I am in need of some advice. I am planning on redoing the kitchen cabinets (orginal to the house–and not a lick of charm in any of 'em!). I want also to get a new floor and new countertops (to replace the pink ones installed by the previous owners–imagine that!).
I am on a budget–specifically, a small amount of money left to me by my sister. Call it $10,000.
Now, I do NOT want to blow it all on the kitchen (I would like to have some left over—say $2000-plus there is always the possiblity of problems etc).
While I like high end kitchens, I don’t live in a high end house and would not get the investment back upon selling.
So, kinda middle of the menu, will be doing some of the work ourselves, not replacing appliances OR moving plumbing or gas etc.
Here is my question: Do I tell the designer what my top budget is? I have already told him that there is a budget and that I want Ikea cabinets–this did not go down well, since he also sells cabinetry. It’s been my experience that once the designer/consultant/florist knows your max–you end up paying the max.
The dimensions of the kitchen are roughly 12 feet wide by 20 feet long.
Is my budget unreasonable? Mind, we don’t want crap, but don’t need granite etc.
Resurfacing the cabinets is NOT an option–these are some messed cabinets–and they are over 50 years old. Not in a nice way.
Kitchen remodels around here (Massachusetts) generally cost a ton more than $8,000. That said, I don’t necessarily see why they should. Where you save money is by not reconfiguring. If you want to keep your sink, etc., in the same place, you’ll save a certain amount of money. Each thing you can scale back on will save you more – so, for instance, you may want to keep your existing window(s), or just change the light fixtures without repositioning them.
You can order the cabinets from Ikea yourself, and install them yourself, or have somebody do it for you. The problem is, your kitchen remodel then becomes a small job, which many contractors won’t want to touch. Depends on where you are, and what the demand is like.
The other thing you have to manage is project creep – where you figure, “Well, while we’re doing this, we may as well do that.” Or where each of the things you pick out (counters, faucets, etc.) is a little more than you meant to spend, but you figure, “Well, we’re spending so much money already, we may as well get what we like.” I don’t know anyone who’s remodeling a kitchen who this hasn’t happened to, unfortunately.
I’ve just finished (well, almost - got some touch-ups to do on the paint job) remodeling my kitchen, so I feel compelled to respond. I don’t know think it’s too realistic to think you can come in under $7-8K on the kitchen if you are talking about new cabinets (though I don’t know what the Ikea ones will cost you). I think we went over that and we just repainted our wood cabinets ourselves, although we did also replace all the hardware (it was too butt-ugly).
We replaced our laminate countertops with Corian, which was the most expensive part of the project; you can choose laminate to cut costs, but most people seem to be actually spending more for the Silestone or marble. Tile is in-between Corian and laminate in price, but I had umpteen people tell me I’d have mildew problems up the yingyang if I put in tile, so I chickened out. The flooring was the next most expensive thing we did, and that’s because I abhor sheet vinyl.
The thing is, if you want to save money by doing yourself, it only works if you already have all the tools you will need. If you have to buy a bunch of tools (like my husband insisted we had to do), then you’ll spend more than having someone else do it. And, as Sal said, lots of contractors don’t want to touch small jobs, so they charge an arm & a leg to discourage them.
Good luck. I worked my ass off all summer, but I’m happy with the results.
That’s good advice. Once you start moving appliances and sinks, you need to start calling plumbers and electricians to reroute the water, drains, gas, and power. If you can avoid that, then quite a bit of the work can be do-it-youself (demolition, installing cabinets, perhaps the flooring).
Another suggestion would be to put most of your effort into the floors and cabinets, and then installing a formica countertop, which is one of the least expensive options. There is a huge variety of colors and patterns. I’m sure you’ll find a few that look good to you. In a few years if you want to upgrade you can replace the countertops and you won’t have to move the floors or cabinets to do so.
Yeah, project creep is a bitch. And sadly, $8K isn’t a lot of money to be spending on a kitchen. My cabinets for a small (8x14) kitchen ran almost $6K and they were fairly modest mid-level Home Depot product.
If your contractor doesn’t want to do IKEA cabinets, these guys seem to specialize in them. You didn’t really say how much of a chunk of that 10K the cabinets were taking, nor did you say what materials you wanted for the floor/sink/counter tops. Nor did you say where you are which affects labor costs.
So…I think you can probably get a decent looking kitchen on your budget, but you may end up doing quite a bit of work yourself. How’re your tile laying skills? If the existing subfloor is in good shape, tile is fairly easy to do. You can also consider tiling the counter top – you can buy 12" square granite tiles and get a very nice looking surface for a fraction of the cost of a solid granite top.
Can you do any of the removal of the existing counters on your own? That would reduce labor costs.
We had a minor kitchen remodel done. The cabinets were from Ikea and we put a new countertop on them. We had the stove moved from where it was to another wall and had to move the gas line as well. THe reason we did that is that we wanted a dishwasher and a larger counter area. The whole thing didn’t run us more than maybe $7000.00 which included the installation of a washer dryer, replacing the aged plaster on a wall with drywall, etc. We saved money by not having anyone do painting and just handling that ourselves.
