Cabinet installation: is this acceptable (cosmetic & structural)?
javiwa
7 years ago
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Maybe a little more acceptance here? Im new and my story is...
Comments (39)Ladyvixen, we were in our 30's in 1985 when we bought our 1898 house. Looking back, we were very young. Neither my husband nor I had any skills or knowledge at all about how to work on houses. All we knew was that our house was nearly intact, was very inexpensive, and that we loved it. I had always wanted an old house, and had been buying things such as light fixtures, hardware, etc., for years before we bought the house. We bought the house "as is". Fortunately we were both employed and had no children. We had to hire almost everything done, and it needed a lot of work. We did not take a vacation for years. Then came a time of around a year or two that my husband was either unemployed or underemployed. During that time, the house just didn't get worked on. We didn't care that we lived in an unfinished house; in fact, I thought it was beautiful from day one. We have a corner in the dining room where all the little balls the cats play with end up, but you don't notice the slope otherwise. It has taken us over 25 years, and we are almost finished, but still have some work to do. We should have it finished by now, but are in our 60's now and do like to take a vacation now and then. Also we sometimes didn't have work done even when we had the money, because we were tired of the mess of having things torn up. We lived with a practically non-existent kitchen until about 2004. I said all along that this house was my dream house. People would look at me funny, but it was and still is my dream house. Don't let others talk you out of your dream. Make the decision based on what you want and what you think you can handle. If you think you can live with an unfinished house for years, go for it. If you have to have everything finished and perfect, you shouldn't buy an old house. I have the ablility to not even see the unfinished stuff until we get ready to do something about it. I meant this to be an encouragement to you, but reading back on it, maybe this will scare you because it has taken us so long. Don't let that scare you--you can do it faster than we did! I will try to attach some pictures if I can....See MoreHelp with a cosmetic kitchen update
Comments (55)Do I understand correctly that this was your grandparent's house and you haven't moved in yet but that you want to gut the kitchen in a year? Don't do anything to it yet, unless there is something dangerous or unsanitary that has to be changed right away (like the carpet if it is smelly). If you want to completely remodel in a year, then your energy right now should go into paying attention to how the house flows, how you use the kitchen, and how the current kitchen layout works (or doesn't) for YOU (as opposed to whether or not it follows some current trend). This takes a few months of living in the house and using the kitchen. Then work out a master plan for renovating not only the kitchen but the surrounding rooms (if you want to do anything to them). That way, even if you won't be doing it all at once, you can avoid wasting money and effort. Trust me, I live in a midcentury house that's been remodeled over the decades without any master plan, and there are some things about the floor plan now that are just plain strange. lol. They can't be changed without lots and lots of money, either. I am talking mostly about structural things like walls -- you really don't want to completely remodel a kitchen and then decide two years later that you need to shift over the doorway that's next to the fridge (or take down that wall). I don't understand why people are telling you to take out the scalloped valance. We don't know what look you want for your remodeled kitchen. Sure, the valance is "out of style," meaning it's not what's being put into new houses in 2012 -- but it is charming and has character and is perfectly appropriate for a midcentury house. Do you want to do a retro or vintage styled kitchen? Then keep the valance. Do you want a kitchen that fits the 2012 trend? Then get rid of it, but be aware that today's style will look dated anyway in a decade or so. After you figure out what your kitchen layout will be, you should think about styling. Once you have decided on an overall look, it'll be much easier to start segue-ing into that with the changes you make now. (Well, OK, I don't know if any of us actually waited to get a layout before we thought about style. lol. That part is much more fun.) I would caution you against buying anything thinking that you can reuse it in a new kitchen, until you have pinned down your layout and style plans. I got new hardware for my kitchen just a couple of years ago (the old stuff was chipping) -- and I liked it fine but the style didn't work for what we wound up with, and the pieces wouldn't have all fit in anyway since we went from lower cabinets to drawers. It was inexpensive as hardware goes and I donated it to Habitat, so not a total loss; but if you already know you're changing cabinets, I wouldn't bother. There is nothing wrong with the way your kitchen looks now. No one will be horrified to see it in your house, where I bet it fits in great. I'm not saying you don't need to change it; I'm just saying it is one style among many many possible kitchen styles, so there doesn't need to be a huge rush to do anything with it yet. I have gone on way too long but I will just add that your oven dilemma is why I like ranges -- they come in standard sizes, so they can be replaced without any fuss and bother. I don't know how much you cook, but my mother (an excellent from-scratch cook) added a countertop oven to her tiny kitchen and tells me that she can do most everything she needs in that, without having to use the range oven. Well, she'll need the big one for the holidays, but you get the point -- you might have the option of putting in a small freestanding oven if yours conks out before you're ready to remodel. Best of luck to you and have fun with your new-to-you house! It is very exciting. I don't mean to be squashing your plans, just telling you that it's fine to step back for a little while before plunging into fixing your kitchen. And do leave the scalloped valance up even if you go all 2012 in your kitchen. I like it. :)...See MoreBudget from GC -- acceptable?
