Inexpensive Kitchen Cabinets, Granite (Raleigh, Durham: countertops, buying, tile)

[daydreamzz]

We're looking to redo our kitchen on a pretty tight budget. Does anyone have any suggestions about where to find Inexpensive Kitchen Cabinets and Granite? Any feedback would be appreciated!

[crifever]

Whats your budget?

[daydreamzz]

As cheap as possible!! We're thinking 3,500 at the absolute most- anything less would be great.

[crifever]

Granite alone would cost you $39/sqft (even lower $/sqft options are available on craigslist but I wouldnt trust them). Typical kitchen would need 50 sqft would eat up $1950 from your budget. I dont know much about buying cheap cabinets.

[rnc2mbfl]

Ikea is a good place to get your cabinets but you have to put them together yourself and hang them. I have helped a friend install an Ikea kitchen and it's not hard, just tedious. For your budget, you are going to have to do ALL the labor yourself and I think you will have a hard time doing slab granite. But, you might want to look into doing 12x12 granite tiles with a very narrow grout line. You can save a lot of money that way and probably do the job yourself. Slab granite is way too difficult to handle for a non-professional.

[MAtoNC!]

How about painting your cabinets and adding trim/molding?

[lovebrentwood]

I second the suggestion to buy granite tiles (they come in different sizes, some very large) versus slab granite.

I've heard good things about off-the-shelf cabinets at Lowe's that are surprisingly good looking, but I don't have firsthand knowledge them.

There is a low-price cabinet store in Tarrymore Square shopping center, at the corner of New Hope Church Road (not New Hope Road, but New Hope Church Road) and Capital Boulevard. I haven't been in there, either, but if I was looking, I'd start there. (Surplus Warehouse)

[raleighkc]

Look on craigslist for people selling kitchen cabinets. Some are dealers selling off overstock inventory and some are people who ripped out their old cabinets. The same with countertops too.

[layyze]

Surplus Warehouse is the place where I got my cabinets. They have one on Capital in Raleigh and one just North of downtown Durham. They easily beat out the off-the-shelf cabinets at Lowe's and HD for price and quality.

I got unfinished base cabinets made from 3/4" cabinet grade ply (not particleboard) for $80-$175 each depending on the size and number of drawers. You can also get finished ones in a few different stains.

They had granite there too, but granite is expensive regardless of where you get it. On your budget, to be brutally honest, I think that it is a waste of money. Granite will look tacky and out of place on cheaper DIY-installed cabinetry.

In my kitchen I built up my own laminate countertops using Formica and 3/4" MDF for under $100 per 8 LINEAR feet (~16 sq feet) of counter including lip and backsplash. A piece of granite that size would cost at least $650 + install. There have been some real improvements with laminates lately and there are some fantastic designs out there.

Also, don't forget to factor in other costs that you might forget about with your project. Screws, power saws, adhesives, etc. can add up. And there will ALWAYS be little surprises that increase the cost and labor required for a large project like this.

[frankpc]

Surplus Warehouse is a good place to look and help plan your budget. We recently bought a bath vanity there - hard to beat the pricing.
While its not popular in this area, a tile counter top can be very cost effective. Large format tiles help minimize the number of grout lines and a rectified tile will also support very narrow grout lines. The new epoxy grouts are very resistant to staining. Just make sure you have a plan for the edge treatment before starting ... and a number of companies have solutions for that.

Frank