Advice on remodeling our kitchen......... Feel free to tell me your experiences, good and/or bad.

[psuaxe70]

When my wife designed our kitchen she raised the dishwasher by 10" so it was easier to get into. We have both been very grateful for that ever since.

 

[Obliviax]

Some good suggestions here - some not so much. I am currently in the middle of a kitchen remodel myself of a 50's house that the wife (retired) and I downsized to 2 years ago an are renovating. One of the aspects we considered was that at our age (58/59) is the value/use equation as we didn't want to spend too much on cabinets or the latest trends unless it was something we really wanted/would get great use from. We had to apply this across all of the potential items on our renovation list. While cabinets are a large part of the budget and have a major impact on the budget/design - items like sinks/faucets, countertops, and appliances will shock you as they round out the entire package.

As a design professional on the commercial side - here are a couple of suggestions i hope you find helpful.

1. Purchase your appliances separate from the cabinets. Get what you want, but be careful to avoid the latest "fads" and only but what you need/will use.
2. For cabinets and the overall design - find a good local cabinet company/kitchen shop (stay away from the big-boxes) with a designer (NKKB is the certification to look for, but not required) that you are comfortable working with. When choosing - look at reviews and also completed project examples. Ask for references!
3. Minimize the number of total "boxes" that are in your cabinet package, and be realistic with the "features" you actually need and will use. Focus on cabinet construction (wood if you can afford) and hardware (blum if available) and finish of doors/fronts.
4. Schedule - be flexible, and patient. Unless you can find a package to buy off a showroom floor, you are already going to miss your June deadline. Most cabinet mfg's. are 7-10 weeks lead time ight now, and it will only get worse as summer approaches. You are going to be living with this new Kitchen the rest of your lives (sounds weird - I know) so take a little longer to get it right.
5. Consider porcelain countertop material as an alternative to any stone (granite/marble/quartz) product.
6. LED's for any lighting. The wafers are a very stable product. A big assumption here, but the problems you had were more related to the quality of the product for the exterior fixtures. Unless you are buying commercial grade fixtures and/or going through a lighting store - the led exterior fixtures you can get online or at the box stores are pretty cheaply made. For those it is best to stay with a fixture that you can use a replaceable led bulb and not the hard install panels.
7. Floors - LVT without ever looking back. Have lived with a tile floor in kitchen of previous house for 30 years and anything and everything you drop on them you can plan on replacing. A decent priced quality LVT typically comes with a backing for cushion/acoustics.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.!

all good advice...however my only comment is that if you ever resale the house, when someone asks about counters and you say "natural stone", the conversation stops on a positive note. If you way "porcelain" you end up having to say what kind of porcelain and why it was selected. It is a defensive tone. The same it true about any floorig not hardwood. If it is a higher end home, they want natural products. I love some porcelain countertops, I like the white with a thick grey coloring, but there are some crappy porcelains out there.

 

[bytir]

Interesting post. What are your thoughts on porcelain v. quartz?

From a technical standpoint - porcelain is better in most if not all categories. Heat/stain/scratch resistance being the ones most consumer are interested in. I love some of the very unique looks you can get from Quartz, especially some of the deeper tones with flecks that sparkle/shimmer. The Porcelains are more subtle, but can be much lighter as they are typically a thinner material and allow for a more streamlined profile. My wife picked out a Quartz material (loved the look) for a small 5' wide section of counter in the pantry and it is going to weigh around 300 lb. when it arrives.......ugh

 

[bytir]

I don't disagree with the resale comment. Buyer perception is everything! I did tailor my response the original poster's position that they will be staying as long as possible (and not seemingly be concerned with resale), and was considering between LVT and tile (ceramic/porcelain) for the floor. Fortunately, I have not come across the "crappy porcelains" you reference - but I am sure they are out there like with any product.

