Kitchen remodel ????

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Made a deal with the wife, I get to build another garage and she gets to remodel the kitchen.

We are in the starting phase of the kitchen and I am looking for any pointers that you guys can give me?

Lets hear the Good, Bad and the Ugly.

Mike

[Bobby Bass]

Build the garage first! then you will have a place to eat when you build the kitchen

[Walleye Guy]

You need to define remodel. It it gut it and start over? Or are you taking a smaller approach and just considering new flooring, countertops, appliances etc.

The first advice would be to define the scope of the project, define what you will do yourself, determine the budget (then double the budget) etc.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

It was going to start out as new cabinets but know it will spill into a new kitchen. I put laminate flooring down two years ago, so I will be replacing that with new stuff. Of course new cabinets & counters, someone else will install, and new appliances, which I can install. We will also do the tear out of all old material.

I was talking to some guys at work and they mentioned Lowes has some good cabinets. I know they carry a wide variety of manufactures, I'm just not sure of the quality yet.

Mike

[bottomdweller]

Mike if you happen to get rid of your cabinets, I probably would be interested.

Do you also reside in nashwauk? I used to live on Lawrence lake.

thanks

[email protected]

[MIKE IN lINO III]

We live in Lino and have property on Lawrence lake.

[reddog]

Will the design follow the existing plan, or will there be enough changes to affect the electrical/ plumbing roughins.

If the design changes considerably, then you are looking at basically taking the drywall off, and re wiring the complete kitchen. Same with the plumbing.

Is there a finished basement below the remodeled area, or is is unfinished, as this makes it quite a bit easier re doing the rough ins.

If there are existing soffits, and you want to remove them, make sure that there isnt anything in them that cannot be redirected elsewhere, before you proceed with designing ( and ordering) a kitchen that wont fit.

Too many times, there is an assumption made that the soffits are only there to build down to the top of the cabinetry, and can be removed quite readily.

After the cabinets are ordered, and the demolition occurs, it is discovered that a stool from an upstairs bath runs inside it, or air conditioning lines, or whatever, and it turns out the soffits cannot be removed. Now, you have cabinets ordered that wont fit.

Think thru the project, diagnose potential problem areas, assume nothing.

R

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Thanks Reddog,

I will be following the current outline of the kitchen and the basement is finished but it has a suspended ceiling if I need access for anything.

Mike

[fishinchicks]

We are in the process of planning our kitchen remodel. Ours involves tearing the kitchen off of the house, and moving the wall out eight feet and fixing the foundation. A little more extensive than yours, but we have learned a few things about cabinets. The painted, glazed look is going to run about 15% higher than a stained finish. There are tons of different cabinet styles and quality. Lowes may have good cabinet brands, but don't just look at the one store. Make sure you open and close the drawers, look at the different storage options, how well the doors are made, type of hinges, etc. You don't want to have to do this again in the near future! Plan on spending quite a bit more than you expected, as well. Cabinets will take about six weeks to get there from the time ordered, so make sure you order them well in advance of the actual project. Don't be afraid to have one of the designers at Lowes or Home Depot help you out with the selection and cabinet placement. They will think of things you never would have. We are going with a design firm that is locally owned - we originally talked with 3 designers, and narrowed it down to the one who was most willing to make our vision a reality.

Plan ahead for how you will deal with out a kitchen. We have a large laundry area that will become our temporary kitchen - even tapping the dishwasher in the the washing machine lines. You will also need to store all of your current kitchen items that are not essential.

Tons of stuff to think about! Hope this helps.

Carolyn

[minneman]

If your buying from one of the box stores, Leave the measuring up to your sales person for fit of cabinets and templates for tops. any mistakes are now theirs.

[reddog]

Beware of free sinks, and large discounts off of list.

Usually list price is inflated in order to do this.

I just seen a big box ad: free sink base. $520 value.

Sink base is the cheapest cabinet in the kitchen.

List price on the custom line I sell, is $520. Sale price would be $341.00

Hell, If I could sell for list price, I'd give away free pantrys.

Beware large discounts off of list price, Its a numbers game, designed to confuse you into believing you are getting this super discounted deal.

[tonka]

when you look for appliances make sure you check out Appliance Smart in St. Loius Park. i got all mine there and i saved alot of money. found my convection oven for $100!

[slotlimit]

If you go to Appliance mart get a price quote on their letterhead and take it to sears. They have a price match plus 10% off the difference between their price and the competeing company.