kitchen remodel design (real estate, houses, buying)

[krnfitz]

My husband and I looked at real estate primarily in PGI and BSI this past Thanksgiving. I have a question about kitchen remodels on a floor plan that seemed used a lot. It is the split bedroom w/a great room and the kitchen is walled off from the great room -- kind of a galley style running front to back w/the eating area opening by patio doors onto the lanai. Several had a cut out pass through in the wall common to the kitchen and great room. Has anyone really opened up that area by taking the wall above the kitchen counter down? Maybe putting a nice curved eating bar there so that the kitchen looks out into the great room? Just wondering if that kind of a major re-do has been done, and if so, pros and cons and who did the construction/design. Thanks.

[mr&mrssunshine]

its only hard if the wall is load bearing, without plans you need someone to take a look and see

if it is you will need to support the roof some other way...could be fun
if not ...it can come down

[RexLan]

The wall is probably structural and even if it is not it would be quite expensive. Most kitchens in Florida are cracker box cookie cutter stuff (cheap). A decent kitchen starts at $45,000 and the only way to get one is to build new. Most folks today are re-heaters and microwave specialists so not a lot of need as in days past for nice kitchens.

Additionally, if you could remodel, and stand the cost, that money, and plenty or it, is gone. The home will not bring more $$ on resale to pay for it unless of course you are buying an old place for a fix it up.

[TamRE]

We cut out a wall in our kitchen to open it up to the great room and added a breakfast bar with two chairs and had to find granite to match our granite counters for the breakfast bar. It wasn't a load bearing wall. We did the work ourselves. The only thing we hired out was the granite company.

[Sea Ray Mark]

Any wall in any house can be remove it just takes money. As others have said the cost is driven by the wall being load bearing or not. I've noticed that most of the houses I've seen in the area have truss roofs which typically rely on the exterior walls for bearing and the interior walls are just partitions. I plan on doing something very similar to what you describe at my house in PGI and I know it's not load bearing. The only issues I foresee having to deal with will be moving some electrical and the plumbing vent for the kitchen sink. Should be an easy one....I hope. Mark

[MartyGras]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray Mark

Any wall in any house can be remove it just takes money. As others have said the cost is driven by the wall being load bearing or not. I've noticed that most of the houses I've seen in the area have truss roofs which typically rely on the exterior walls for bearing and the interior walls are just partitions. I plan on doing something very similar to what you describe at my house in PGI and I know it's not load bearing. The only issues I foresee having to deal with will be moving some electrical and the plumbing vent for the kitchen sink. Should be an easy one....I hope. Mark

Mark...
Just curious since my sink is on an island.

How is it vented?

Gary

[Sea Ray Mark]

Gary, it might be a loop vent or maybe it was run through the wall over to your pantry closet and up through the roof.

[krnfitz]

Thanks all! I we indeed buy something I will revisit this.

[PCHI]

Island sinks and interior plumbing is frequently vented with studor valves. They are mounted at least 6 inches above the P trap in the interior of the cabinet and provide a good and safe alternative.

http://www.studor.net/air-admittance-valves-aavs

[mr&mrssunshine]

Originally Posted by RexLan

The wall is probably structural and even if it is not it would be quite expensive.




Most kitchens in Florida are cracker box cookie cutter stuff (cheap). A decent kitchen starts at $45,000

.

Scott from Flipping vegas would do it for $50

seriously 45 grand for a kitchen, no way..............in a multi million $$ home yes but an average house, you can get custom cabinets wayyyyy less


the most expensive kitchen I ever had put in a house was just over $170000 but the house was valued at $6m (this was back in the UK)