Disappointed so far with kitchen remodel plans
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Anonymous
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We are starting to plan a kitchen remodel. It's the first one our house has had since the 1970s, and almost certainly the only one I'll see in my lifetime. So I am really looking forward to having a beautiful, functional space. Our current kitchen is not only ugly, but also broken in just about every way, from cabinets to appliances. The space, however, is lovely, with a lot of large windows and sunlight. It's about 200 sq ft, part of a semi-open concept home which has some midcentury modern and modern elements and is definitely not traditional.
I want to go with a Scandinavian design, with a bit of open shelving. We are not planning to move anything or knock down walls or anything like that. The cabinets go in a straight line on two sides. So far I am super disappointed with the estimates and drawings I've gotten. We've had two contractors and a design/build come and do a preliminary measure. One contractor gave us a design with a cookie cutter kitchen and no open shelving and wanted over 20K just for mid-range cabinetry. We have a small bar area that looks really dated and his new "design" was just the same bar area with different counters. The second contractor didn't give us a drawing or anything, but said they didn't know how to do LVP floors, so we eliminated them. The design/build gave us basically the same thing as the contractor and insisted they had to put huge crown molding type things on top of the cabinets to fill in the space (we currently have cabinets that go to the ceiling, which is 96 inches, so I don't get that at all), and the look of it was just really not in keeping with the house. Am I being unreasonable? Our budget is 65K, and that's about 10% of the home's value, and I don't even want to move anything. Is that too little for something that involves more than just sticking cabinets on walls in a different color? I feel like I could do that myself at Ikea and save a bunch of money. |
Anonymous
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IKEA is not a bad idea.
Open shelving is a terrible idea. So is LVP. |
Anonymous
| Agreed that LVP and open shelving are a bad idea. I don’t know how anyone could do open shelving. |
Anonymous
| We did a kitchen remodel in 2019 where we changed the layout and took down a wall. All in, including all new appliances, was 50-55k I’d guess. We used a general contractor who has done a bunch of work in our neighborhood. Not the cheapest, not the most expensive either. I was also blown away by the costs of cabinetry at the suppliers the contractor sent me to. I stopped in at Home Depot to price compare and ended up getting our cabinets there. Saved about 8k over the estimate from the kitchen places (HD had a sale at the time), even going with the top of the line build at HD. Dumb luck, but really helped us cut down on costs. |
Anonymous
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So two things: most people you've consulted have no idea how kitchens work. They just give you a template from the shelf. Designing kitchens that work is a trade in itself and it has nothing to do with selling cabinets.
That was the first thing. The second thing is I wonder if you've set yourself up for disappointment by telling them you're not moving anything. If you aren't, then exactly what is your remodel about? Prettier cabinets and counters? You definitely don't need a designer for that, but as you said, this is the only remodel of your life so doesn't it make sense to use this chance to get a kitchen that works for you? is your current kitchen perfect in every way except everything is broken? I mean are your stove, sink, oven, fridge in the perfect place? Are your cabinets laid out perfectly except they are broken? What I'm saying is - are you maybe missing an opportunity here? This is what I would do (and in fact have done twice). Make a plan of your current kitchen as accurately as you can, and post it on houzz' kitchen forum asking for help for the kitchen layout. You'd have more and better advice than you can buy. Don't rush the layout development phase. It's the only part that matters. Once you have the layout in place, the rest is just finishes. Parting thoughts: IKEA cabinets are actually quite good, present tons of interesting design opportunities (via custom fronts you can get from a dozen companies) and have unrivaled cost/value ratio. Don't knock them. I mean don't use IKEA if you don't want to, but it's wrong to say IKEA and mean "dumb, design-less solution". |
Anonymous
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Well, if you're disappointed in the plans so far, don't move forward.
Compromise on materials or design is the name of the game in kitchen remodels. You'll likely have to do both. Find a local kitchen remodel you love and ask who they had do it. If you want to choose one of your current bids, then pick the one that's closest to what you want, give them the feedback you gave here and see what they say. |
Anonymous
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Immediately write a deposit check for the contractor who wouldn't do "luxury" vinyl floors.
Why would you want vinyl floors in your house? It's wild that a slight rebranding of a bad product is working. Would you buy vinyl siding and vinyl windows if you didn't have to? Maybe that's next, LVS and LVW. |
Anonymous
+1 to all of this. |
Anonymous
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There is nothing wrong with LVP. They are easy to care for and pretty durable with little effort.
OP, I would reconsider open shelving. We have it now and things that don’t get used daily, get dusty pretty quick. Maybe just do open shelving in a small area. |
Anonymous
| Where are you located? We can suggest good kitchen designers depending where you are. Do not, under any circumstance, move forward with a reno you aren’t at least 90% happy with. |
Anonymous
Yeah but it’s going to look terrible. Worse if OP only puts it in the kitchen, but still bad if it’s on the whole level, |
Anonymous
Dusty and greasy |
Anonymous
Have you ever seen it in person at a real flooring store ( not hd)? It has come leaps and bounds from the old vinyl flooring of the past. Plus, it is easy to care for. Don’t discount that last point. Who wants to spend time cleaning floors! |
Anonymous
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Having had open shelves in the past, please do NOT do this.
Maybe get a better kitchen designer. I too am amazed at what cabinets you can get at HD and ikea these days. Splurge on lights and counters. |
Anonymous
| We have LV plank in our basement and I would not do it in the main living areas. |