture grade board, yet it wasn't. It wasn't thicker, nor thinner, yet the box flexed easily while the furniture grade particle board didn't. Does that make sense?

Another wierd drawback were the feet that were offered with Diamond/Thomasville. I wanted ball feet for the bathroom. Kraftmaid carries ball feet, but Diamond/Thomasville doesn't. The closest thing they had was the tulip feet.

American Woodmark - To me, its not as nice of a line as the others. We're using American Woodmark in our laundry room (due in this week!). Our Lowes designer said they get a lot of damaged product in with Am. Woodmark. It doesn't appear as if their quality control is as rigid as Kraftmaid.

Overall, I like Kraftmaid the best. Its standard thickness makes for a stronger box than Thomasville/Diamond and I like their color choices better (as in more). Maybe if we didn't have so many problems with the Diamond cabinets, I might feel a bit different. If I had a choice I'd choose Kraftmaid for my kitchen or bath.

Well, let me rephrase that, I'd choose Wood Mode for the kitchen - if money was no object.

The only question I have now is does Home Depot's Kraftmaid standard size the same as Lowe's? Years ago when we did our kitchen (2001), there was a difference. You had to upgrade your Kraftmaid sides at Lowes to get what was standard at Home Depot. I don't know if this holds true now.

That's my long-winded .02. Its simply our experiences with the lines...and your experience may be different.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[Hixski]

For anyone looking for bathroom vanities you might want to check Costco. I know they are all over the US, I just don't know where. They have a nice variety of higher end looking vanities with the tops included. It won't let me post the link here from work but I will show you the one we are thinking about.

We can't get the double sink vanity, we would have to get the single sink.But I think this would look nice without overpowering our smaller size bathroom. DH thinks it is too dark for him but he likes the granite top on it so we will see.

If it was just up to him we would be getting this one he likes at Lowe's. This would at least get a granite top and not the one they show in the picture.

We shall see who wins the battle of the vanities.