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Soon to be new home owner. We first want to redo the kitchen, opening it up to the small living room.
Pictures say a thousand words......
Here we are walking in from the front door. You see the kitchen on the right, it's own room. Straight ahead is the living room with fireplace. The wall you see here with the mirror on it will be removed, along with the other wall making the L. Probably will have a post.
Now we are looking into the kitchen from the same hallway from above. That window you see looking into the living room is only about 4' wide. That entire wall is going away, along with the countertops and cabinets that are along that wall. A new island with room for stools will be in that area to replace it.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs179.snc1/6730_130902874984_501084984_2286584_6415103_n.jpg (broken link)
Opposite side of the picture above
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs179.snc1/6730_130902894984_501084984_2286587_919259_n.jpg (broken link)
That's all the pics I have right now. Basically will be replacing with stainless steel appliances and corian countertops. Not sure on the cabinets, but don't need anything fancy. I have priced the appliances and with a good sale, I think we can be in under $2500 for basic stuff.
I really want to do everything under $10,000. Is this possible at a big box store or a kitchen only tpe of place?
You should GO to the big box or kitchen store and ask THEM. Asking someone on the internet to give you a price guess based on a couple photos is pretty much close to worthless. One person may say you can get it all done for $500, and another may tell you it can't be done for anything less than $25K.
There is so much that can not be seen in a photo. Electrical and plumbing that has to be moved? Is there a bearing wall you need to deal with? Will the ceilings and floors transition OK when you take the wall out?
Go ask someone that is WILLING AND ABLE to do the work.
I always agree with Barking Spider but not now on going to a big box store, probably because he is so very wrong. Everything else he is pretty right on. Never ever ever go to a big box store unless you like being raped. The big orange only wants your green and do a real good job of taking it out of unsuspecting consumers pockets. They charge full list price on cabinets and appliances. You would not pay list price/MSRP/sticker price for your new car so why pay it for cabinets and appliances.
In addition they do not employ kitchen designers, they just give the employee a 3 days CAD class and send them out to sell cabinets. If you let them design your kitchen you will be cheating yourself because you will never know what is available to you.
Go to smaller kitchen showrooms. You want to research the ones who advertise the magic words 35 to 50% off list price. It wont be too hard since nearly everyone is doing it today. I been doing it for 30 years and now everyone is doing it or face going defunct.
Price is impossible to tell you so ignore the following posts attempting to do so. Price is very variable. The cost of cabinets are based on what wood species.....oak is the least costly and cherry is the most expensive. Then you have raised panel doors VS flat panel, arch VS square, plain VS detailed doors, particle board sides VS plywood, shelf VS pull out shelf options. trims and various finish options, 30" high VS 36" high VS 42" high which goes to the ceiling. You have 30" high and that kitchen looks tiny so you may want to go to the ceiling for the additional space.
A kitchen showroom will send a Kitchen Designer to your home usually at no charge. This VS the big box store who charges $250. The Kitchen Designer will scribble you a design and if you like it they will draw it on a CAD program so you get to see what your new kitchen looks like before you even buy it.
DO NOT be tempted by that Chinese made trash that is flooding our market and flooding the emergency rooms too. If you see those adds for a complete all wood kitchen for $995 I advise you to run as fast as you can. Those cabinets are infested with sulfur which melts copper wires in the walls and formaldehyde which is giving people asthma at best and cancer at worst. It ain't worth the risk of your familys health.
Based on what little your pics show, yes you are under $10K for your entire kitchen including appliances. But only if you shop correctly. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and you are looking at $20,000 or more. Did that get your attention?
Hope this gives you a head start.
Last edited by desertsun41; 08-30-2009 at 08:36 PM..
Reason: spelling
First you do have to be sure the walls to be removed are not load bearing.
Can still be done but there will be a beam and king posts, will not look fully wide open. There are light switches that have to go somewhere.
Without a lot of linear wall space, you start to become limited in shortage / counter space or where other things can go. Might start to appear like a kitchen in a mobile trailer no matter who does it.
Depending on exactly what you have in mind for cabinets, I might even attempt to redo those into some other color, finish, etc. If they are solid wood, why not? Blowing a lot of money is foolish if that is possible and meets the desires. With the right skills, it is more labor than materials.
Least I would attempt to resell the old cabinets / appliances, recoup some money. Lot of this redoing the kitchen never quite makes sense to me. You might wind up making it less attractive to resell if the kitchen appears being something found in a cheaper house.
Live with it for 1 year. Then redo it. You'll be surprised how your plan will change in 1 year.
That is actually true. I dont tell my customers to wait a year to decide but after I got the job if there is a situation where they can not decide I tell them to stare at it for a few months and they will realize what they like and dislike.
In this case though there is no doubt something has to be done now. That kitchen is butt ugly, plain and just a poor waste of precious space.
That is actually true. I dont tell my customers to wait a year to decide but after I got the job if there is a situation where they can not decide I tell them to stare at it for a few months and they will realize what they like and dislike.
In this case though there is no doubt something has to be done now. That kitchen is butt ugly, plain and just a poor waste of precious space.
well, the kitchen isn't my taste either, but ugliness isn't a reason to run in and start tearing out walls. Somehow we managed to live with a mustard yellow fridge and our ugly kitchen for 4 years until we redid it. I realize everyones priorities are different, but I think its foolish to rip out perfectly good cabinets and appliances just to replace them with shiny stainless, etc first thing. The OP may realize once they move in that the priority may in fact be to replace a leaking tub or water heater that looked just fine during inspection. My priorites were to replace things that were broken or dangerous. not things what were ugly.
Live with it for 1 year. Then redo it. You'll be surprised how your plan will change in 1 year.
I agree.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uconn97
well, the kitchen isn't my taste either, but ugliness isn't a reason to run in and start tearing out walls. Somehow we managed to live with a mustard yellow fridge and our ugly kitchen for 4 years until we redid it. I realize everyones priorities are different, but I think its foolish to rip out perfectly good cabinets and appliances just to replace them with shiny stainless, etc first thing. The OP may realize once they move in that the priority may in fact be to replace a leaking tub or water heater that looked just fine during inspection. My priorites were to replace things that were broken or dangerous. not things what were ugly.
Also very well said.
I find that it takes a bit of time of actually living and working in a space before you start to realize how you want it to flow, and flaws, both major and minor, present themselves.
For me, right away, I could tell you that a totally open kitchen right inside the front door would be a disaster. I love to cook---think big messy cooking!---and I love to entertain. Having my guests walk right into that would be a problem.
I'd want to cook and host parties for at least 6 mo. to a year in the space. I'd keep notes about what works and what doesn't. Start collecting design ideas and resources. Research appliances etc etc. I'd think about opening up the space, but probably through partial walls and/or cut-outs. Who knows, if it really drove me nuts, I might even move the kitchen entirely ($$$$ I know, but I would have been saving my pennies during that time....).
Just my two cents.
Congrats to the OP on the new house and good luck with your decisions.
^ agreed. It looks like a perfectly functional standard builders kitchen in a perfectly nice, albeit standard, builders tract home, just like the type most folks live in. Live in the house for a while, you'll find some other things that need some attention you weren't planning on just like the poster above hints at. Our kitchen was way uglier and nearly unworkable (we termed it a "One Butt" kitchen) than the OP's kitchen, and we lived with it for a couple of years. When we finally re-designed and remodeled we got just what we wanted, and that was very different than what we would have done had we done immediately upon buying the old house.
Just enjoy the house for a while.
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Kitchens are all about walls..............
