kitchen reno/butlers pantry

6 years ago

My husband and I purchased a home a year ago. We are renovating the existing house and expanding it to have a larger kitchen and family room.

We are spending a lot more on this construction than what we initially anticipated. But we are not planning on moving from here until the kids are in college. So we want to do this construction right for our family.

One of our most expensive parts is the kitchen. We decided on high end appliances and a really large l-shaped layout. I drew out the appliance/cabinet layout after sifting through hundreds of pictures on houzz/garden web/pintrest. With the cabinets and the appliances and quartzite countertops, we are way over the kitchen budget.

Between the kitchen and dining room we have a butlers pantry. The area is 6" wide. Last week i had out kitchen designer give us an estimate for the cabinets. he is saying it would cost $6800. Is this number crazy??

There are 2 base cabinets 36" each and 3 top cabinets. large in the middle and 2 smaller ones flanking it.

The kitchen cabinets are by Rutt which is high end, but I'm not sure if we want to spend nearly $7k on this small space.

Please help, Id love to get some opinions ( other than my husbands and my mothers..lol)

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Comments (2)

Rita / Bring Back Sophie 4 Real
6 years ago
Rutt cabinets are lovely. Have you considered having a local cabinet maker outfit your butler's pantry in a style that blends with the Rutt in the kitchen or the furniture in the dining room? Also, if I were looking at places to cut back on expenses, I would probably start with less expensive cabinets- Ikea with custom doors comes to mind. For my kitchen the priorities are the appliances + sink and then the quartzite and then finally the cabinets. I know that may sound strange- but the reviews on Ikea cabinets are mighty impressive. Someone on the board recently posted a picture of their ten year old, pristine looking Ikea kitchen. Good luck with your project.
oldbat2be
6 years ago
mmmmmarianka - are you getting more than one quote on the kitchen? It might behoove you to. $6800 sounds a little expensive to me, but not the worst. Have you considered simpler doors? I wish I had.

This is not what you asked but have you posted a layout of the kitchen and pantry area for feedback from this forum, as well as inspiration pictures? You say you're over budget but it will be much more expensive to fix any mistakes. So many Houzz kitchens are gorgeous but missing functionality. I would strongly suggest slowing down the process and soliciting input.

I love walk through pantries. Ours is 8.875 feet wide (finished), but we have cabinets on one side and a walk-in pantry on the other with pocket doors. Aisle way, finished, is 36". Are you planning 24" cabinets on just one side? Consider the depth of the beverage fridge if you plan to install one, as this will dictate cabinet depth. (There are some 18" fridges).

The main thing I wish I'd done differently in here is to have made the upper cabinets deeper (18" vs. 12") - I would never have noticed the lack of head space, and it would have given so much more interior space for storage. This should be a minor up charge.

Have you already purchased your appliances? If not, call your high end dealer (and others) and ask them to keep an eye out for the items on your shopping list - or find a dealer with an outlet, establish a relationship with a sales rep. (There can be great discounts on appliances which are returned to the store post delivery but which are brand new).

Here's the left side of ours.
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kitchen reno/butlers pantry

Comments (2)

Rita / Bring Back Sophie 4 Real

oldbat2be

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