Countertop Confusion: high vs. low end
Kendrah
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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The Kitchen Place
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High End vs Low End Laminate
Comments (1)I'm not sure about wear-and-tear, but comparing the sound between the thinner, cheaper laminate and the 10-12mm laminate, it is very different. A friend recently installed 12mm and I would have sworn it was solid wood. It didn't make that hollow click-y sound laminate usually makes....See MoreInduction: high vs. low ends, what's the difference?
Comments (14)Ahem. The "induction site" actually has great information on the different aspects so I'm going to refer you to them for technical stuff but I want to say that it's a little bit like a car. Honda or Jag? But I was considering starting out with a cheaper model and leaving upgrading as an option so I thought I'd share: One of the biggest is that the smaller portable versions require 120 (a regular plug) and the larger builtins require 240 (the big ones). Most people don't have the option to pick between them. So if you opt to put in a cheaper one you will also want to run the 240 in case you want to upgrade. Upgrading from cheap to expensive is harder than you would think depending on what type of ctop you are putting in. For instance, it would probably include either complete counter replacement or at least the removal of the counters to cut/recut holes. Countertop/Cabinet height would change differently if you planned for a "on the counter" and then upgraded to "in the counter". It would drop the ctop at least 3 inches. Also, you'd probably need to leave the top 5? inches of the cabinets empty in preparation for that or you'd end up having to yank the ctops and modify the cabinets if you switch up. In all, for me it was cheaper to buy the expensive one right off the bat rather than prepare/worry about the upgrade. Here is a link that might be useful: Great Induction Info...See MoreFaucet Too Low to Counter?!?
Comments (23)I continue to love your tile Rococo, and that's an interesting question about faucet outlet height ntrainer--I'm glad it wasn't on my radar screen when looking at faucets, as I already had quite enough to obsess over. I wonder if you could find a display with ANY model that has the same height installed over a sink and check it out that way. Count me as one of the people who wanted the handle facing the front, as we have a lefty and a righty in the house and I prefer drips to be over the sink rather than the counter. I also thought about the spray pattern after visiting some people who had a high-end kitchen with a spray that bordered on useless because it was so wide. You could aim it at a dinner plate six inches away and the spray would go around the plate; hit the plate with the lower edge of the spray and the upper edge would be drenching the window (note: slight exaggeration may have been employed here for illustrative purposes, but not much). I ended up with the Kohler Sensate (awesome blade spray with a toggle), as I also wanted something without lots of lumps and bumps to clean. The touchless part is, so far, a fail though, as it often fails to shut off completely and drips or streams, despite repeated adjustments by the contractor....See MoreI'm so frustrated! Quartz counter-top installation problems again
Comments (51)Here are a some pics and my dilemma. Keep in mind this is my old fridge...new one comes today! Here is how we ended up with this: I have never had an enclosed fridge so didn't think about the peninsula dying into panels or how deep panels were going to be. I "semi" designed the new footprint and took it to Lowe's where the KD took over. (yes---I know......) Bought Schuler plywood with maple fronts cabinets. Although the kitchen designer had the model number of the fridge we were buying, which is a full-size, she designed the kitchen with 24" deep panels. She knew I was trying to have the look of an enclosed fridge. Being that I've never had an enclosed fridge, it was something I just didn't think of until the install started. Evidently she put a counter-depth in the design program because the elevation sketches she gave me showed an enclosed fridge. "Luckily" the panels actually came in wrong and were cut at only 23" for some strange reason and the installer caught it right away when looking over everything. Otherwise he probably would have installed them and I would be stuck. So called Lowe's to reorder the panels and somehow in all this it suddenly dawned on me that a full size fridge was going to be deeper and require deeper panels. I thought "no problem! Yay I can order them at 30!" By this time the KD had quit her job due to the pandemic. The other KD didn't know what was going on so we called in the Schuler rep. She was the one who immediately told me that those 30" panels would be sticking out in front of the peninsula. She asked if we could move the peninsula forward since the other side is an overhang for seating, but we couldn't since it would bottleneck the entrance into the kitchen down to under 36" and getting rid of an existing bottleneck was one of the reasons for the re-design to start with. So we had a dilemma. We cannot go down to a counter depth fridge which was the other option. What I decided was to split the difference and order 27" refrigerator panels. The fridge without doors is 29.5" so I will have about 3" of the side of the fridge sticking out which I don't like, but while I want my kitchen to look beautiful, I value the functionality too. The old fridge that you see in the pic sticks out a total of 32" The new fridge will stick out 34 with doors but without handles (4.5" of that is doors that would stick out anyway) Here's the really complicated part....we will be installing decorative panels on the end of the fridge as we have them on all the cabinets. This is how you enter the kitchen and I don't want that big blank space there next to the peninsula. The panels should be installed with just 1/4" reveal. I posted a photo below of how the panels look that are already installed on the side of the pantry that adjoins to a 17" high window seat. Luckily those face the opposite way from the fridge panels so you will never see both at the same time. I also posted photos of us holding up panels on the side of the fridge (they are NOT the right size panels...we have to order those still---we just used these to look at the right edge as to how wide to make the panels.) Also keep in mind we can remove the quartz backsplash piece if that would look better. That was not originally planned...the panels were going to sit directly on top of the countertop. So do we order the panels with just the 1/4" reveal to match the panels in the rest of the kitchen? Or, as the Schuler rep recommended, order the panels so they are the same width with the countertop, leaving about 1 3/4" reveal on the right side, but then your eye follows the countertop all the way up. I asked the countertop templater guy if I should just lengthen the overhang on the kitchen side of the peninsula to 2.5" to bring it out to within 1/4" of the fridge panel but he said no....I'm now thinking I should have insisted on it. Especially since we have full overlay cabinets that already make the overlay look very small since the 1.5" planned overhang is measured from the box, not the front of the drawers. Note how small the overhang looks to the drawers. And then of course, they had templated for a 1.5" overhang and I only got 1.25" UGH! Every quarter inch there would have made the reveal on the side of the fridge less. Suggestions appreciated! I'm hoping that I will eventually make peace in my mind with this issue and won't notice it but it is driving me crazy right now. I think of all the things that screwed up just because of this one error by the KD that I didn't catch and I am beating myself up for it!...See MoreKathy Furt
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