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

From a technical standpoint - porcelain is better in most if not all categories. Heat/stain/scratch resistance being the ones most consumer are interested in. I love some of the very unique looks you can get from Quartz, especially some of the deeper tones with flecks that sparkle/shimmer. The Porcelains are more subtle, but can be much lighter as they are typically a thinner material and allow for a more streamlined profile. My wife picked out a Quartz material (loved the look) for a small 5' wide section of counter in the pantry and it is going to weigh around 300 lb. when it arrives.......ugh

Gotcha--thank you, and I appreciate the insight for when I remodel. I had it narrowed down to Quartz because I want high heat resistance and low maintenance. Are there any real differences between porcelain and Quartz in terms of heat/maintenance? As in, can you drop a pot right from the stove onto the countertop? And, is there any cost difference?

 

[GregInPitt]

Some good suggestions here - some not so much. I am currently in the middle of a kitchen remodel myself of a 50's house that the wife (retired) and I downsized to 2 years ago an are renovating. One of the aspects we considered was that at our age (58/59) is the value/use equation as we didn't want to spend too much on cabinets or the latest trends unless it was something we really wanted/would get great use from. We had to apply this across all of the potential items on our renovation list. While cabinets are a large part of the budget and have a major impact on the budget/design - items like sinks/faucets, countertops, and appliances will shock you as they round out the entire package.

As a design professional on the commercial side - here are a couple of suggestions i hope you find helpful.

1. Purchase your appliances separate from the cabinets. Get what you want, but be careful to avoid the latest "fads" and only but what you need/will use.
2. For cabinets and the overall design - find a good local cabinet company/kitchen shop (stay away from the big-boxes) with a designer (NKKB is the certification to look for, but not required) that you are comfortable working with. When choosing - look at reviews and also completed project examples. Ask for references!
3. Minimize the number of total "boxes" that are in your cabinet package, and be realistic with the "features" you actually need and will use. Focus on cabinet construction (wood if you can afford) and hardware (blum if available) and finish of doors/fronts.
4. Schedule - be flexible, and patient. Unless you can find a package to buy off a showroom floor, you are already going to miss your June deadline. Most cabinet mfg's. are 7-10 weeks lead time ight now, and it will only get worse as summer approaches. You are going to be living with this new Kitchen the rest of your lives (sounds weird - I know) so take a little longer to get it right.
5. Consider porcelain countertop material as an alternative to any stone (granite/marble/quartz) product.
6. LED's for any lighting. The wafers are a very stable product. A big assumption here, but the problems you had were more related to the quality of the product for the exterior fixtures. Unless you are buying commercial grade fixtures and/or going through a lighting store - the led exterior fixtures you can get online or at the box stores are pretty cheaply made. For those it is best to stay with a fixture that you can use a replaceable led bulb and not the hard install panels.
7. Floors - LVT without ever looking back. Have lived with a tile floor in kitchen of previous house for 30 years and anything and everything you drop on them you can plan on replacing. A decent priced quality LVT typically comes with a backing for cushion/acoustics.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.!

First, thanks for all the detailed recommendations.

We, especially my wife, are not into getting into the latest fads or designs. Example, and top jobs done by kitchen installers seem to showcase features like large SS range hoods, but I doubt those type of extras will be what we decide on. The stove I convinced my wife to look at and that I bought is more high end than what I thought I could talk her into. And we only want a larger refrig., without the outside ice and water dispensers. We like simple and functional, for the most part.

Going to a local family owned kitchen tonight, and another that did a great job on a friend's kitchen remodel tomorrow. May get a price from HD for comparison, but I wouldn't eliminate a quality organization for a few $.

June was not really a goal, just when I will take delivery of the stove. And I sure don't want to pressure an installer to start when they don't have all the materials available, and then have the WIP experience drag out longer than necessary.

We'll keep your recommendations for LVT and porcelain countertops in mind as we go forward!

 

[Nitt1300]

Something I forgot- if you are getting raised panel doors, consider finished ends for your wall and base cabinets, raised panels that match your door fronts. It will give you a higher end custom look for not a whole lot more money.

