uroboros, I have to ask this, because I can too easily believe that you were just casually scanning the real estate listings when this decrepit charmer reached out and grabbed your heart. (This has happened to me, although with a less expensive and more readily fixable house, so I know it is possible.) Here's the question: When you fell under the spell of this enchanting crone, were you actively looking for a smallish house in an lively urban neighborhood? If so, and * the size of the overall investment could be made clear by consulting with a contractor before making an offer, and * anyone can conceive of a way to render the house livable without completely erasing its preserved-in-amber decrepit charm, and * your DH magically became sanguine about the feasibility of what is needed and why it would be not completely financially foolhardy in the medium term, WOULD YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE THERE? To me, it looks like urban nirvana. Having rooted around on Google Earth and various Montreal sites, I found a lively and lovely urban neighborhood with quite nice street trees and a Metro station only a long block away. Also, there is a restaurant nearby named Aux Derniers Humains, which has a menu as cool as its name. It looks as though the only room that is preclusively small (for someone used to rowhouse-scale spaces) is the kitchen. It is is a first floor-only extension off the back that is narrower than the body of the house, which is basically wide and shallow compared to other rowhouses in the neighborhood. The kitchen may only be a bit chopped up, as it is listed as 9 x 13, which could make for a nice galley design. If one did want to enlarge it, however, I see two options. Because the house is actually detached on one side, rather than part of a row, you could build out sideways to fill in the dogleg, which is exceptionally wide. Pop out some bricks, reinforce the new opening(s) with angle iron, et Robert est ton oncle. You would still have windows on the side of the house and if you created deep windows at the back of the new bit, you would have a nice perspective over what could be a charming garden. Alternatively, you could move the kitchen to the basement, having it go back further toward the front of the house and having clerestory windows. You might need a dumb waiter, but who wouldn't want one of those? I suspect that either of these options would not be extraordinarily expensive in the context of what needs to be done in the rest of the house, which to tell the truth is going to be more because you don't want to gut it. If Montreal is anything like DC, however, pictureseque urban neighborhoods are gaining value just because people are so tired of getting stuck in traffic. Sorry to be so pushy. This house is haunting my dreams. Cheers. hbk

I don't think I was being brutal, I just wanted to state the technical details of why the overlays were wrong. However I see a few people disageed with me, I can assure you that I know what I am talking about when it comes to technical details of a kitchen, especially hinges. To do a full overlay with butt doors and face frame cabinets you would have to notch the frame out to 3/4" and use a frameless hinge to get the gap that you want. So as I was saying the cabinets should have been built differently(not your fault) If you cabinetmaker is buying hinges from home depot, he is not a cabinetmaker but a carpenter. No offense to any carpenters but a jack of all trades, master at none, is a pretty common theme. Yes the finish is subpar, and is probably the most difficult aspect of cabinetmaking. I know that I can spay a finish that is on par or above any factory finish. All in all the design looks good, to most people the cabinet quality and overlays would never enter their radar. As far as the finish goes, did he show you samples beforehand, I would have requested that so I could approve the color and quality. Most of these issues you have I think would be tough to fight in court because there is no documentation, however I am no expert in litigation, because my work does not lead to lawsuits. I also always try to steer people away from maple unless they are going natural with glaze, it is a very difficult wood to stain with consistency. The grain tends to show variation and looks "splotchy" Again another reason to see samples before you buy. When I hear about the horror stories on here it drives me crazy to see people paying good money for subpar work. I guess the point I am trying to make is that everyone has different expectations of quality you have to trust your judgement. To answer your question igloochic, your inset doors open with minimal gap because you cabinets use inset hinges, not facefame. You may have a concealed hinge but it is still designed to open with zero clearance, it is not designed to overlap a 1 1/2" frame, or you may have butt hinges, and obviously you can see how that would not give you an overlay on a face frame cabinet. I was not saying it was not possible to have full overlay on face frame cabinets, I was saying that it is more difficult, and I did not think this builder had that knowledge or skill.

"....Please accept my apology for my multiple blunders on trying to put up my pics for opinions....." Please don't apologize at all. The fact that Houzzer's are giving you a hard time over this boggles my mind. The grout job looks sloppy but I imagine you can tart it up some with some careful spot grouting. Can you highlight the key areas of concern with painters tape and then show the builder what areas you want fixed. I would grind back the sloppy work. Clean the grout haze and re grout. I'm sure this will improve what you see so far without a total do over. Good Luck.

I'm in Essex Ct, NJ. So likely not a big difference in construction costs, etc. Last year we completed a gut reno of our existing 1400 sq feet and added another 1600sq ft (out and up) + 600 foot basement under the addition. Not including any landscaping/hardscaping but including architect fees, permits + everything else it was around $375k. From what I understand costs have gone up since then so maybe $400k+ now. An important consideration that I didn't see you bring up is what the house would be worth after the addition/renovation. That's an important consideration, and what drove our decision to go ahead with the project. As for "it's cheaper to tear down & rebuild" - well, that's not necessarily true. In our town there are huge fees for doing new builds, and a different set of requirements which also add to costs significantly. Plus no matter what you are constrained in size by zoning laws, setbacks, etc. So the resulting home is no bigger. Sure, it is going to have a better layout, and maybe that offsets the big increase in costs, but likely not.