Eleanor, my husband does this for a living. I asked him - he said do NOT tell the designer your top number. If you’d like further info from him, just let me know what you want to know.
We did basically the same thing you did. New countertops, a dishwasher, cabinets, and a new floor. We did all that, plus a deck and siding for $10K. This was 9 years ago, so figure for inflation.
We got beautiful mediium oak cabinets (including some that didn’t exist prior to the remodel), a ceramic floor (discontinued tiles) and countertops for around $5K if I remember correctly. We are in the same situation as you. Our house is not high end, so we went for more of a “this century” than a high-end thing. Nice, but very vanilla.
We had an ex-friend do it (ex because he did a pretty sloppy job). You may want to shop around for designers because you may get a way better deal with someone else. Good luck!
The only useful advise I got before remodelling and the only thing I am confident to pass on is drawers. Big deep drawers are far better than cupboards for storing things. I ended up with drawers for pots and pans, electrical appliances, bakeware, tupperware, microwave cookware…and you can get at all of it - just pull the drawer out and you can get at the stuff at the back that never gets used.
I just realised I lied - the other tip I got was from the tiler, I told him we had chosen some nice cheap tiles for the splashback. He asked me why I wanted cheap tiles as there was only a few square meters and buying really flash Italian tiles would only cost another 60 bucks. Why save 60 bucks to make the place look cheap. He proved to be dead right and with all my subsequent renovations I was really mindful of little “economies” that cheapened the results. Better fittings, architraves, mouldings etc enhance the results greatly for little additional cost.
Probably the best thing you can do is dispense with the designer and act as your own contractor. I think a designer can be helpful if you have money to spend, but your choices will be bound more by your budget than any artistic sensiblilty.
The problem with being your own contractor is that you have to coordinate everything and you will probably have an unusable kitchen for a longer period of time. Of course, having a contractor doesn’t necessarily protect you from this.
I think IKEA is a good choice for the cabinets, but you may have problems getting an installer, although now IKEA might be able to help you find one. 15 years ago when I did it you were on your own. Probably the best bang for the buck, although you can get cabinets cheaper. Also, IKEA will sit down with you and help you lay everything out, another reason you don’t need a designer. You should also be prepared to assemble the cabinets yourself, not an insignificant job.
Don’t even think about relocating the plumbing. Wanna know where your new sink is gonna be? Right where your old sink is.
Your decision on the new floor will depend on what is there now. What will it be like to rip up the current floor? If you would rather not do that, then go with the Pergo type floating laminate floors. they can be installed over existing flooring. If you can remove it down to a smooth clean surface, you might want to go with vinyl tiles or vinyl sheeting.
Sink - stainless steel.
Countertop - I think it has to be laminate, but there are lots of nice ones out there. You might want to splurge on a beveled edge.
Faucet - Don’t cheap out here. First of all, buy quality, which means don’t go to the big box stores. Places like Home Depot often have special fixtures made for them to sell (cheaply). Next, get one you like (one handle or two? gooseneck?). You will use the faucet more than any other kitchen appliance. It should be a pleasant experience.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa - hold the farm, there, Junior!
You need to know that laminate flooring does not like moisture of any kind. Maybe that works for you, if you are the kind of person who doesn’t spill any water, drop any ice cubes, have an outside entrance nearby where people with sloppy wet feet will track in during the rainy season, etc. But you have to at least be educated first. If you do put laminate flooring in the kitchen, you really need to have it professionally done, because then you have someone to go back to & hold responsible (or at least try to) if something goes wrong and it gets ruined by some moisture. Because he’s going to seal it to keep the moisture out. I know this because that’s what we just did.
Bring it on–we could use your help with the demolition!
Some very good advice here! Thanks.
We will be using our handyman (very good, more reasonable than any contractor–Kirk is a marvel, if a wee eccentric).
We are NOT moving any plumbing or gas or electricity. We are NOT buying any appliances.
I thought it wouldn’t be good to tell the deisgner what our top end budget was–I would like to hear more about how to deal with them, since he is coming here on Monday (which means I hafta clean the damn kitchen-argh!) to view the space etc.
I know he really wants to sell me on his cabinets. Sadly for him, I am more cheap than I am suggestible.
I so agree on the little details can make the decor and not cost too much etc. We put in some really nice lights in our master bath and they make all the difference.
We will be doing the painting and demolition of old cabinets ourselves. Kirk to get us started on the hanging etc of new, someone to put in the floor, and Kirk back to put in the countertop.
I plan on a Formica one–Ikea has some great ones. Anyone interested (since I can’t link for beans here) can go to Ikea and look up the Adel cabinets. (I think it’s Adel–it’s late and I’m tired–anyway, nice ash or birch). Gray blue floor (would love a rubber one–but that may be out of our price range.)
How do I evade the designer if he asks me point blank what my budget is?
More help, please!
My mom had a Pergo floor put in and she hates it. Plus, we have hardwood throughout the first floor–last thing I want is more wood floors in the kitchen…