 

[sluggo72]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm pretty worn out from all the work I took on to finish my new garage/workshop, and I still have a few jobs there to finish (large compressor install including distribution manifold design, build and install, car lift purchase and install,....). So outside of some electrical work I'm not taking on any of the kitchen remodeling work, let alone building cabinets.

Life is too short and the golf courses need players!

its cheaper btw....

 

[sluggo72]

you need to watch this!!!

 

[bytir]

Gotcha--thank you, and I appreciate the insight for when I remodel. I had it narrowed down to Quartz because I want high heat resistance and low maintenance. Are there any real differences between porcelain and Quartz in terms of heat/maintenance? As in, can you drop a pot right from the stove onto the countertop? And, is there any cost difference?

The two biggest benefits to Porcelain are the heat and stain resistance due to the manufacturing process - it is fired at a much higher temp than other products making it essentially a non-porous finished surface. You should be able to put a hot pot on it with no issue, as you could with most quartz products as well. Maintenance wise - for residential use there is no sealing necessary for either like with granite / other natural stone. Generally speaking - porcelain should be less expensive, but the different grade products can impact this as well as other factors. For example - when the "kitchen shop" you use orders the quartz (and other natural stone slab based products like marble / granite) you select from the distributor, the price is impacted greatly (or should be) by what they have in stock. Your best price will come if the size needed is available in a piece that is already cut. If not - the price is based on a full slab price, which can be considerably higher.

 

[Parkland Fan]

The two biggest benefits to Porcelain are the heat and stain resistance due to the manufacturing process - it is fired at a much higher temp than other products making it essentially a non-porous finished surface. You should be able to put a hot pot on it with no issue, as you could with most quartz products as well. Maintenance wise - for residential use there is no sealing necessary for either like with granite / other natural stone. Generally speaking - porcelain should be less expensive, but the different grade products can impact this as well as other factors. For example - when the "kitchen shop" you use orders the quartz (and other natural stone slab based products like marble / granite) you select from the distributor, the price is impacted greatly (or should be) by what they have in stock. Your best price will come if the size needed is available in a piece that is already cut. If not - the price is based on a full slab price, which can be considerably higher.

FYI. When doing the budget, be sure to add $$$ for eating out. You will probably be without a fully functioning kitchen for at least two weeks. We kept the cost low by adding microwave, toaster, toaster oven, coffeemaker in our addition, but still had a nice restaurant bill.

 

[SoParkLion]

House was built in 1959. Original quaker made cabinets. We did a mini makeover when we moved in 27 years ago - new counter tops (laminate), ceramic flooring, replaced the gas wall oven with an electric double oven..... We kept the separate gas cooktop.

We have talked about remodeling the kitchen or years, but I spent some significant $ the last 2 years building a good sized garage/workshop and replacing (doubling the size) of our concrete driveway. But no use putting it off. I'm retired and wife is likely quitting this summer.

Kitchen prep, cabinet area is 14 by 10, with a separate breakfast area, and I'm not planning on moving walls. Sink is in the center of an 8' window, dishwasher beside it and refrig across next to entrance door with cooktop and microwave above across from sink, so we don't plan on doing much if any rearrangement of the appliances. My initial ideas are to install larger (higher) cabinets on the inside wall as it has a high bulkhead up to the cathedral ceiling (higher on that wall, the non symmetric center of that part of the house).

But I'm really looking for advice on contractors, experience with installers, cabinet makers, brands, etc. Looking to get quality cabinets, but not going to throw money at it.

I got this started by taking my wife to Home Depot after last Friday's dinner out to look at appliances. She now wants a regular gas range, and she picked out an LG she liked, which was about the only one we looked at that was significantly on sale, 44% off. Yep, it had good ratings. So I went out and bought it yesterday. To be delivered in June due to being backordered. So I need the kitchen done to accommodate the range! Although I can stash it until the project is done.

