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I have a friend that will install a kitchen for me at the home I purchased in Covington. I need to purchase some counter tops and also cabinets for the floor and wall. Any ideas on where to purchase some reasonably priced unfinished cabinets and then laminate countertops? I am guessing that either Home Depot or Lowes is probably the easiest place to find matching sets but I was wondering if a place like Habitat for Humanity or something similar in the area would offer suitable products at even better prices. Any ideas?
Do you plan on replacing all of the cabinets or just adding into some unused space? Since you mention unfinished I thought perhaps you were just adding and hoping to finish/refinish everything to match long as door designs, etc. did not contrast too much. New countertops make a big difference.
I haven't looked recently but I don't believe Lowe's or Home Depot deal much in unfinished kitchen cabinets. You can buy prefinished there, but I don't think much of their quality for the price. The only part which appears decent are the door and cabinet fronts. The entire body of the cabinet is real cheap particle board. If you look closely at the displays, you can usually see where the particle board has split where they screwed the display together.
A few years ago I was contemplating redoing our entire kitchen. I did a search on the internet and found some online sources where you could purchase factory direct, and their cabinets were made of real wood, with plywood sides, backs, and shelves. Being online sales they give very complete specs on the construction, finishes, etc. They would even send samples for inspection. I was impressed. Pricing varied depending on how many surfaces needed finishing, for example cabinets which will be butted together do not need finished ends. They had everything including matching corner molding, filler strips, support panels where a dishwasher would be inserted, etc. I was particularly impressed with the drawer construction, all dovetailed joints, and side mounted roller bearing slides with single touch drawer closing. I priced out my complete kitchen and even with shipping it beat the devil out of the crap I could find locally.
I haven't done ours yet, as we have a rather large kitchen and eat-in area. The entire thing needs replacing, including the floor.
I assume the Ikea product comes knocked down and you have to assemble it. Nothing wrong with that if the design and quality are right.
Quite a number of years ago I helped by son redo his kitchen in Forest Park. His wife's cousin worked for an outfit where she could get them a good price on a knocked down product. It came completely finished on all surfaces and edges with plastic like finish. Very durable and easy to clean. Everything was pre-drilled with good matching fit and alignments. Assembly was a breeze. I am reasonably sure it was particle board, but if so was high density. There is a world of difference between good quality high density particle board and the cheap crap. I wish I could remember the brand name but can't. The kitchen originally had no soffits above the cabinets so my son and I added them, extending out past the wall cabinets. Before we finished them off her uncle came out and installed recessed cannister lights in the soffits. It was an attractive result and gave them good service til when they sold the house, and the kitchen looked as good as the day we intalled it.
Believe it or not the kitchen literally has a sink and nothing else. No cabinets or counters. I have to purchase both.
Since this is not an expensive house and will not be a permanent residence for me, I don't plan to spend a lot on it. Ultimately it will become a rental or I will sell it. The house and lot are too small for my taste. I will live in it for a while until I can find something a little larger with a larger lot.
Believe it or not the kitchen literally has a sink and nothing else. No cabinets or counters. I have to purchase both.
Since this is not an expensive house and will not be a permanent residence for me, I don't plan to spend a lot on it. Ultimately it will become a rental or I will sell it. The house and lot are too small for my taste. I will live in it for a while until I can find something a little larger with a larger lot.
As I am sure you are aware, you can spend a lot of money on a kitchen. I would search the internet to see what you can find in knockdown kitchen cabinets to beat Ikea's price. The ones my son and I installed were perfectly serviceable, and in fact were quite attractive. I never really checked Lowe's or Home Depot for knockdown cabinets as I wanted something better quality than I figured they carrry.
Far as laminate countertops I would try Lowe's and Home Depot and Ikea. The problem will be finding the lengths you need in prefinished. They are usually designed with a loose piece of end laminate so they can be cut to length and the end dressed up with the loose laminate. You can order specific length countertops at Lowe's and Home Depot but since they have them fabricated by third party local suppliers I consider the price too high. As long as you do a decent job attaching the loose laminate end piece the result is fine. I did that in a downstairs bathroom when I replaced the original porcelain coated chipped and corroded steel wash basin with a molded initation marble one. Since the cutout was dfferent I also had to replace the countertop. Could'nt find a premade countertop and molded basin which fit the existing vanity. The vanity just exactly fits the space between the end wall and the commode, and has a 4-door base cabinet.
In two other bathrooms I replaced the same type of cheap steel corroded basins with initiation marble ones. In one case I was able to find a pre-made single piece molded countertop and basin which fit the vanity base I already had, bought that at Lowe's. Deinstalled the vanity, refinished all of the cabinet, doors, interior, and reinstalled it. Installed the new single piece countertop and basin, and connected the plumbing, very pleased with the result.
The third bathroom, which is off our master bedroom, had a custom made countertop mounted between two end walls, only a vanity cabinet under one end, and the same cheap steel basin which was chipped and corroded. Being the cheapskate I am, decided we did not realy need a full width vanity, so did something similar. Deinstalled and refinished the existing vanity base. Contacted a local cultured marble producer in Loveland who advised me they did not sell direct but I could order via Lowes. Made my measurements, went to Lowes, and placed an order through them. Paid a little more. but considering it was a custom fabrication to exactly fit the space was not exhorbitant. When it arrived, had the son-in-law come and help me hoist it to the 2nd floor and lift it into place. Now that sucker was heavy. I only regret one thing. At the same time I ripped the shower stall out of that bathroom due to water damage causing the tile to come loose. Replaced the original wallboard with fiberglass reinforced cement board. That is a bear, as the cement board is so dense you cannot drive a screw into it and countersink with even a high powered driver. You must first countersink each and every hole separately. Then I retiled the shower myself. So far the result has been fine, but I am always concerned about the tile grout joints cracking, permit water instrusion, and giving me the same problem. A much better alternative would have been to order custom single piece shower sidewall panels from the cultured marble supplier. They would have provided a interior corner molding and liquid resin that when applied would give the appearance of a single piece construction. The appearance would have been about 10 times better than my tile job and one Hell of a lot less work.
