Kitchen Remodel

[exercise-lover]

That's OK because we're a couple months away from getting ours. Please give me a review, so I'll know which way to go. I'm interested in your approach and would like to know your verdict. Thanks.

 

[JeanneMarie]

That's OK because we're a couple months away from getting ours. Please give me a review, so I'll know which way to go. I'm interested in your approach and would like to know your verdict. Thanks.

I'll be glad to let you know what I think. If I forget to come back to this thread, please feel free to PM me and ask!

 

[DebbieH]

We are not remodeling our kitchen but after reading this thread, I wish we were! Ha! Trixoo, love the trash can idea!

 

[Jenniferlove]

we have and definitely love:

under-cabinet lighting;

the lazy susan for spices;

pull-out cabinet shelves in the pantry and for pots/pans/skillets.

huge kitchen sink with a faucet hose that can be pulled out and it has a button to press for either regular stream or a sprayer.

Have fun and good luck!

 

[Marie1120]

We will be doing a kitchen remodel soon. I have some appliance and cabinet questions:

I have the cabinets selected and finalizing the order. We put in the 3" rollout spice cabients both in the base and the wall. Does anyone have these? If so, your thoughts? She said many people use these for their vitamins too along with things like olive oil, vinegars etc.....

What kind of dishwasher do you have and would you recommend it? I am looking at Bosch along with the Maytag ones that have a 10 yr warranty on some of the parts. The refrig is Maytag.

Does anyone have a freestanding range with a double oven or one with a single oven but half oven racks (Frigidaire Gallery for sure has these)? I like the ones that have 2 ovens the same size but not sure if a turkey would fit on one. The other ones have the larger oven on the bottom. I understand the reason but is that awkward for a turkey and would have to have the dog out of the room when I opened it.

Still deciding on countertops so would love to hear what you have and your thoughts. I was considering quartz but reading some of the care info mentioning not using things like slow cookers etc without something under them. We have Formica now and have never worried about that so was surprised to read that. But then granite is cheaper than quartz now.

Thanks.

 

[Jann]

I love this thread! I am always thinking about my dream kitchen.

Would love some pictures.

 

[meganmm]

We are doing a partial remodel ourselves.

We already have hardwood floors and granite countertops, so we're just re-doing our cabinets. It all started when our built in wall oven went on the blink and we found out it's too old to get new parts. So, we have to have a new wall oven and microwave.

I've purchased a double wall oven with convection upper and lower. The microwave is also a built in with a door that pulls down to open like an oven.

A couple of things I would recommend.... things we've either already done, or are getting ready to do.... hardwood floors are great in a kitchen. Not too hard and easy to clean. Definitely granite countertops. My sink is cast iron, which is durable and easy to clean. Backsplash is granite, which looks good and is also easy to clean. Under cabinet lights really dress things up. I have always had them, and am going to have them again with the new cabinets.

I'm doing a few glass doors on my cabinets. Inside those cabinets will be lights also. The glass I am using is called ribbed or reeded. It's looks great, lets the light come through, but doesn't allow you to see every detail of what is inside the cabinet.

I am doing the cabinet fronts for our refrigerator so that it will look like part of the cabinets instead of this huge stainless/white/black blob. Not all refrigerators can be done this way, but fortunately ours is a built in and has the kind of front that can accommodate panels.

As far as cabinet types, the possibilites are endless and confusing, trust me! Go somewhere like a appliance/kitchen showroom (Lowes and Home Depot are great for this) and wander around looking at ideas. The two most common cabinet styles are shaker and raised panel, with variations of both. We're going with white shaker style with a bevel.

If I think of anything else that I've learned with our kitchen remodel, I'll post again. Good luck!

ETA: Oops...l already thought of something else that you should consider. Soft close drawers. They are awesome! These are the kind of drawers that you can shove closed as hard as you want, and right before they close they catch themselves and close slowly and silently. Wonderful! Another thing is pull out shelves. These are great for utilizing lower cabinet space you can't reach because it's so far back. Most people store their pots and pans on these slide outs and have much easier access.

JeanneMarie, are you able to re-use your existing granite countertops or are you getting new ones? We have nice granite countertops, but I hate our old existing cabinets. I would love to be able to replace them, but not have to discard our nice countertops.

 

[JeanneMarie]

JeanneMarie, are you able to re-use your existing granite countertops or are you getting new ones? We have nice granite countertops, but I hate our old existing cabinets. I would love to be able to replace them, but not have to discard our nice countertops.

Well, that has been our problem from the beginning. We also have nice granite countertops that we paid a lot of money for about 10 years ago. I was not wanting to get rid of them or pay to replace them.

So, that limited our options on what to do with the cabinets. You have several options.... 1) tear out the entire cabinet (box and all) and replace. If you do this, they tell you they will TRY to save your granite, but there is no guarantee. And the big problem is, if they crack one of the slabs, it's tough to match it up and you'll end up replacing all of it. Not good.
2) Reface the existing cabinets. This consists of new doors and drawers and laminate on the boxes. This works okay, but the look isn't ideal. You end up with some funky looking corners and edges, and it will never really look exactly right. Of course it depends on how picky you are. I am way too picky for this option to work. 3) The third option is the one we're going for. Our existing cabinets are white. We are staying with white, so what they will do is remove all the doors and drawers and paint the boxes. After that is done, they will come in with brand new doors and drawers... not "fronts", but actual newly constructed doors and drawers. Our problem wasn't just cosmetic. We had some issues with doors that weren't straight, drawers that stuck, etc. I chose a new type of front, more modern and updated (shaker with a bevel), as well as several glass fronts. This will give us a better result cosmetically and functionally.

Hope this helped you figure it all out. I had to do my research and talk to several contractors to find out what the truth was with all the options. You'll always find someone that will tell you what you want to hear. I talked to two or three people who swore that the refacing would be great. I found out differently thank goodness, before I went in that direction. I also talked to people who told me that they could absolutely "save the granite" if they tore out all the cabinets. I finally found a guy who said.... that in a perfect situation they could save the granite, but could NOT guarantee it. It's a good thing to know the whole story!