Wwyd? Single mom, kitchen dire

[Anonymous]

Single mom here. My kitchen is in dire need of work. It is original from 1964.

The original oven gets so hot if I have a dish towel hanging from the bar, it will start to brown.

The dishwasher doesnt clean dishes.

The fridge and freezer don't suction closed anymore.

The floor is linoleum from the 80s that is cracked everywhere.

The faces or knobs on the drawers fall off when you open them.

Today I found a leak under the sink and it looks like theres mold.

I have a kitchenette in my basement I can use.

Would you try to repair things? Tear out the kitchen and leave it out til I save?

Redo it? If so, how would you pay for it?

I have $25k in a brokerage
$25k in retirement
$15k in emergency fund HYSA
$10k cash
$150k home equity

The rest of my house is solid and good for what its worth. In the last 5 years I have gotten a new roof/siding/gutters, water heater, furnace.

[Anonymous]

Tell us about the cabinets and whether they are salvageable. You can put new knobs on.

Do you still have contact with a realtor?

You should check whether a new kitchen adds value to your house. With some DIY, you can fix things for far less than gut reno'ing the kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Oof. Are you in the DMV? Things are expensive here and you do not have much saved for retirement.

Can you fix the leak and remediate the mold (e.g., dry it out and paint with anti-mold coating)?

If so, I would do that, then replace the appliances. Leave the cabinets and floor for now, except that you or a handyman can DIY the loose drawer fronts.

[Anonymous]

Do you want to do a pull and replace or do you need changes to the layout?

If you want the exact same layout, I’d go the ikea route. I believe they have lists of contractors that they work with. Sadly I’d prepare for the worst when you rip your kitchen out. You might need new sub floors or have issues you need to remediate.

[Anonymous]

Op here and Id absolutely love to reconfigure but im not in a place to be a chooser

[Anonymous]

I have a 1952 original! I feel you. The cabinets and floor are just cosmetic and annoying, so don’t invest your resources there. You can absolutely DIY those to make it nicer, though - you can replace the knobs, and the peel and stick vinyl flooring can spruce the place up for a year or two.

You clearly need a new oven - that doesn’t sound safe. A new fridge would be next, if it isn’t keeping food cold. Then the dishwasher.

My place has the original cabinets, with flooring put in sometime in the ‘80’s, I believe. We’ve replaced the appliances at least once for each over the 25 years we’ve lived here. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Bray and Scarf has a seconds warehouse where you can get a pretty good deal on appliances, and they are much better than a box box store about installation and hauling away the old one.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 1952 original! I feel you. The cabinets and floor are just cosmetic and annoying, so don’t invest your resources there. You can absolutely DIY those to make it nicer, though - you can replace the knobs, and the peel and stick vinyl flooring can spruce the place up for a year or two.

You clearly need a new oven - that doesn’t sound safe. A new fridge would be next, if it isn’t keeping food cold. Then the dishwasher.

My place has the original cabinets, with flooring put in sometime in the ‘80’s, I believe. We’ve replaced the appliances at least once for each over the 25 years we’ve lived here. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Bray and Scarf has a seconds warehouse where you can get a pretty good deal on appliances, and they are much better than a box box store about installation and hauling away the old one.

Good luck!

Agree with this poster.

Pay as you go.

Fix leak first.
Replace oven next.
Replace frig next.
Then replace dishwasher.

[Anonymous]

Fix the leak under the sink. Water damage is expensive. Figure out if it is your faucet. If it's your faucet, don't get a generic brand. Get a Delta or Moen or American Standard so you can get parts for it later. FWIW, I've had bad luck with Kohler which is supposed to be a slightly better grade.

Do you know anyone handy? Working with a single handy friend or relative can help you find courage to do tasks yourself.

You could try to investigate and replace the refrigerator seal yourself.

Look for appliance bundle discounts at holidays and stackable coupons/discounts. I got a large discount for buying a washer, dryer, and dishwasher at the same time.

If your house has mold, don't buy a plastic tub dishwasher. I had one for 23 years and the scratches on the door always filled with ooky stuff. I got a Maytag with full stainless steel tub. I think the plainest color was only $150 more than plastic tub dishwashers and that is worth it.

I agree with checking out IKEA. Also see if there's a Habitat for Humanity home store or other architectural salvage shop. It would be great if you could spend very little on cabinets because it would be a gut job to replace them.

If your cabinets are wood and can be painted - evaluate whether they might look nice if refinished. If the shelves inside are thin and splintery it's probably not worth it. I looked at a house once where the bottom cabinets were open to the floorboards (no inside box bottom). They were probably 1920s originals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 1952 original! I feel you. The cabinets and floor are just cosmetic and annoying, so don’t invest your resources there. You can absolutely DIY those to make it nicer, though - you can replace the knobs, and the peel and stick vinyl flooring can spruce the place up for a year or two.

You clearly need a new oven - that doesn’t sound safe. A new fridge would be next, if it isn’t keeping food cold. Then the dishwasher.

My place has the original cabinets, with flooring put in sometime in the ‘80’s, I believe. We’ve replaced the appliances at least once for each over the 25 years we’ve lived here. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Bray and Scarf has a seconds warehouse where you can get a pretty good deal on appliances, and they are much better than a box box store about installation and hauling away the old one.

Good luck!

I agree with this, except I'd get a thorough inspection into the leak including whether there is mold and how far any water damage has spread. That can become very costly over time.

[Anonymous]

Plumber, try to DIY fixing the cabinets, new appliances then new vinyl floor.

[Anonymous]

Fix the leak first, it’s urgent. If the kitchen is original, but the linoleum is from the 80s, that means that the it only goes up to the cabinets, so you can replace it or even use those stick on tiles - we did it, and lived for 8 years like that. Replace the appliances and spruce up the cabinets; the 60s cabinets should be at least plywood if not wood, so you can paint over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 1952 original! I feel you. The cabinets and floor are just cosmetic and annoying, so don’t invest your resources there. You can absolutely DIY those to make it nicer, though - you can replace the knobs, and the peel and stick vinyl flooring can spruce the place up for a year or two.

You clearly need a new oven - that doesn’t sound safe. A new fridge would be next, if it isn’t keeping food cold. Then the dishwasher.

My place has the original cabinets, with flooring put in sometime in the ‘80’s, I believe. We’ve replaced the appliances at least once for each over the 25 years we’ve lived here. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Bray and Scarf has a seconds warehouse where you can get a pretty good deal on appliances, and they are much better than a box box store about installation and hauling away the old one.

Good luck!

Agree with this poster.

Pay as you go.

Fix leak first.
Replace oven next.
Replace frig next.
Then replace dishwasher.

The above sounds about right.

One also can replace drawer and door pulls as time allows. That ought not cost a huge amount.

New Cabinets likely would be too expensive. With cabinets, try to make do for now.

[Anonymous]

Do not use Bray & Scarff. They used to be good. Things apparently changed. They are worse than useless if your new appliance has issues. Their service dept is incompetent.
We are getting a new refrigerator in less than 2 years instead of putting up with them.

[Anonymous]

How old is the dishwasher? When you get a plumber out to look at the leak, see if they’ll take a quick look at the dishwasher. Maybe there’s a simple fix to get it working better.

Oven really sounds like a safety issue.

[Anonymous]

You could ask on Buy Nothing if anyone is remodeling their kitchen that currently has perfectly good appliances. People on ours give away garage fridges. You may even be able to get newer cabinets this way, especially if your kitchen is small.

Or try Habitat's ReStore.