When you say there is a sink and nothing else, just what is that? Is the sink in the typical sink cabinet base or is it freestanding, meaning open underneath? Does it have an existing section of countertop? If so, I would deinstall the sink, get a new piece of countertop to span the new base cabinets and the sink, make the sink cutout and reinstall it.
I fully understand your desire to not spend a lot of money on this house. At the same time you intend to live in it for awhile, then either rent or sell it. In either case there needs to be some resemblance of a functional kitchen.
I mentioned we have not redone our kitchen. My wife is confined to a power wheelchair. Try as she may that is a disaster to the interior of a house. She bangs into the kitchen cabinets and woodwork, scaring both of them. Our kitchen floor was a high grade Armstrong vinyl, but only attached at the edges, floating in the center. Her wheelchair causes enough friction it has torn the floor in many places. I have patched it over and over, gluing it down, but am running out of patch material. I realize the house needs a lot of cosmetic surgery. But I will wait to see what happens with our ability to continue living here. I can certainly afford to fix the cosmetic damage. But there is little incentive to do so if she is only going to damage it again, that is a waste of money. As I say, the damage is cosmetic. For our purposes the home is certainly livable.
I tell my kids, if we croak do two things, get quotes to correct the cosmetic deficiencies in the home. Then get realtors to establish comps for comparable homes in the neighborhood not having the cosmetic problems. There will be money available to have all the cosmetic problems corrected. But my advice is do not do that. Price the home below the comparable market value minus the cosmetic renovations. Let the buyer decide. Truely discerning buyers can establish between what is abolutely required here and now to make a place livable and what they would like to change. Those who are looking for a DIY situation in particular. I went through a DIY situation with my first house, and frankly don't feel situations have changed all that much. What has changed is the ballyhoo over the whole situation. But the fact ir there it not too much in actual financial obligation connected to much of this.
Another suggestion too - butcher block counter top looks nice and it is cheap!
It looks excellent with white or black cabinets, and is a great way to class a place up for little money. Might be a consideration if you are trying to maximize the amount of rent you receive from a property.
We got a vanity for our bathroom from Pease in Hamilton. Might be worth checking out - they have pretty decent quality, and good deals in the Warehouse.
The nicer ones are $600-$700 for a whole set but that's a fraction of what you would pay for new. There were also a lot of cheaper dated/beat-up sets but I was surprised by how many really nice sets were available. I guess some people move into places and re-do the kitchen in their style even if the previous cabinets are relatively new.
Anyway, the store is defintely worth checking out for some great deals.
Even if you are not going to keep the house, Kitchens are important. Budget wise Lowes and Depot both offer stock cabinets which will be servicable. Ikea is another option, you will need to assemble them and I always GLUE them too and I've never had a problem.
You might want to check out the Reuse Center store in Fairmount (its in the Lunkenheimer complex on Pinetree off Beekman next door to the Roosevelt school) They have fairly good selection of better quality stuff (changes all the time) and they seem cheaper than habitat in Cheviot or Building value .
Do not forget to be sure you put in enough electrical outlets (GFCI) and make sure what you do will meet code. Some municipalities require garbage disposals too. If your neighborhood is going up in value don't leave out a dishwasher in your plan.
When you eventually sell, a good kitchen can make or break a sale. You do not have to drop a bundle on it, just don't make it look like something a slumlord would do. For example no sheet vinyl flooring. You also might check out the big box stores because now is the time of year they do change outs on displays and they mark appliances way down. I just bought a 2600.00 side by side for 950 because they were getting ready to redo a display. Also the box stores have close out areas usually at the back of the stores on endcaps and you can get some great discounts on lighting and faucets. Saturday mornings (Early) 7-8 AM is when they normally put stuff out before the 'weekend warriors come out and they reallu mark it down I bought a 219 dollar shower unit faucet and mixer and shower head for 25.00 bucks last week. Worth getting up early
restorationconsultant ...
You put the big veto on sheet vinyl flooring. Why is that? I replaced our original floor with an Armstrong product, their best. I now realize it was a suspended floor, only attached at the edges. But if not for the fact my wife and her wheelchair placed undue strain on the floor, causing it to tear, I find little fault with it. Our front and center hallway, the same flooring, are of course much narrower and more resistent to the stretching and tearing. They are still in fine shape.
So what flooring do you recommend for a kitchen? I would not even attempt ceramic tile since the subfloors are in no way designed to be rigid enough to support the weight. I would have cracked tile all over the place. My brother has solid wood in his kitchen and eating area which he has already had sanded and refinished twice in a little over 12 years.
I would like your advice since I am facing having to replace our kitchen floor and wondering what to install. Since I can't increase the strength of the floor joists, I am wondering what direction to go. I am thinking block vinyl tile. With enough tiles in reserve, I can just pop one out and replace it when a problem occurs. If I purchase enough I can perpetuate that for many years.
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