Karl hasn't answered yet but I've done 6 now and they get better each time I recommend you do two friends kitchens first, then your wife wont make you move except if the friends live next door. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> regards
Jeff Southall Current boats Nacra 5.8 1703 Animal Scanning Services Nacra 5.8 1667 Ram Raider Nacra 18 Square Arrow 1576
I'm in the process of doing a bathroom right now. The kitchen was 2 years ago. I have the bathroom gutted down to studs and holes in the foundation. I will start re-doing the electrical tomorrow and then next week I will be replumbing the shower/bath. The plumber who did it originally must have been 4'6". I'm 5'9" and the shower hits me right on the sternum. Enjoy remodeling your kitchen. I think kitchens are much harder than bathrooms.
I handle just the cabinet end of the spectum. It all depends on how much you want to spend, what is salvagable and what isn't. Anytime you have to tear into the walls it's a pain. I used to watch This Old House quite frequently and laugh. People would dump just rediculous amounts of money into something that needed a can of gas and a match more than anything.
It all depends on what you want to do. "Most" of the time ripping out the current cabinetry, addind a few outlets where needed, replacing the flooring, and some of the millwork is all that is needed for a new look. Oh and appliances. Sky's the limit in that department.
Do you want more space? Is it available by removing, or moving a wall? Do you just lack storage? A good cabinet maker can come up with something to help. Most of the time the layout isn't drastically changed, just modified to something better. How many people do you know that have built a new home and had a long list of things that they wish they would have done differently? Take note of what those people say. While not all of the suggestions they have will fit or work, you may find something that is worth it.
Budget is usually the strongest determining factor on what can be done.
Stay away from box cabinets from Menards, Lowes, Home Depot etc. You can have custom cabinets built for not much more money. I know with my stuff I'm sometime less expensive than the high end box cabinets.
I use strictly plywood for the construction of the cabinet boxs themselves. Melamine is almost a third of the cost, but any water from a leaky sink and it is done.
Don't buy cabinets with either metal drawer sides, or with what is called epoxy slides. I use only self closing undermount slides made by Blum. They are the best hands down. But expensive. $27 a set! I make only dovetail drawer boxs, using 5/8 hardwood, for the sides with a 1/4" bottom. Either birch, or Cherry ($$$$). I did a handfull of drawers out of Walnut, with a birch inlay and those were fricken sweet looking. I'm probably on the high end of the pricing for drawers, but I've typically got $40 and an hour of labour into each drawer. I charge $110 per drawer.
Doors. Blum is still the best in this department for hinges. Grass hinges aren't bad. Salice, (sah-leech-ee), are garbage. For a shaker style door I charge $40, raised panel $55.
What you choose for a specie impacts the price. I upcharge for the material. Cherry is around $4.90 bd/ft, oak $2.35. So that can add up in a hurry when ordering 500-1000 bd/ft. I use oak as a base price, but I don't discount for cheaper material, which there is very few.
Painted cabinets. I get a soft maple that is just plain ugly, but it works well for painted stuff. I get that for around $1.35 a foot. Here's a weird raping in the marketplace around here. I charge more for paint grade cabinets. Plus the painting costs more than your average stain 'n' spray. Go figure, but that's the going rate.
Not exactly on topic, but furniture I can damn near charge whatever I want. I think I charged $4500 for this desk, took me 3 days to build, and cost me about $800 to build.
Agree with Karl on the custom vs. boxstore cabinets. A friend of mine just got his cabinets he ordered custom from Simply Amish here in fort Myers, awesome stuff, all wood, great craftsmanship, just like Karl's stuff (though I would not mistake Karl for Amish, judging from my brief history of reading the forum!). And they were significantly cheaper than the Home Depot stuff!
Hey Karl, I read your profile in the Hotline... You're only 26? Dang, you're pretty accomplished for a 26 year old! That's cool.
I turned 27 on monday, (2-11). I should've factored that in for the HOTLINE. Npt really accomplished, just started early. I've been doing this since 1998. I dropped out of high school earlier that year. In 2004 I struck out on my own.
Karl, When we bought our house it was a "fixer upper". Actually the only thing I remember saying that I liked about the house were the cabinets in the kitchen. For the kitchen, I knocked out a useless section of countertop that was probably used as a breakfast bar once upon a time. All it did was close the kitchen off from the dining area. There were no appliances in the kitchen when we bought the house. We had to buy all those anyway so we got to pick what we wanted. I redid the countertops and sink. Then did a tile backsplash up to the cabinets. All the flooring was redone in the entire house. I went with 16" porcelain tile. For the bathroom I'm considering doing a pergo (sp?) and beadboard on the walls. I have a lot of prep work to do so my wife and I have some time to decide on the design. I hated gutting it but it was a very very old bathroom. The house was built in the mid-50s. It's been a lot of work but I got a killer deal when I bought the house and it is the only way I could afford to buy a house this size in this area. It has been fun fixing it up. This is my last project before I start working on the yard.
For the bathroom I'm considering doing a pergo (sp?) and beadboard on the walls.
I'd do tile for the bathroom floors. Laminate flooring doesn't like water too much. There's no way to seal the joints and the mdf core absorbes water and just blows apart. Linoleum is still a durable inexpesive option as well.
If you do tile, go the extra little bit and put the electric grid in the floor. Tile is cold on the feet just out of the shower. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
Here's a cool option for a guest bath, or a bath that doesn't need storage. The bowl sits on top of the cabinet, the tap and handles come straight out of the wall.
That was one of my concerns about the wood/pergo floors. That is why I didn't do it in the kitchen. My wife really wanted the wood floors in kitchen. When I showed her the difference in price, she was finally convinced. I've seen kitchens and baths with wood floors. This bathroom is going to be a kids bathroom though (very wet floors) so I may be better off going with the tile. Thanks for the advice.
Good Idea, this thread reminds me that I should be working on the house instead of sailing <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
Good Idea, this thread reminds me that I should be working on the house instead of sailing <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
No,no,no! You should be working on the house instead of working! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