Comments (18)I'm in a large reno project in ATL now. It's a bit larger in scope than this, but it includes a complete kitchen gut and wall teardown too like yours. Our project evolved, as many do, from "let's touch up a bathroom and kitchen" to a small expansion of the overall house to "complete gut down the studs" on the whole house pretty much. Along the way, we got a look at several different types of outfits: 1-man shops, medium sized outfits, design-build firms, and full service GCs. Free advice (worth what you pay): - I strongly urge you to seek other bids. At least 3, 5 would be better. - Your project fits in what I would call "the Bermuda Triangle" of remodeling projects. It's not a small job where you can get away using a GC outfit with small overhead. These guys often have lack of organization / project mgt. skills, but on small jobs with limited scope the risk of that may be worth the reward. On larger jobs, you would use an architect and/or a designer up front to draw plans/specs...then you bid out to the GCs and its easier to compare apples to apples. Sounds like you are trying to use a smaller type outfit, and combine that with no secondary bids and no formal plans/specs prior to signing a contract. This is a recipe for disaster, in my opinion. - You are getting too much into the weeds too quickly trying to examine line item by item, and wonder what is appropriate. Some I saw were fine, some were low for sure, and some seemed maybe high. Doesn't matter. You can't see the forest for the tree. Step back and consider your whole approach, with more careful upfront planning, before you spend a dime. We planned for almost 2 years before selecting a GC finally and breaking ground. But we finally found the right approach and partner, and its gone reasonably well. We've had change orders, but they've been fairly small "gotchas" or nice-to-have upgrades we felt were worth spending the $ now vs. later. - I would think about a design-build firm for this type project. It wasn't for us, but I think they can help provide some discipline up front to your planning and scope. If you don't like that approach, do some more research on fixed price vs. cost-plus contracts and make darn sure you understand the which party bears what risk in each contract. Good luck, keep us posted....See Moreis this acceptable for custom cabinets?
Comments (34)@Cindy Everett - This is going to be a tough fix and really, I suspect you need to get the architect, builder, and cabinetmaker involved. Honestly, I think this whole thing is a mess and I don't think it is an easy fix. @Jeff Grenz discussed a new base cabinet with a deep wall cabinet setting on top, but our coffee maker requires a 22.5" cabinet and I don't think it is going to look any better if your coffee maker requires a cabinet that deep. Furthermore, I don't think there is a way to salvage the soffit as it is built. The soffit seems to be about 3" proud of the cabinets. You really need to continue that feature all the way around, so the soffit at the tall cabinet needs to be wider, however, that just creates a bigger eyesore somewhere else. Here is how the soffit should look in my opinion. However, this is going to happen at the opening if you do that. That is obviously a problem at the opening. So now you have to consider whether or not that soffit is worth shrinking your opening. I don't know who is to blame for this, but in my opinion, this is a design flaw and whoever originated the design really needs to be the one taking the lead on coming up with a solution. I think you need to fix it, or you are going to regret it eventually, whether that is out of your pocket or someone else's is another discussion. I don't think the cabinet maker is to blame for this problem....See Morejaviwa
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