Affordable kitchen materials

[imimahoney]

Hi all! Time to jump out of lurkdom.

So in November we are closing on our first house. As I said in the lurker post its a 1400 sq ft raised ranche. The kitchen is small but roomy enough.

Our plan is to keep the upper cabinets and paint them white, replace the lowers, add a usable peninsula/island, granite or quartz counters and a dishwasher. Dh will diy pretty much everything with help from family.

Our hope is to do the lowers and counters at the most affordable price point possible while still looking nice. Our new town is the best in the area for schools and has an excellent strong market.

We've priced out HD and Lowe's and found they were very similar in price. Do you think its even worth our time to shop at smaller stores or will they most likely be higher no matter what?

TIA!

[auntie]

I ordered my cabinets from a place that primarily serves the building trades. They very very reasonable. I'd also check out an Ikea if you have one local.

They have options at very reasonable prices.

[imimahoney]

We thought about IKEA. Its about an hour away so not terribly far but not right next door.

Is there a downside to buying the counters and cabinets at different stores or does that not matter?

[sjh722]

Smaller stores are sometimes way more competitive than HD/Lowes. My cabinets were $5K at a local store and $9K at HD for something comparable. (white, painted maple, 42" uppers, nothing super fancy).

I would get more than one price quote before I DIY painted cabinets. The factory finish on my white cabinets is 100x nicer than the cabinets I painted white in a previous house. I'd be really hesitant that I'd spend a lot of time/effort and they would not look nearly as good.

I don't think it hurts to price counters more than one place if you're getting something expensive.

[imimahoney]

Thanks for the advice!

We will def plan to go to IKEA check out prices and one other small cabinet store.

This will not be our forever home unless we do a massive reno/addition which we don't really want to do. We are hoping to do just enough to make the kitchen look nice but not too nice or expensive for the house itself.

[auntie]

No problem getting the countertops from a separate shop. Even kitchen remodel contractors generally hire this out.

If you can find an Ikea cabinet, it might be an awesome fit for you. My BFF is required to live in Philly as per her DH's employment. When they married they bought a "charmless", her words not mine, MCM raised rancher twin that she plans to sell at her first opportunity. She's actually embraced the retro vibe and the house is very appealing now. She did a slick 1950's homage kitchen on the cheap via Ikea and it is a perfect fit for the house and the amount of money she wanted to spend. She spent less than $12K for 3 walls of cabinets, new appliances, countertop, sink, faucet, flooring and backsplash installed semi-professionally.

[thatgirl2478]

I'll throw out my standard cabinet recommendation:

www.cliqstudios.com/

I don't work for them, I get nothing from referrals, I just like to pass on a good value when I find it.

From what I could tell by comparing what you can find in HD/Lowes/Menards to what their website says the quality is as good if not better than most of what the big box stores sell and it costs about half as much. I have used them for our kitchen, basement cabinetry and bathroom cabinets. I've been pleased with not only their designers, but also the ordering process, the products (and how easily they install - kitchen & basement were DIY) and their quality.