Let's talk kitchen remodels

[katespade]

Has anyone remodeled their kitchen?
Any hints, tips, or tricks to share?
What's something you wish you hadn't bothered spending money on?
How about something you wish you had thought of and/or included?
Did you DIY or have a contractor do the work?
Pictures?


Also, anyone want to brainstorm ideas with me for my kitchen?

[pooh8402]

Oct 20, 2017 19:40:41 GMT -5 katespade said:

Has anyone remodeled their kitchen?
Any hints, tips, or tricks to share?
What's something you wish you hadn't bothered spending money on?
How about something you wish you had thought of and/or included?
Did you DIY or have a contractor do the work?
Pictures?


Also, anyone want to brainstorm ideas with me for my kitchen?

1. I'm in the process right now, almost done.
2. It sucks, first of all. And it will likely take more time and more money than what the estimate is. Have an alternate place to keep your stuff and have a temporary kitchen. You will likely eat out a lot more too.
3. So far, nothing. I'm happy with everything thus far. I am super happy I splurged on my sink.
4. So far, nothing. Ask me again in a year.
5. Contractor. I'm not that handy, and as y'all are all well aware, we absolutely do not have the time to DIY.

I got most of my ideas from Pinterest. I knew I wanted a farmhouse look, and fortunately, my kitchen was mostly there. We made minor structural changes, but it was mostly cosmetic.

These were taken a couple weeks ago. Not much has changed since... we've been doing some smaller things. Most of the major cosmetic changes are done.

Before (this was the listing picture):



After (a couple weeks ago):

[bk1]

I LOVE your kitchen pooh8402. Love love love. The style came together beautifully! 

[pooh8402]

Thank you!

[katespade]

Oh my gosh, pooh8402, I love it! Your countertop is amaaaaazing. What is it made of?

[pooh8402]

Oct 20, 2017 21:29:18 GMT -5 katespade said:

Oh my gosh, pooh8402, I love it! Your countertop is amaaaaazing. What is it made of?

Concrete!

[katespade]

Here's what our kitchen currently looks like.
We've already upgraded the fridge and dishwasher since these pictures were taken, so we won't have to buy any new appliances.
But other than appliances, we need to replace everything - cabinets, sink, countertop, flooring, backsplash, paint, lighting, plumbing, etc.

[bk1]

We gutted. DIY'ed as much as possible.



Tasks we did:
scrapped popcorn ceiling
all demo
added insulation into walls
redid all electrical
added plug ins and extra lighting ****** <-- one of the best things we did
painting
plumbing
gas line
installed appliances


Hired out:
Installation of cabinets (DH and a family friend who is a contractor did this)
All granite work 


We didn't intend to remodel the entire kitchen. This lead to that kind of situation. So I didn't pick out the finishes in the best order. We already had the floor tiles and the paint bought before we even picked out cabinets or granite. It all worked out but just not the "correct" way to go about it.

It can take a lot longer then you think. We ordered our cabinets from Lowe's. I think it was 6-8 weeks to receive them, had some damaged, another 2 weeks for replacements, those were damaged, and finally they had us reorder from a different company for the same price. We ended up with better cabinets but it took months and months of work.


I LOVE my granite, truly, but we shouldn't have spent so much on it. We went with an exotic piece so it was significantly higher priced. We could have got other pieces for $49 a sq ft and we spent $79 per sq ft. We spent just over $5k on counter tops if I remember right. Ugh. 


Favorite things I did in the kitchen:
extra plug ins and lighting. We had one single light in the middle of the room and one light above the sink. DH added 5 can lights by the cabinets and 2 lights over the bar area. So much brighter. He also put them on different switches so I can have as much or little light as I want. Best things we added for sure.

When it comes to cabinets - I added a cabinets specifically for cookie sheets and cutting boards. It's narrow so it doesn't take up much room but makes it so much better to have a place for them. I also have drawers that roll out in my lower cabinets. Some were free up grades from first ordering. I loved them so much I later had DH add ones on every drawer of my pantry. 


I haven't really found anything I wish I would have included. DH wants to add under cabinet lighting but that's an easy change when we get to it. 

[bk1]

Before:



During:


(and this reminds me, I would do darker grout color next time)






I'll add after pics later. My kitchen is a mess and I don't have a pic of it on this computer. I can't find where DH put the external to find a pic.

[travelbug]

pooh8402 Your kitchen is beautiful. I also loveee your counter tops!!!

bk1 I always love your floor!!

Tagging amaranth, I know they did there whole kitchen DIY, and it’s gorgeous!!!!

[amaranth]

We did it ourselves. Spent 1/3 of comps getting it done. I'll post pics and answer questions when I'm at my computer since nothing is on my phone.

[katespade]

bk1 - H wants to do quartz countertops, and they're around the same cost as granite. I'm definitely hoping we can find something we like on the cheaper end of the price range, because that's going to get expensive really quickly. We originally wanted to do butcher block, but decided it might not be worth the maintenance required for that type of countertop.

Lighting is definitely an issue for us, too! Your lights sound really similar to ours, both before and our plan for after. I like the idea of having multiple switches, or maybe just a dimmer switch. I'll add that to our list of ideas.

[katespade]

This is one of the references for our plans.
H wants to do a dark countertop, though.
And grey cabinets rather than white.

[katespade]

suzv - Do you like the quartz countertops? How much did you end up paying for them? H wants to go with quartz, but we've also talked about concrete or butcher block.

We painted our cabinets when we bought our house and it was a huuuuuuuge PITA. We expected it to be a two day project and it turned into a six day project. By the end of it, we wished we had just replaced them because painting them didn't feel like it saved us any time or energy in comparison. Then again, we've never replaced cabinets, either, so we'll see if we still feel that way after this project is done. lol.

[katespade]

Holy moly, cabinets are not cheap! We got a quote yesterday for around $5k, just for lower cabinets with no installation or demo. I was expecting it to be way less than that, since we aren't doing uppers. Ugh.

[katespade]

Oct 26, 2017 6:33:59 GMT -5 ewall said:

Oct 25, 2017 8:44:34 GMT -5 katespade said:

Holy moly, cabinets are not cheap! We got a quote yesterday for around $5k, just for lower cabinets with no installation or demo. I was expecting it to be way less than that, since we aren't doing uppers. Ugh.

Damn. Shop around! Although I have no idea how much cabinets actually cost. I know we went $800 over budget on ours according to the contractor, but not sure what the total was because it's included in the entire job. Do you have Ikea nearby? Maybe check out their cabinets. 

The closest IKEA is about an hour and a half away, but it might be worth a drive up there. I'm surprised at the lack of local cabinet shops we have around here. I've been looking around on Google for places to talk to, and all I'm finding is contractors/designers who want to handle projects from start to finish and box stores like Home Depot (where we got this quote) and Lowe's.

I just want to buy some decent but affordable cabinets and install them myself!