Community Chat

[onlyshopsonline]

We remodeled our kitchen ourselves, when we bought our house 20 years ago.  We had a couple of months between the settlement of this house and the settlement of the previous house.  I'd love to do it again, but I don't like big projects going on in the house.  We have repainted, updated counters, and flooring.  And, that's about all I intend to do.

We ARE having an addition added this summer.  It's something we knew we wanted to do, if we decided we were going to retire in this house.  But, I'm still anxious/excited/scared!  However, my excitement is slowly starting to take over the other emotions.  While we were interviewing contractors for two weeks, I barely slept at night.

This will be a little different because, except for some electrical work in the basement, the whole mess will be outside.  However, I'm not an early riser, and this whole project will include lots of decking also, and go on for several weeks.  

I'm just trying to focus my attention on "after" the project...when I get to decorate my new space.

As far as advice....one thing I can suggest is set up a dishwashing area in your laundry room, if you can.  We had our drainboard, towels, etc. all set up near our laundry tub, and washed dishes by hand down there.  Also, have foods that can be prepared on the grill, or pressure cooker, or slow cooker.  And, be prepared to order a lot of carryout or go out to eat.

[bunjetto]

Do NOT use Home Depot!!!!!  Six months of pure he!!.  

[hellodali]

Have you ever gone to the site Houzz?  You can search almost anything and see some beautiful pictures and get great ideas.

When we redid our kitchen and bath, I found them to be a wealth of info.  You can also set up a "favorite" area and save what you want to look at again.

Enjoy!

[Dar321]

I've totally thought about this.  I've been in this house 13years, and always hated the kitchen.  It's not an expensive home,or neighborhood, but I plan on being here another 10 so it might be worth putting the money into it.

[PamfromCT]

You have gotten so much good advice here, so there is little I probably can add.

We have been in our house forever and are remodeling with an eye for resale, balanced on what we personally want.  We had our kitchen and laundry room remodeled and are starting on our half-bath downstairs and two full bath upstairs.  We have been working with one contractor, an outfit that does good work for a very fair price.

We have resisted fads of the moment and are working with the constraints we have.  I would have loved a kitchen island, but our kitchen is too narrow for that.  Not about to start knocking our walls.  Our bathrooms are small, so we are trying to keep things in scale.  In our area, granite has been an expected thing for years, so our kitchen has granite, and so will the downstairs half-bath.  Upstairs, vanities will be Quartz. We have selected lighter colors in cabinets to try to expand the visual space.

Looking at endless pictures can sometimes give you ideas, but sometimes show very expensive ideas not appropriate to your budget and space in your rooms.  A better idea might be to search online for comparable homes in your area for sale. Sometimes they give you pictures of the inside of homes, which can help you understand how remodels can affect prices.

Best of luck to you.

[Regal Bee]

@Dar321  Been thinking about your post and I wanted to add two things that were super important to me and may be to you....anyway, think about them.

Put all the elements of your present kitchen in one room or space. You will be shocked at how much is in your kitchen. I spread our things out into several rooms and about lost my mind. I am really neat and the clutter (for the four month period of the renovation) drove me nuts!

Make some kind of area for cooking in an electric skillet, crockpot or so forth. A microwave will become your friend. Eating out all the time gets old, old, old. I had a sink in my studio and it was such a blessing for washing dishes and so forth.

Hope this helps.....

[Dar321]

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@bunjetto wrote:

Do NOT use Home Depot!!!!!  Six months of pure he!!.  

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I got a quote from them, it was way more than the mom and pop that have been in business 30years!  I did not want to deal with sub contractors, sorry you had to go through that nightmare (and pay for it)  But, I hope you love your kitchen now!

[bunjetto]

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@Dar321 wrote:

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@bunjetto wrote:

Do NOT use Home Depot!!!!!  Six months of pure he!!.  

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I got a quote from them, it was way more than the mom and pop that have been in business 30years!  I did not want to deal with sub contractors, sorry you had to go through that nightmare (and pay for it)  But, I hope you love your kitchen now!

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Thank you DAR.  We are still finishing what they didn't and no we do not like the kitchen at all!  

[Sooner]

Local contractor/builder with excellent reputation.

Get things in writing.

Be sure to contract with someone you feel confient in and who will be there when you need to call them.  My guy came every time I called and brought the project of master bedroom and bathroom gut job in below the estimate, but time?  He was behind on that but it was ok.

[151949]

We had our only bathroom remodeled they had to take the fixtures from the bathroom they were remodeling and make a second bath for us in the basement.  Wasn't the best but it was ok temporarily, and then we had a second bathroom in case of emergency.

When they remodeled our kitchen we set up a temporary kitchen in the garage.Microwave, coffee maker, table & chairs, camp stove, We would have to go into the stationary tubs in the celler for water and to wash dishes and they had moved our fridge down to the basement as well. While we were sitting in the garage eating our neighbors would walk by and stop to chat.