Kitchen redo. Where to begin.

[lynn]

How long would it take through someplace like lowes or homedepot? How much inconvenience? We are doing cabinets, countertops, tile and appliances.

[Alice]

We used Ikea kitchens and redid our kitchen as our Christmas present this year. My dh did everything except the plumbing and electrical (we added a dishwasher and exhaust fan). It took a solid week (he did it the week between Christmas and New Year's) to do everything. We did cabinets, counters, new floor and painted. Kept the fridge and stove. Everything else was different. It was not that inconvenient...and I kept having to remind myself that it was a HUGE blessing and not really a problem. :)

 

Dh built college type shelves (boards and cinder blocks) in one room and I spent a good day taking everything out of the kitchen and putting it on those. We bought paper stuff and mostly used that. We ended up eating take out or eating out most nights and just had simple breakfasts. I planned activities that kept me and the two kids out of the house all week. (More necessary for us as I knew if they saw dh working they would want to "help.")

 

It was definitely worth it though.

[Marie in Oh]

We did ours last summer. We did all of what you did plus we tore out the old flooring, ceiling, drywall, plaster, etc. The project took 8 weeks. Well, it actually took 11, but that was becasue we had to fix the foundation and the floor joists.

 

It takes about 6-8 weeks to get cabinets in. I think a whole kitchen could be done in about 3 weeks if you plan well. The first thing you want to do is consider design. Do you want to change where things are or leave them pretty much the same? I would highly recommend getting a kitchen design book. There were many prniciples that Mek great sense that I had no idea about. For instance, they suggest putting things in triangular points-- like the sink, the food prep area and the fridge, so that you aren't running from one side of the kitchen to the other. This is just one example.

 

We had a guy from our church do our cabinets and counters, and the rest we did at Lowes. The cabinets came from a company in Michigan and we did solid surface counters that he did for us about half as much as Lowes would have charged for the exact same thing. So, I would shop around. But I would really know what you want first- cabinets come in lots of wood choices, etc. and there are counter choices galore.

 

I won't lie-- it was a long summer, but so worth it. We are so happy that we did it. But making sure you have a good set up of where to cook and do dishes while everything is out of commission is a good idea.

 

If you have specific questions I'd love to try to answer them. A new kitchen seems like such a luxery but to have something that is beautiful that is also fully functional is really a blessing.

[DIY-DY]

How long would it take through someplace like lowes or homedepot? How much inconvenience? We are doing cabinets, countertops, tile and appliances.

 

Line it all up before you take anything out. Have dates. Give yourself a little leeway (because if you don't, then it'll be a sure bet that the countertop guys will want to come in early on the one day that the cabinets didn't get delivered... or something weird like that).

 

Measure twice, then hand off the tape measure to at least two other people. (Home Depot is good about pre-measure. The Lowe's around our area isn't very good, and they've had a lot of returns and snafus from bad measures, or from not going out to do a measure. You do get your money paid for the measure applied to your purchase toward the cabinets - it's totally worth it.)

 

Make use of the kitchen design available to you through those stores. They'll give you an aerial view printout that you can take home and double check against what you've got. You can make any and all changes you want ahead of time, and then have them confirm it all at measuring time. Plus, if you have a good designer (I pm'd you about a good one in Huntsville), you can say, "This is what we want it to do. This is a list of our must-haves. This is what we don't like about our current kitchen, and this is what we would like to have, if possible." As a matter of fact, if you can articulate that to your kitchen designer, you'll be MUCH happier with what he/she recommends, and the process will go more smoothly. They know all their products, and when you can explain what you want to do, they can make suggestions about what would work. Use that option to its fullest!

 

Lead time on cabinets is usually what your project will hinge upon - check to see what the lead times are. They get psychotically backlogged around Christmas and Mother's Day, from what I remember. :) But for the most part, three to six weeks is somewhere in the norm.

 

How thoroughly exciting!!