Made appointments with 2 kitchen remodeling companies, family owned, that a good friend had give them estimates and one of whom did a great job on their kitchen.

I also made an appointment with a designer at Home Depot. Anyone use a big box store, HD or Lowes, and how did it go?

Other advice?

I got a good deal replacing all of my kitchen appliances directly from Samsung. They have great deals. If you are or were in teaching, military, or medicine you can get an additional 10% off of sale prices. I figure that Samsung should be able to make Smart Appliances...

Also about getting a refrigerator of a very common size so that it will be easy to replace in the future.

 

[GregInPitt]

I got a good deal replacing all of my kitchen appliances directly from Samsung. They have great deals. If you are or were in teaching, military, or medicine you can get an additional 10% off of sale prices. I figure that Samsung should be able to make Smart Appliances...

Also about getting a refrigerator of a very common size so that it will be easy to replace in the future.

Samsung does seem to have the most sale deals. But I had heard that Samsung refrigerators have had compressor issues, and the store sales people we talked to also mildly moved us away from Samsung refrigerators. As we are only replacing the Stove (already purchased) and refrigerator, and LG has one of the larger counter depth refrigerator capacities, we are going with LG. My wife does have a teaching certificate but works (till the end of this year anyway) as a Speech Pathologist, so I'm not sure she would qualify.

We are going with the standard 36" wide by 70'' high opening that will accommodate about any standard sized refrigerator going forward. But I'm hoping that the new one now will be my last purchase of a refrigerator.....

Actually pretty much finalized our cabinet design last Saturday during a 2+ hour session with a big box kitchen designer, and their cabinet company Rep. visited us this week to refine a few details. Now just a matter of talking this design through with the 2 family run kitchen remodelers that we've had discussions with and then sorting out the bids. I guess if the sticker shock is too great I may approach another contractor to bid on the install using the big box supplied cabinets. TBD......

 

[BW Lion]

Samsung does seem to have the most sale deals. But I had heard that Samsung refrigerators have had compressor issues, and the store sales people we talked to also mildly moved us away from Samsung refrigerators. As we are only replacing the Stove (already purchased) and refrigerator, and LG has one of the larger counter depth refrigerator capacities, we are going with LG. My wife does have a teaching certificate but works (till the end of this year anyway) as a Speech Pathologist, so I'm not sure she would qualify.

We are going with the standard 36" wide by 70'' high opening that will accommodate about any standard sized refrigerator going forward. But I'm hoping that the new one now will be my last purchase of a refrigerator.....

Actually pretty much finalized our cabinet design last Saturday during a 2+ hour session with a big box kitchen designer, and their cabinet company Rep. visited us this week to refine a few details. Now just a matter of talking this design through with the 2 family run kitchen remodelers that we've had discussions with and then sorting out the bids. I guess if the sticker shock is too great I may approach another contractor to bid on the install using the big box supplied cabinets. TBD......

I have purposely hesitated participating in this thread because I didn’t want to be drawn in.

My only advice is ...if you ultimately decide to use Big Orange or Big Blue etc for your overall design and cabinet sourcing, you deserve what you get in the end.

There is a very logical sequence to intelligent kitchen remodeling. Big Box stores are no part of that process

I’ll stop now

 

[GregInPitt]

I have purposely hesitated participating in this thread because I didn’t want to be drawn in.

My only advice is ...if you ultimately decide to use Big Orange or Big Blue etc for your overall design and cabinet sourcing, you deserve what you get in the end.

There is a very logical sequence to intelligent kitchen remodeling. Big Box stores are no part of that process

I’ll stop now

Not seriously considering having their generic installers enter our home.

Really just talked through storage options. My wife and I had pretty much arrived at a design that is not too much different from our current kitchen. As I believe I had said, we aren't moving walls.... So we really just had them put it on paper.

The two family kitchen remodelers are who we are looking to for an install. Unless they try and rape us, in which case I do know a couple experienced contractors that have done similar work for friends that were very satisfied with them......