After living in my house for nearly 9 years, we finally were ready to fix our eyesore of a dysfunctional excuse for a kitchen. I was soooo excited. We spent a month designing it and then another two weeks interviewing contractors and pricing out all the pieces.
Originally we were going to get our 10% off cabinets at Home Depot, but I am very glad we did not go that route. Let me explain. We were going to purchase a cheep cabinet with a kitchen designed (hopefully right) by someone who had never seen or measured our kitchen. Then to use their contractor to install the kitchen would cost more money then we thought right and this cost did not include a plummer, electrician or permits. Ultimately the idea of having the miscellaneous items completed and done right within the time frame scared me. This is why I looked at other options.
I know I should have posted this months ago (7 months ago actually), but as they say, it is better late then never!
What we decided:
Originally we were going to get our 10% off cabinets at Home Depot, but I am very glad we did not go that route. Let me explain. We were going to purchase a cheep cabinet with a kitchen designed (hopefully right) by someone who had never seen or measured our kitchen. Then to use their contractor to install the kitchen would cost more money then we thought right and this cost did not include a plummer, electrician or permits. Ultimately the idea of having the miscellaneous items completed and done right within the time frame scared me. This is why I looked at other options.
I know I should have posted this months ago (7 months ago actually), but as they say, it is better late then never!
What we decided:
Extent the useless L shaped kitchen into a more useful U + Walnut expresso cabinets + Light quartz countertop = Kitchen Demolition
The contractor we hired was able to get us much nicer solid cabinets, permits, electrical, plumbing, etc. for the same cost as the low quality home depot cabinets. YEA!
The fun part of redoing the kitchen is moving the entire contents of the kitchen so that we are still able to use some kitchen amenities and have access to food. We managed to work it out with my toaster oven so that some food could be heated.
There were some problems that came up along the way: termites, rats, late cabinet delivery, wrong cabinets installed … Unfortunately the flooring had some water damaged pieces and had to be replaced. Too bad we couldn’t just replace what was there because I really liked having one cohesive floor. Without the budget for flooring, we decided on a tile laminate for 98 cents each square foot.
The biggest lesson that I learned is that when dealing with a contractor who is never there, you really have to micromanage everything! Double check the plans, insist on sketches, don’t let him buy anything important to you (i.e. sink or fixtures), when he says he can get you something free or for less assume that is BS so you aren’t disappointed.
In the end, I am SOOOOO happy with my kitchen! I love it. It is a dream to cook in and I wish that we had done it sooner!
Then once all the appliances were replaced to match, it looked even better!