Dy

[KatieJ]

4 weeks and counting!

 

Home Depot did the measure for .01! Yup, just one cent.

I don't know if it was a sale or not, it was back in February.

We worked with a designer . They can show you computer pictures of your kitchen. Colors aren't so good, but you can see the layout. Wonderful if you make structural changes like we did.

 

My DH is an engineer and can do just about anything. He was planning on doing all the work, but eventually he came to his senses and we ended up hiring a cabinet maker he used thru work on many occasions. We were just oign to have him install the HOme Depot cabinets, but he was needed work and at the last minute we decided to have him build custom.

Best idea we had in years. They are here working right now..installing new the doors and some trim.

Moving on to laminate floors later today.

 

Time frame..we have had a few set backs and it's taking longer than we thought, but I knew that goign into. Expect set backs. It's just easier that way! We should be wrapped up in about 2 weeks, which means we are in the construction phase for 6 weeks, beigingint to end.

Corian counter tops have to be measured after the cabinets are installed adn then they take 2 weeks to make.

Since we dind't order our cabinets thru HD, I am not sure on the timed frame, but we were to=ld back in March that they weren't very busy with the economy being slow and all and I think they said about 3 weeks at that time.

 

Our DS 20 moved out just before we started this, so we turned his old bedroom into a temp kitchen. I set up a big white banquet table with Toaster oven, coffee pot, electric frying pan. We set the mircrowave on teh dresser. Piles of paper plates, and we are good to go.

I am only feeding 2 or 3 of us most of the time, so it's not been too bad at all.

[FlockOfSillies]

The first thing I would do is sign up for Angie's List. It's a contractor-review site that's subscription-based. It's not free, but it could save you lots of money and headaches. I've found plumbers and other services through that site, and it's been very helpful (especially to know whom to avoid).

 

I wouldn't go through Lowe's or HD. Everyone I've talked to has been unhappy with them. My next-door neighbor has been fighting them for three months to finish his new kitchen countertop. They screwed it up the first time and haven't fixed it.

[Harriet Vane]

We had Bertch cabinets for our kitchen rehab and it was a NIGHTMARE. I am not exaggerating. We had multiple shipments over the course of a YEAR. Not one single shipment was problem-free. The problems with our cabinets included:

 

--One cracked cabinet

--Clear finish that was flaking off like sunburnt skin

--Stain droplets so large they could be felt as raised bumps. There were also stain "spray" marks on one door.

--MANY problems with doors. We had a LOT of doors (8 or 10?) that had pieces missing from the inside, causing the center panel to slip down and expose a white line of unfinished wood at the top of the panel.

--Another door problem: MANY (6 or 8???) had poorly joined seams, which caused the door to be very unstable. When you look at your cabinets, eventually, make sure that the seams are no bigger than a hairline or they end up loose and rickety.

--And the real kicker: In our final shipment, after a year of arguing about the severity of these multiple problems, they sent us a door with a large HOLE that they factory had attempted to fill with putty.:cursing:

 

So please, wherever you go, ask who manufactures the cabinets and DO NOT buy cabinets produced by Bertch. At the store they only tell you the cabinet line (usually something pretty like "Ovation" or some such) so you have to ask who the manufacturer is. We lost a TON of money on this, not to mention the hours of grief and stress. If I can help anyone else in the universe avoid the nightmare . . .

 

Best wishes with your kitchen rehab. It's long and hard but will be just lovely when done.

[RoughCollie]

Here's a great place to go for tips and advice, pictures, styles and all other options:

 

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/

 

(Read the thread entititled Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens! first for advice to those new to the site and to kitchen planning.)

 

Lots of pictures here, and if you click on categories, you can look at pictures of kitchens with specific features that you like:

 

http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/

 

If you are thinking about using Ikea cabinetry, here's a forum with tons of info and some pictures, too:

 

http://www.ikeafans.com/