I hired a company to build custom cabinets - ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE.
Ginger Bailey
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Ginger Bailey
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Advice on building custom hood, and hood insert recommendations
Comments (3)1) Make sure your carpenter makes the wood surround / hood bigger than the sizes of the insert. so if your insert is 34" x 22" make the hood 36" x 24" ish if possible or even bigger. 2) Recess the insert 6" up into the cabinetry to create a larger capture area. Think of this as an upside down sink, the insert is the plug hole and the bowl is the wooden frame. The bigger the frame the more smoke and grease will end up going out of the house. 3) Insulate the gap between the wood and the insert. 4) If possible make 2 x 45 degree turns above the hood instead of 1 x 90 degree turn, this will reduce noise and friction....See MoreNeed custom kitchen cabinet advice/help
Comments (12)What the heck is that last post? Would have never happened or stayed in the old forum. In any event, I had Blum soft close in last kitchen--custom build 8 years ago they worked like a dream never had a single issue I'm now wrapping up a kitchen renovation in a different house same custom cabinet maker early in the planning process he asked about drawer slides. I wanted full extension and soft close everywhere. He said we could go w Blum again or a less expensive brand that wasn't available 8 years ago and functions the same. I asked tons of questions about how they have performed for other customers ... Are they really the same ... Etc I didn't ask what brand so I could do any research I'm hating them I still don't know the brand so I cannot give you specific advice of what to avoid. Not a single issue in 8 years w Blum. Not even in the new kitchen yet and several drawers are crazy hard to open. Can force them to full extension but w Blum, could tug the drawer open w one finger and it would beautifully glide out all the way. Now I'm having to wrestle w drawers. Also, the soft close isn't working on a couple drawers. It's just not catching and pulling it closed. The cabinet guy is replacing the problem ones as I discover them. (We aren't even moved in yet and I'm having all these problems). I can tell you though, I totally regret not going w Blum this time...See MoreNeed Your Opinions & Advice on Custom Home Floor Plan, Please!
Comments (47)I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read through these posts and to post advice and suggestions and constructive criticism. I am taking all of it into consideration and some of it was not what i wanted nor expected to hear, but what I needed to hear. I feel as if a little more explanation is needed. We found a builder that we really like and everyone that he has built for has been really happy. He had several plans that we could look at or if we had any plans he could build whatever we liked. He has a gentleman that could draw and customize a home for us. We thought it was architect at first and the price was so good because we were going through him and he would then be able to have our house plan to use in the future. Upon our first meeting with the gentleman that was going to draw up of dream home so we could make it a reality, we learned that he was not an architect, or designer. He's retired now from 40 years of experience woking on/building homes and is good with the software. He is very kind and has been very patient with the many changes we have made along the way. However, we soon discovered that he really has no design ideas or suggestions. He just draws whatever we ask him to or whatever I draw to send to him. If we wanted something a changed, the standard procedure was to just make part of the house bigger, we had gotten up to almost 4400 square feet! If we didn't like the way something worked and asked for a change, he would fix that issue and cause 2 more. I got so frustrated that we are trying to build our dream home and pretty much the only person I had for design help was myself. Uhm, I really want someone with much more skill and talented and better taste to design my home. I know what I want, I just do't know how to get there. We have been working on this for 8 months. I got so frustrated that I gave up for 3 months. Our neighbors are using the same builder and they had difficulties getting their design as well. However they had found a floor plan that they liked and just had him make changes to it and add a mother in law plan. I firmly believe that we are his first truly start from scratch home. Again, this is the guy the builder sent us to to have plans drawn, not our builder. Giving him credit he has taking my very very basic sketches and turned them into something the builder can build from, but pretty much the design is about 99% me, not that I wanted it that way. Here is where I'm at, so you can see that he is doing all the builder type stuff. We don't want to be difficult, but we want a good design. We don't want the builder to think that we are difficult or indecisive because we just can't get there with his guy. I'm at a loss! Several people wanted to know the lot dimensions. So here they are: It is at the top of a ridge, has some slope to it and has a nice open are in the middle. Of course we want the house to sit about at the arrows part of the lot. There is an utility easement of 20 feet on the right side of the lot, but the utility poles are more like 30 feet inside the property. I really do appreciate all of your insight. It has been eye opening. I'll make another post addressing questions and comments. Sorry to be so long winded....See MoreBuilding my own house! Will need advice as I go!
Comments (92)My construction is very similar to our main office at work. I don't have a dog in this fight, so I really don't give a crap whether your house lives like your office or like my home. However, I can tell you that we have a couple of commercial buildings just like this on the farm and your building looks similar to my father's warehouse which has an office. Those are not homes. I don't care how it is usually done, I care about the marginal cost of doing it better and, in fact, the marginal cost of doing it better is low enough that not doing it better is shortsighted and wasteful. There is little point in trying to build those to the same standards as my home, the amount of air passing in and out through openings necessary for business make many of those things moot. However, when you attempt to tighten those openings up you don't simply get a tighter house, you get a moldy and/or uncomfortable space. Is it livable? Sure it is, people make due with a lot worse. Is it optimal? No! Is it even suboptimal in any practical way? No! Are you going to believe me or even use the device you are typing your response on to actually investigate whether or not good enough is really good enough? Probably not. I wish you all the best. Enjoy....See MoreMrs Pete
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