Post by dr.girlfriend on Jul 29, 2014 8:18:44 GMT -5
Good luck! I feel like painting quotes vary like crazy. When we were looking to get our paneled room painted one place quoted like $1500 just for the one room! I think we ended up getting it done for like $300.
You have a custom cabinet maker that doesn't finish his own cabinets?! I've never heard of such a thing. Any good cabinet maker would know that the finish makes or breaks the look of the wood and would want to ensure it's done properly. And in house finishing by the cabinet maker always costs less than hiring it out.
That said that number sounds really high. What does that all include? Sanding, staining, and a coat or two of poly? My guess is that number is so high partly because they don't know the quality of the cabinets you're giving them. They may take a lot more sanding and touchup filling if lower quality wood was used so they are budgeting for that. If you have good quality wood it would be a lot cheaper to just use a high quality oil based poly. That would make the grain of the wood pop and give a slightly darker/richer color than the unfinished wood. Cherry wood will darken with age & UV exposure so it is common to not stain it.
no way... it would be a mess. Our contractor is willing to stain or paint them for cheap but he is not experienced at it. I think he just finds it to be a fun challenge for some extra money. I really want professional. Getting two other quotes tomorrow and keeping my fingers crossed. We will not pay over $3k.
I'm sorry that the quote was unexpectedly high. Who said it would only be $2-3000? Did they really have any idea what they were talking about?
Sticker shock sucks. But- I agree completely that this is not a job for an inexperienced, unskilled laborer. You need an artisan for this, and you also need that person to provide a realistic quote.
Think about what a nightmare it would be if you realized, partway through the job, that the person you hired to save money was completely unqualified to do this sort of thing... what if he made a mess of your beautiful new cabinets? He could ruin them. Imagine hiring someone else to UNDO the damage and redo them properly. If that happened you wouldn't be saving money at all.
This is one of those scenarios where I'd bite the bullet and pay to have the absolute best person do the work.
You have a custom cabinet maker that doesn't finish his own cabinets?! I've never heard of such a thing. Any good cabinet maker would know that the finish makes or breaks the look of the wood and would want to ensure it's done properly.
This exactly. Seems REALLY weird to me!!
Hope the others get back to you with more reasonable quotes.
Post by downtoearth on Jul 29, 2014 12:02:21 GMT -5
Staining is really easy - painting is harder for cabinets, but you can get a great professional look with staining and it shouldn't cost you $7k. Good luck.
You have a custom cabinet maker that doesn't finish his own cabinets?! I've never heard of such a thing. Any good cabinet maker would know that the finish makes or breaks the look of the wood and would want to ensure it's done properly.
I've had a cabinet maker who didn't do the finsih work. I like to do my own staining, so it's not a huge deal.
I did my book cases- 2 walls in oak after they were installed. I did a sanding sealer, sanded, 2 coats of stain and 2 coats of poly with sanding between- took me the better part of two weeks.
I did the staining on my kitchen/laundry room pieces prior to installation which was easier.