Kitchen Remodel Likes and Regrets

Thanks ,appreciate it

 

Ohio, this is the house in the VI....... still needs some work....fixer upper....previous owner ran out of money.....faces the ocean.....200 feet to the ocean

 

First off I am the owner (4th generation family business) of a kitchen and bath design showroom. We design and sell the materials and do not get into the install work etc but have a short list of good contractors that we work with and recommend or just sell product if the client has a contractor or they are doing it themselves.

Jack Straw - Not all cabinet retailers give kick backs to the contractors because I am one of those that don't. I don't agree with them making 5-10% on a customer just because, most of our contractors we deal with either have a set allowance and actually share the invoices with the customer (ask a contractor for a copy of all the invoices, good luck) or we deal with the homeowner direct on all the materials and the contractors are separate contract for all the labor.

As a matter of fact, I prefer dealing with the homeowner direct because we have gotten burned by contractors more times than I can remember on payment, promised future work that never comes, discounts for their personal projects and our design work. If you want one of our kitchen layouts with dimensions prior to placing the actual order, it is $500 for the print and when you order you get the money applied to the order.

At minimum you want dovetail drawers and plywood sides we won't sell anything less(construction wise). Cheap cabinets will bite you in the end every time. Just remember that if you do a knock down cabinet (like Ikea with all the locking cams) or a cheap builder grade cabinet, and then do granite or quartz, your tops will be in great shape forever and your cabinets will be falling apart on you down the road. I have literally seen wall cabinets that the back was screwed to the wall and sides and frame fell off the wall from just being hot glued together and the glue failing (No nails or screws holding the sides to the back!)

Also, for those that purchase at the box stores, remember that the person drawing your kitchen today may have been in the gardening department yesterday and next week in appliances. We correct A LOT of mistakes from the box store quotes and we get a lot of jobs by pointing out why the design they did would have been awkward to use or a door opening too close to appliances or walls and not opening correctly and we show how changing this or that will work better for them.

Highest price does not always mean the best and least expensive can be far from a deal.

If anyone has any questions about cabinetry/ counter tops I would be glad to answer PM's. I would rather take a couple of minutes to help than hear that you got taken on something or not happy with an option chosen if I can help. I can't help too much on saw repair or fixing wood stoves but I do know a couple things in this category.

 

^^^what she said chbryson
great thing about a wood hoarding forum - folks from all walks of life.

 

The room being taken over for our new kitchen is small, 11 x 10. It is an L off the family room and open one one side. It has two windows, one being a picture window. The other is high enough for a sink to be under it. Small yes, but there is just the two of us to be using it. The layout will be L shaped. I'll have a storage closet under the split stairwell.
We really have to thin things out. We have a set of china that I bought when I was overseas in the military. We never use it. Same for the silver service and many redundant pots and pans. I think the kids are going to "inherit" before they planned. We have been married 45 years so you can imagine what two pack rats accumulate. There is a bedroom that is completely taken up with "stuff" we couldn't fit in our kitchen. Like who needs three electric bread makers! Sad.

 

Found some appliances my wife selected at Lowes. She and I are are different pages about value. She picked out a refrigerator that is nearly three grand. Then she went on to pick out the rest of the appliances. Thank goodness I get 10% off for being a retired veteran.
Some of the other stuff has started to arrive. We have a friend who is a master electrician who says he will do the wiring.
We are thinking about real tile for the kitchen floor. I've been looking at tiles that look like wood planks. Just about indistructable.
Not sure what we want in the livingroom. Has to be warm looking and pet proof. Everything being stalled on concrete.

 

I'm putting the white washed ash tiles in my 1/2 bath remodel.
If the subfloor is even shouldn't be too big of a deal - they are long tiles and can be a PITA to lay without toe catchers

 

Oh yeah Larry condolences on the appliances - the fridges are the budget breakers. You feel less violated with the matching stove and dishwasher

 

I got off easy on the fridge. It was only $1250 and the wife loves it. The dishwasher was a little pricier than others, but I wanted something that will do a good job.
The fridge and DW are very quiet and that's great. I could hear the old fridge from the bedroom.

Some of the wood tiles are really nice. Saw some at the tile shop when we were looking at backsplash tile and they looked much better than what was available at Lowes or HD. Worth checking out it you have a tile shop in your area.

 

my frigs were 1200 for the set.

 

Yes! They are $800 each. The microwave is $300. These are ones with some slate gray finish with matching handles.

 

I saw that too.
What the heck?
I only saw one fridge.....a realy nice double door one.
If that was only $600, i want one.