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What do you wish you had done differently? Part 2

15 years ago

There was a great thread that reached the 150 max in late January. With new people coming on board all the time and in great need of your helpful advice, let's continue with Part 2! I'm still planning (framing now) so I am interested in what you have discovered lately.

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Comments (8)

alexamd
15 years ago
You mean besides spending so much money??? I really wish I could have done that differently!

My broom closet got eliminated when we added some back stairs. I have other closets where I can store it, but they aren't as handy as my original one. That being said, not having the stairs would have been a bigger mistake. I also would have spent more time on my desk/message area. I still haven't quite figured it out. The other thing that is a bit of a pain is that my dishes don't fit in my main upper cabinets. I never thought that they were oversized, but apparently they are. Luckily, I have a deeper corner cabinet where they fit, but it isn't where I really wanted them. It is totally my fault. My cabinets are custom, so I could have had them made bigger if I had thought to check. I figured if the fit in my old cabinet, they would have to fit in the new ones, right? Wrong!
vwhippiechick
15 years ago
I really wanted a cabinet for the trash pullout but we just didn't have enought space. Now I have no idea where we are going to keep the trash bin. Also I wish I had realized how deep our refrigerator was. It really sticks out of the built in frame. I am okay with it but would have chosen something else if I had realized how it would look.
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I wish I knew then about making sure that the flooring contractor would check on how level the slab was. Midway through laying the ceramic in the kitchen, his guy came upon a hump in the floor and although they made it work, well that was stupid. Don't skimp on the floors if you get tile. Go for something that's nice and flat (no beveling) so the mop will at least touch the grout, and of a high hardness. Mine is chipping where they meet from things being dropped on it. If I had to do it over, I actually think I'd go for the highest quality, cushioned vinyl roll out on the market, or at least a very high quality porcelain tile. I had Kentile (sp) in my old kitchen that was 15 years old and looked like new. Can't get it anymore, but sometimes I wish I'd pulled those tiles up and brought them with me! I didn't want wood because I have an engineered wood, BR1111 Amendiom surrounding the kitchen, and it's entirely too soft and scratches too easily for kitchen use. And, what a nightmare that would have been with them trying to glue down those floors on a big hump in the slab. I'm waiting and gathering before I proceed further, to soak up as much as I can from the experience here.
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I would not get a French window ever again (I think that's what it's called)---it's a casement window with 2 separate crank out windows with no divider between the 2 windows when they're open. The window was expensive and we've had a lot of problems with it (it has different working parts than a typical casement since there is no center for the windows to close against.) I rarely fully open both sides at once so it usually looks like 2 regular casements. The screen has to span the entire opening and is huge. I know people generally try to stay away from double hung windows in a kitchen since they are awkard to open while leaning over a counter but I'm really happy with ours since the screen is on the outside and is less noticeable to me than an inside screen. And I feel the same about undercabinet lighting as honeyb2. I rarely use it and it seems like wasted money that could have been used elsewhere. We have our mw on the bottom shelf of an open upper cabinet. We did think to put an electic outlet there but I wish I had thought to put the outlet above the mw instead of behind it. I think rhome410 mentioned doing this and it makes so much sense because it allows the mw to be pushed back closer to the wall. We had to change out the standard plug on our mw for a flat, wall hugging plug (I think it cost $40 for the part) so that our mw wouldn't stick out too much. We'll have to do this with all our mw's from here on where a higher plug would have solved the problem.
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alku05
15 years ago
Actually, there are already two "What do you wish you had done differently" Part 2 threads started already, so this is the third one! Maybe we should pick the longest one out there and all add our wishes to it. That way we'll have it all gathered in one place instead of split between three threads.

Part 2 started on 2/5:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0220533912060.html

Part 2 started on 1/29:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0120454910596.html

I guess a part 2 was a good idea!
jillalamedat
15 years ago
I wouldn't have gotten the soft-close drawers. The mechanism takes up extra space, so the drawers and shallower than I would have liked. Also, one of them doesn't always work right. It's just one more thing to break.

Also I would have waited for someone to make a French Door cabinet-depth fridge with the special stainless-like finish that hides fingerprints (like the finish on my Fisher Paykel dish drawers).
Buehl
15 years ago
There's also a Part 2 that was started earlier this month. You might want to check it out for ideas as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: What do you wish you had done differently? [Part 2]
ttfweb
15 years ago
I did a series of reviews on my kitchen remodel blog listing out the things I liked and the ones I would ahve done differently.

Here is a link that might be useful: 10K Kitchen Remodel - Reviews
mrslimestone
15 years ago
I don't know if I would call it a "wish" because I knew what I was doing when I made the decision but my fridge sticks out a lot. I decided that I wanted water in the door more than a counter depth fridge but now Im sort of second guessing that decision. I still love the water in the door so I don't know if I would want to live without that now.
napagirl
15 years ago
PLEASE DO NOT POST TO THIS THREAD ANY MORE!

There are 2 other "Part 2" threads already going on, both of which are longer than this one.
So please ... let this thread drop off quickly and keep one or both of the others active.

The other two threads are titled:

"What would you have done differently -- Thread 2" (started Jan 29 with 18 follow ups, last one on Feb 10)
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0120454910596.html

and:
"What do you wish you had done differently? [Part 2]" started on Feb 5 with 15 follow ups (linked below).

The original thread: "What do you wish you had done differently?" started on 7-23-07 and reached its 150 maximum on 1-23-08. At the current rate of new postings, it should drop off in about 6-1/2 weeks!! Not very much time left.

I hesitate to say this (and hope no one takes offense), but the solution to keeping threads active longer is to limit new postings, if thats possible. Perhaps more use of the "conversations" side (see top of page) would help, but it seems not too many check in over there.

Here is a link that might be useful: What do you wish you had done differently? [Part 2]

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